WHITE LOTUS REBELS (cid:2) (cid:2) AND SOUTH CHINA PIRATES WHITE LOTUS REBELS (cid:2) (cid:2) AND SOUTH CHINA PIRATES Crisis and Reform in the Qing Empire WENSHENG WANG Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, En gland 2014 Copyright © 2014 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from the Library of Congress ISBN: 978-0-674-72531-7 (alk. paper) Contents Introduction 1 I CONTEXTUALIZING CRISES 1. Origins of the Qianlong- Jiaqing Crises 17 II A VIEW FROM THE BOTTOM 2. The White Lotus Rebellion in the Han River Highlands 37 3. The Piracy Crisis in the South China Sea 81 III A VIEW FROM THE TOP 4. Court Politics and Imperial Visions 113 5. The Inner White Lotus Rebellion 132 6. The Jiaqing Reforms 165 7. The Piracy Crisis and Foreign Diplomacy 209 Conclusion 253 vi Contents List of Abbreviations and Primary Sources 261 Notes 265 Ac know ledg ments 319 Index 323 WHITE LOTUS REBELS (cid:2) (cid:2) AND SOUTH CHINA PIRATES Introduction On Lunar New Year’s Day of 1796, a much anticipated ceremony of abdication and accession was staged in grand style at the Forbidden City. This was certainly a day of triple happiness. After sixty “glorious” years on the throne, a full calendrical cycle by Chinese reckoning, the eighty- fi ve-y ear- old Qianlong (r. 1736– 1796) carried out his well- publicized prom- ise to step down and became China’s “Supreme Abdicated Monarch / Grand Emperor” (Tai Shang Huangdi). In China’s two thousand years of imperial history, this Manchu ruler had both the longest life span and the second longest reign of any monarch. He proudly bestowed the imperial seal on his fi fteenth son, Yongyan, the designated heir apparent, and made him the fi fth emperor of the Great Qing (1644–1 911), with the reign title Jiaqing (offi cially 1796– 1820 but in fact 1799– 1820).1 Such a smooth, voluntary exchange of power (neishan) between two liv- ing rulers had not occurred since the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1 279). Missing no opportunity for self-a ggrandizement, Qianlong wished to turn his well-o rchestrated retirement into what he envisioned as “one of the most remarkable events in the annals of history.” Three days later, the aging emperor hosted his second “Banquet of Thousands of Elders” (Qiansou Yan) in the imperial palace, joined by 3,065 imperial relatives, sen ior offi - cials, and ordinary subjects above the age of sixty from throughout the empire. Special tributary envoys from Korea, Annam, Siam, and Nepal also attended the festivities and offered congratulations. Apparently the