The Shunzhi Emperor — Qing Shizu

Five years old when his uncle Dorgon took the regency and the armies took Beijing. Governing in his own name from 1650, he tried to keep Chinese officials in senior posts against Manchu objection. After the death of Consort Donggo in 1660 he collapsed entirely, and died of smallpox at twenty-two — though the story that he abdicated to a monastery has never gone away.

The queue order and the great land seizures of the conquest belong to this reign, and so does the decision to keep the Ming administrative structure intact.

Three women of his court are in the collection: Erdeni Bumba, the Mongol empress he deposed; Empress Xiaohuizhang, who replaced her and whom he ignored; and Consort Donggo, whom he loved.