Nurhaci — Qing Taizu
清太祖
“Built a state out of the Jurchen tribes, and an alphabet to run it with”
Beginning with thirteen sets of inherited armour, he unified the Jurchen over thirty years, organized them into the Eight Banners, commissioned a written script for the Manchu language, and declared the Later Jin in 1616. He beat a far larger Ming army at Sarhū in 1619 and died of wounds seven years later.
The banner system he designed was a military, civil and social organization at once, and it governed Manchu life until 1912.
The Qing empresses in the collection begin with the Mongol marriages his son made; the alliance they bought is what put the Manchus in Beijing.
The empress of this reign
Painted on silk in gemstone mineral pigments by Xiang Li.
About this page
Written for this site to place Nurhaci's reign around the paintings. For the full biography, the dynastic histories and the scholarship behind them, start at Wikipedia.
Every Qing emperor
| Reign | Emperor | Painted empresses |
|---|---|---|
| 1616 – 1626 | Nurhaci 清太祖 Nurhaci 努爾哈赤 / 努尔哈赤 | |
| 1626 – 1643 | Hong Taiji 清太宗 Hong Taiji 皇太極 / 皇太极 | |
| 1643 – 1661 | Shunzhi 順治帝 · 清世祖 / 顺治帝 · 清世祖 Fulin 福臨 / 福临 | |
| 1661 – 1722 | Kangxi 康熙帝 · 清聖祖 / 康熙帝 · 清圣祖 Xuanye 玄燁 / 玄烨 | |
| 1722 – 1735 | Yongzheng 雍正帝 · 清世宗 Yinzhen 胤禛 | |
| 1735 – 1796 | Qianlong 乾隆帝 · 清高宗 Hongli 弘曆 / 弘历 | |
| 1796 – 1820 | Jiaqing 嘉慶帝 · 清仁宗 / 嘉庆帝 · 清仁宗 Yongyan 顒琰 / 颙琰 | |
| 1820 – 1850 | Daoguang 道光帝 · 清宣宗 Minning 旻寧 / 旻宁 | |
| 1850 – 1861 | Xianfeng 咸豐帝 · 清文宗 / 咸丰帝 · 清文宗 Yizhu 奕詝 | |
| 1861 – 1875 | Tongzhi 同治帝 · 清穆宗 Zaichun 載淳 / 载淳 | |
| 1875 – 1908 | Guangxu 光緒帝 · 清德宗 / 光绪帝 · 清德宗 Zaitian 載湉 / 载湉 | |
| 1908 – 1912 | Puyi 宣統帝 / 宣统帝 Puyi 溥儀 / 溥仪 |