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The Case Against Heshen, 1799

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The Case Against Heshen, 1799 Chapter 3 The Case against Heshen, 1799 The rise of Heshen (1750–1799) in the latter years of the Qianlong Emperor’s reign is often taken to represent the immediate cause for the long decline of the Manchu Qing dynasty. Heshen supposedly packed the bureaucracy with his henchmen, stole from the people, slaughtered innocent villagers, pilfered military supplies, and engaged in all manner of atrocious behavior. By almost all accounts, Heshen’s pervasive influence had a permanently debilitating ef- fect on the empire, but the complex causes behind dynastic decline can never be laid at the feet of a single person. Nevertheless, the unique circumstances around Heshen’s rise and his dramatic fall makes his career one of the more interesting episodes in late imperial Chinese history. Although born into a somewhat distinguished Manchu family of the Plain Red Banner, Heshen began his career as a lowly imperial bodyguard in 1772. Three years later, he was transferred to serve at the Qianqing Gate, deep within the Forbidden City, where he came to the attention of the Emperor. Fabulous rumors and unbelievable stories have long surrounded the relationship be- tween Heshen and the Qianlong Emperor, but their particular relationship will probably never be adequately explained. Whatever the case, Heshen’s meteoric rise through the government ranks was one of the most spectacular in Chinese history. Within a year of meeting the emperor, the handsome, affable Heshen was assigned as a Guard of the Imperial Antechamber, promoted to Deputy Lieutenant General, transferred to the prestigious Plain Yellow Banner, made a junior Vice-President of the Board of Revenue, appointed Grand Councilor, and became Minister of the Imperial Household. What it might take a brilliant degree-holding official an entire career to achieve, Heshen accomplished in less than twelve months. Over the next twenty-five years, Heshen held many of the most powerful positions in the empire, married his son to Qianlong’s favorite daughter, and rose through the nobility until he became a duke in 1798. Heshen’s fall was as dramatic as his rise. On February 22, 1799, just two weeks after the Qianlong Emperor’s death, Heshen was ceremoniously given the silk cord to hang himself. By the time of his demise, Heshen had come to represent all the venality, corruption, and mismanagement now endemic in the Qing government and the conspicuous wealth often exhibited by unscrupulous of- ficials. Just how corrupt Heshen really was is impossible to say—certainly he amassed considerable wealth through influence peddling, exhortation, and other iniquitous acts—but the rumors of his possessing hundreds of millions © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/9789004361003_005 The Case against Heshen, 1799 31 are countered by recent estimates placing the real value of his estate at a much more modest figure. When it came time to judge Heshen, the Jiaqing Emperor (r. 1796–1820) leveled so many charges against him that the documents reveal as much about the emperor and his own concerns as they do about Heshen’s crimes. March 1, 17991 On the 25th day of the 1st moon of the 4th year of Jiaqing, the supreme coun- cil for military affairs transmitted, by an extraordinary courier, His Imperial Majesty’s decree of the 11th day of the 1st moon [February 15, 1799], which is as follows: Extraordinary marks of the royal favour of our most august, and now de- parted Father, were granted to Heshen, by elevating him through succes- sive degrees, from an attendant at the palace to the supreme rank of a Minister of the empire, and bestowing on him an important command in the Imperial army, the advantages of which he continued to enjoy for many years by an exertion of royal munificence, far beyond his deserts, as well as unexampled among the nobility of the court. Since we received the important trust of the government of this empire, and particularly since we have been plunged into affliction by the awful event of the decease of our Imperial Father, we have repeatedly meditated on the passage of the Lunyu [The Analects], which recommends the virtue of a three-years forbearance from change when succeeding to an inheritance.2 But, with regard to our Imperial Father, whose profound observance of the laws of Heaven, and pious veneration for his ancestors were so conspicuous; who reigned over his people with no less vigilance than affection, and whose sincerity of heart and rectitude of government, all countries whether within or without the limits of 1 The translation of the following two edicts appears in George T. Staunton, Ta Tsing Leu Lee; Being the Fundamental Laws, and a Selection from the Supplementary Statutes, of the Penal Code of China (London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1810), 493–502. 2 This is a reference to the practice of Han officials who, unless granted a special dispensation by the emperor, went into temporary retirement to mourn each parent for three years (actu- ally 27 months). Manchus, including emperors, usually stayed in their posts, but mourned for 100 days..
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