Kangxi’s Edict

Kangxi’s Edict stood out to me for a number of reasons. It is very different from what I would expect from an emperor’s valedictory edict. One blaring contrast is that Kangxi does not mention anything about who he is going to pick for his successor. Almost every previous emperor announces in writing prior to their death whom their successor will be however Kangxi kept his choice secret and it was only revealed after his death that his fourth son would be the next emperor. From the edict, I can tell that Kangxi seems to be burdened by a lot of issues surrounding the naming of the heir. He refers to the naming of the heir as a “burden.” This could signal that the reason behind Kangxi’s secrecy is that he is afraid his children will fight each other for the throne and if an heir was named, his other sons may plot against the heir. His second son has already proved troublesome after all.

Another interesting note in Kangxi’s edict is that the tone of the statement is very down to earth. He is a little bit arrogant at times stating that he “was strong from my childhood onwards, with fine muscles, I could bend a bow with a pull of 15 li, and fire a 52 inch arrow.” However, for most of it he is much more grounded than even an average citizen. For instance he doesn’t avoid the issue of death and accepts the fact that everyone dies eventually even emperors stating “death and life are normal phenomena.” He also states “my birth is nothing miraculous nor did anything extraordinary happen when I grew up. I came to the throne at eight, 57 years ago. I’ve never let people talk about supernatural influences of the kind that would have been recorded in histories: lucky starts, auspicious clouds, unicorns and phoenixes…” This is very different from many other emperors who rely on these types of signs to help legitimize their mandate of heaven. Instead Kangxi tries to bring himself to the same level as any ordinary person.

He is also very realistic on what the job of an emperor is. He doesn’t seem to indulge in the riches and triumphs of his empire but instead comments a lot on how much hard work is involved in ruling a country. For instance he writes “the ruler in all his hardworking life finds nowhere to rest.” In this edict he also alludes to the fact that officials have called on him to retire. However, Kangxi felt that there were still too many burdens and problems to deal with and that he needs to keep working hard instead of retiring and living out the rest of his life worry free and also therefore extending his life.

All in all, I believe that his edict is a good indication of how he ruled. He really seeks to identify with his subjects and doesn’t place himself above them. In fact during his reign he was even known to dress up as a peasant and wander the streets to see how his citizens were living and to identify any potential problems that his government should address. He also believes that hard work is key to ruling a nation. These factors probably contributed to his long and prosperous reign with brought peace across the country.