Daoguang
Daoguang ( Chinese 道光 , Pinyin dàoguāng ; * September 16, 1782 ; † February 25, 1850 ) was Emperor of China from October 3, 1820. He is considered a capable, dedicated, and best-intentioned ruler.
During his tenure, Great Britain worked with the corrupt Chinese officials to further expand opium exports to the Middle Kingdom. This not only posed a significant threat to public health , but also tipped China's traditionally favorable bilateral trade balance: In 1831–1833 alone, China had to spend the same amount (10 million silver ounces) on the drug as it had been in trade for the entire previous decade with the British East India Company .
Not least because of a severe case of opium addiction in his own family, Daoguang decided to intervene and in 1839 had the Imperial Special Commissioner Lin Zexu dump 22,291 boxes of opium in Canton in the sea and expel the British East India Company. This was the occasion for the First Opium War , which was to usher in China's decline from the hegemonic power of Asia to a semi-colonial developing country.
In addition, the Daoguan reign was marked by unrest and uprisings in various parts of the empire. Since 1825, for example, there was a conflict with the Muslim population in East Turkestan , who refused to comply with the Confucian state cult required by the Qing court . In addition, unrest among minority peoples broke out in the provinces of Hunan , Guizhou and Yunnan . Above all, however, the first signs of the Taiping uprising , led by the farmer's son Hong Xiuquan , emerged in the province of Guangxi , which, under Daoguang's successor Xianfeng , was to shake the foundations of the Qing dynasty .
literature
- The Emperor of China . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No. 19 . J. J. Weber, Leipzig November 4, 1843, p. 289-290 ( books.google.de ).
- Wolfram Eberhard , Alide Eberhard: History of China. From the beginnings to the present (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 413). Kröner, Stuttgart 1971, DNB 456503854 .
- John King Fairbank : History of Modern China: 1800–1985. 2nd Edition. dtv, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-423-04497-7 .
- Jacques Gernet : The Chinese World. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-518-38005-2 .
- Gisela Gottschalk : China's great emperor. Pawlak, Herrsching 1985, ISBN 3-88199-229-4 .
- Jonathan D. Spence : China's Path to Modernity. Hanser, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-446-16284-4 .
Web links
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Jiaqing |
Emperor of China 1820 - 1850 |
Xianfeng |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Daoguang |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Minning; Chengdi; Xuanzong |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Emperor of China |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 16, 1782 |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 25, 1850 |