The best--absolutely best--biography of a Chinese emperor I've ever read. While a number of new hefty biographies have been released on Chinese emperors (such as [b:Perpetual Happiness|993311|Perpetual Happiness|Shih-Shan Henry Tsai|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347502892s/993311.jpg|978805] and Patricia Ebrey's [b:Emperor Huizong|17804384|Emperor Huizong|Patricia Buckley Ebrey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1367223693s/17804384.jpg|24906363]), this little volume by Professor Mark C. Elliott on the best known emperor of the Qing, surpasses them all. It is concise, well-written, insightful, and elegantly (and eloquently) doesn't allow a statement to pass without an example. If only more historical biographies would use this device! I learned more about China during the 17th and 18th centuries in these 166 pages on Qianlong's life and rule than the many standard histories of the Qing I've read. Elliott's wonderful, illustrative examples make this book into a page-turner. I confess I had not expected such a rich experience from a volume in a series of "World Biographies" (a Longman series). If only Elliott would write similar volumes for all the Qing emperors who have been woefully neglected in favor of the Tang, Yuan and Ming Dynasties.

Were you also told that the name of the dynasty (Qing) meant in Chinese 'pure and bright'? Professor Elliott, one of the very very few scholars who is fluent in Manchu, informs us that "in the Manchu language the new name [it used to be called simply Manju or 'Manchu'] was Daicing, which in both Manchu and Mongolian means "warrior." (p. 55) Did you know that Qianlong would probably have preferred his youngest daughter Hexiao, born in 1775 when he was 64 years old, to follow him on the throne rather than his 15th son (the only son of 17 who was even remotely qualified)? That despite his fame as an astute art collector and artist, his own paintings were quite mediocre (although his calligraphy was exceptionally fine)? His chapters on the socio-economic policies followed by Qianlong shed an entire new light for me on current Chinese history and the Party's policies. I won't write more because if you're interested enough in this subject to be reading this review, you MUST read this volume.

Finally, the "Bibliographic Essay" at the back of the book is one of the finest bibliographies I've ever seen on the Qing Dynasty. Its short synopses of reference materials (in Chinese and English) is worth its weight in gold and has sifted for all of us, the wheat from the chaff.

Five stars? This book is worth ten stars! ( )