Who were the princes in the early Qing Dynasty?

Gushan Beizi is the title of the Qing Dynasty clan. The Qing Dynasty stipulated that all direct descendants of Taizu Nurhaci were called "clan" and wore a yellow belt around their waists. The descendants of Nurhaci's father Tucker and his grandfather Jue Chang'an were called "Jueluo" and wore a red belt. The highest title in the clan is the prince, whose full name is Prince Heshuo, followed by Prince Duoluo, then Duoluo Beile, then Gushan Beizi; the next ones are Duke, Fuguogong, Zhenguogong, etc. Eight points, and finally to the third-class general Feng En. The title is generally descended, and in theory, it is the legitimate son who inherits the title, and it depends on the emperor's grace; there are exceptions, that is, the hereditary and irreplaceable iron hat king can inherit the original title from generation to generation. In the early Qing Dynasty, there were eight families: Prince Li, Prince Zheng Prince, Prince Rui, Prince Yu, Prince Zhuang, Prince Su, Prince Keqin, Prince Shuncheng, Prince Yi was added during the Yongzheng period, and Prince Gong and Prince Chun were added in the late Qing Dynasty. Of course, there are also Mongolian princes, such as Prince Horqin, who are also hereditary. They all have their own large territories, so they can't let their titles get lower and lower.

But why I named myself after this, I really can’t explain now. Anyway, it’s out of my interest in Qing history. For example, I have a colleague whose pen name is “Kaifu Yitong Sansi”. It was his yearning for the Song Dynasty's respect for intellectuals. Let me talk about these princes of the Qing Dynasty. In the early Qing Dynasty, of course, titles were determined based on military merit. All the princes, commanders and kings had fought in the country through life and death. Until the Kangxi period, when the rebellions of Wu Sangui, Mongolia and Junggar were suppressed, it was the princes who led the troops. In the peaceful era of later generations, most of them were dandy, and their overall quality became lower as time went by. Until the Xuantong period, state affairs became a family matter, and a bunch of underage men were in charge of military and political power. It would be strange for the country to survive.

Among other princes, they can be divided into categories. Some died early. For example, the son of Concubine Dong E, Queen Duanjing of Shunzhi, died before being named. However, the son was honored by his mother and was named Prince Rong; The victims of political struggle were most obvious in the Yongzheng and Tongzhi dynasties. Yongzheng's eighth brother Yunsi and ninth brother Yunzu were renamed Aqina and Seth Hei and did not die well; during the Tongzhi period, Cixi launched the Xinyou coup, Gu Mingba Among the ministers, Prince Yi Zaiyuan and Prince Zheng Duanhuaci committed suicide, and Sushun who was beheaded was also a member of the clan (Duanhua's younger brother). There are people who have made great achievements in the political arena. The typical example is Prince Gong, a representative of the Westernization Movement. Some people have achieved relatively high achievements in culture because they have money and leisure. For example, Prince Yunlu of the Sixteenth Village of Kangxi was proficient in music, Prince Yunzhi of the Third Prince edited the "Collection of Ancient and Modern Books", and Qianlong's son became Prince Cheng. Yongxuan was a calligrapher. Prince Li Zhaozhen wrote "Miscellaneous Records of Xiaoting". Pu Dong, the famous Peking Opera fan and the owner of Hongdou Hall during the Republic of China, was also a descendant of Emperor Xuanzong and Daoguang. Some people have very good reputations, like Prince Yi Yunxiang. Yongzheng said he was loyal, respectful, honest, upright, diligent, prudent and upright. There has never been such a wise king in ancient and modern times. Prince Jian Depei during the Yongzheng period, you can tell who he is by hearing this name. Such people are called "Confucian kings". There are also some people with a very bad reputation, such as Zaiyi, the confused representative of Zongqiu during the Guangxu period, and Prince Duanjun who was crazy and superstitious about the Boxer Rebellion.

Their names are weird and contain more uncommon words. Why? When the emperor had more sons, he had to be ranked according to seniority. Starting from Yongzheng's generation, the first character was Yin, and the second character was "complement"; for Qianlong's generation, the first character was Hong, The second character has the character "日" next to it; the Jiaqing generation, the first character is "yong" and the second character has the character "wang" next to it; the Daoguang generation, the first character is "mian" and the second character has the character "vertical" next to it; Xianfeng In that generation, the first character was Yi, and the second character was Yanzipian; in the Tongzhi generation, the first character was Zai, and the second character included three dots of water; in the Xuantong generation, the first character was Pu, The second character is next to a single person; after that, there are Yu, Heng, and Qi. Whoever succeeds to the throne will have to avoid his or her name, change it to another word, or lack a pen. Several emperors starting from Jiaqing changed their names to rare characters in order to avoid being too troublesome for others. People of the same generation are all of the same radical. When there are many people, it is difficult to name them. In order to avoid the trouble of avoiding taboos, special commonly used characters cannot be used, so many names are not in the GB characters. Of course, the clans of distant branches are not necessarily named according to this seniority.

An important criterion for judging the rise and fall of a dynasty is to see whether the descendants are prosperous, so that they can be selected and established. Xianfeng only had one son, Tongzhi, and Tongzhi had no sons. The successor Guangxu was Xianfeng's nephew, and Guangxu still had no sons. Son, Xuantong who succeeded to the throne was Guangxu's nephew. Xuantong still had no children, which showed that the Qing Dynasty had to die. It can also be seen that there are no direct royal descendants after Xianfeng. The most recent royal family should be the descendants of Daoguang. Daoguang had nine sons. The first three sons died early, but the eldest son was adopted. The fourth son is Xianfeng has no descendants now, and the eighth and ninth sons are also adopted, so the first, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth sons should still have descendants. The seventh son is Prince Chun Yihuan. His descendants include the two emperors Guangxu and Xuantong, but neither of them has any descendants, so he cannot be considered a direct imperial lineage and can only be the descendant of Prince Chun Zaifeng.