1996/10/01 by Joanna Waley‐Cohen · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Chinese history and philosophy #China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations #Vietnamese History and Culture Studies #Emperor #Reign #China #Ancient history #History #Style (visual arts) #Assertion #Classics #Political science #Law #Archaeology #Politics
paper · doi:10.1017/s0026749x00016826
openalex publication_date 1996/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/12
Reviewing his long reign in 1792, the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736–1795) hailed his military triumphs as one of its central accomplishments. To underscore the importance he ascribed to these successes, he began to style himself ‘Old Man of the Ten Complete Victories’ ( Shi Quan Lao Ren ), after an essay in which he boldly declared he had surpassed, in ‘Ten Complete Military Victories’ ( Shi Quan Wu Gong ), the far-reaching westward expansions of the great Han (206 BCE–220 CE) and Tang (618–907) empires. Such an assertion, together with the program of commemoration discussed below, served to justify the immense expense incurred by frequent long-distance campaigning; to elevate all these wars to an unimpeachable level of splendor even though some were distinctly less glorious than others; and to align the Manchu Qing dynasty (16–191 i) with two of the greatest native dynasties of Chinese history and the Qianlong Emperor personally with some of the great figures of the past.