#304 - Qing 39: Twilight of the Dragon

The History of China

Chris Stewart

History

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

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Summary

As both the Qianlong Emperor's extensive reign and the Eighteenth Century itself comes to a close, the Qing Empire faces - in spite of its outward posturing of timeless grandeur and invulnerability - an ever more uncertain future. By this time his successor, the Jiaqing Emperor, assumes power in fact, the winds of historic change have already begun to blow. Time Period Covered: ~1735-1800 Major Historical Actors: The Qianlong Emperor [Aisin-Gioro Hongli) [r. 1735-1796, d. 1799] The Jiaqing Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Yongyan) [r. 1796-1820] Grand Secretary Heshen [1750-1799] Major Sources Cited: Crossley, Pamela Kyle. A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology. Hsü, Immanuel C. Y. The Rise of Modern China. 6th ed. Jones, Susan Mann, and Philip A. Kuhn. “The Chia-ch’ing Reign.” In The Cambridge History of China, Volume 9, Part Two: The Ch’ing Empire to 1911. Rowe, William T. China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing. Woodside, Alexander. The Centre and the Borderlands in Chinese Political Culture. Woodside, Alexander. “The Ch’ien-lung Reign” In The Cambridge History of China, Volume 9, Part One: The Ch’ing Empire to 1800. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
0:09.8	Hello and welcome to the history of China.
0:16.8	Episode 304, Twilight of the Dragon
0:21.6	It is recorded that one cold winter's day, receiving an official named Wang Yu Duhn in audience.
0:29.6	Qianlong asked him whether he had had anything to eat before attending court at dawn.
0:34.6	To which Wang replied,
0:36.6	We are very poor.
0:39.0	All the breakfast that I can afford consists of two or three eggs.
0:43.6	At this, the emperor exclaimed,
0:46.4	You dare to tell me that you are poor,
0:49.0	yet you confess to eating three eggs at a time.
0:52.6	Eggs cost me 75 cents a piece.
0:55.7	I should never dream of ordering three.
0:58.7	Wong did not dare to tell the emperor the true price of eggs.
1:02.6	So he said,
1:03.7	I was speaking of an inferior type of egg,
1:06.8	not the sort of which would be suitable for your majesty's table.
1:10.8	My sort can be bought for your majesty's table.
1:13.3	My sort can be bought for about a cash apiece.
1:19.9	The Emperor understood and gave orders that the palace eggs were henceforth to be charged at a more reasonable figure.
1:22.9	From the annals and memoirs of the Court of Peking, by E. Backhouse and J.O.P. Bland.
1:31.0	In 1736, a young man of 25 ascended the throne of China. His name was Aizeng Jorou Hong Li,
	...

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