34 Facts About Dorgon

Dorgon was a Manchu prince and regent of the early Qing dynasty.

Dorgon served as Prince-Regent from 1643 to 1650, throughout the Shunzhi Emperor's early reign.

Dorgon introduced the policy of forcing all Han Chinese men to shave the front of the heads and wear their hair in queues just like the Manchus.

Dorgon died in 1650 during a hunting trip and was posthumously honoured as an emperor even though he was never an emperor during his lifetime.

Dorgon was posthumously rehabilitated and restored of his honorary titles by the Qianlong Emperor in 1778.

Dorgon was born in the Manchu Aisin-Gioro clan as the 14th son of Nurhaci, the Khan of the Later Jin dynasty.

Dorgon was one of the most influential among Nurhaci's sons, and his role was instrumental to the Qing occupation of Beijing, the capital of the fallen Ming dynasty, in 1644.

Dorgon fought against the Chahar Mongols in 1628 and 1635.

In 1645, Dorgon was conferred the title "Emperor's Uncle and Prince-Regent".

Dorgon soon replaced Hooge's supporters with his own, thus gaining closer control of two more banners.

Dorgon requested Dorgon's help in ousting the rebels and restoring the Ming Empire.

When Dorgon asked Wu Sangui to work for the Qing Empire instead, Wu had little choice but to accept.

Dorgon had to repeal this command three weeks later after several peasant rebellions erupted around Beijing, threatening Qing control over the capital region.

Dorgon gave a Manchu woman as a wife to the Han Chinese official Feng Quan, who had defected from the Ming to the Qing.

In 1646, Dorgon ordered that the imperial civil service examinations for selecting government officials be reinstated.

Dorgon was joined by another Muslim named Ding Guodong.

Dorgon was posthumously granted the title "Emperor Yi" and the temple name "Chengzong", even though he was never emperor during his lifetime, which is unique in all history of feudal China when only direct ancestors and deceased heirs of a higher degree to an emperor were posthumously granted the title of Emperor.

However, the suspicion that Dorgon was actually murdered by his political enemies while being away from the heavy protection afforded him inside the Forbidden City never went away.

Dorgon had 25 years of experience of horse-riding and managed to survive, on horseback, numerous battles with the Koreans, Mongols, Han Chinese rebels, as well as regular Han Chinese armies.

Dorgon's death took place when Emperor Shunzhi was about 13, an appropriate age for removing the regency over his head.

That is, if Dorgon had died any earlier, Shunzhi would still need a regent to supervise the empire on his behalf.

The last charge that Dorgon took Hooge's wife was mostly contrived, as the Manchu tradition dating from the 12th century had allowed a male relative to marry the deceased person's wife almost as a charitable act to save her and her children from being starved to death in the minus 20, merciless winters of the northeastern tip of China, known nowadays as Manchuria.

Jirgalang was an ally of Hooge in the 1643 bitter fight against Dorgon, who allied with his biological brothers for succession to the throne.

Execution of all of Dorgon's heirs was ordered but intentionally not recorded in official Qing history.

Dorgon had two biological brothers: Ajige, the 12th son of Nurhaci and Dodo, the 15th.

However, Dorgon was posthumously rehabilitated during the Qianlong Emperor's reign.

The Qianlong Emperor, either intentionally or inadvertently, contradicted the records of the imperial ancestral temple left behind by Shunzhi when he ordered that the words "Dorgon's heirs having been exterminated" be included into official Qing history to indicate why Dorbo, a fifth generation descendant of Dodo, was designated to inherit the iron-cap princely title of Dorgon.

The Qianlong Emperor ordered that the rehabilitation of Dorgon be accompanied by a destruction of all the records related to the elimination of the heirs of Dorgon.

The extermination of Dorgon's heirs did not include his daughter, whose birth year of 1650, the same year when Dorgon died, was allowed to be left on records.

Dorgon had married at least 10 wives and concubines over a period of 25 years or more.

Records in the imperial ancestral temple indicate that none of his 10 wives and concubines was able to conceive a son for Dorgon over a period of 25 years, whereas only a daughter was born at the end of this 25-year period, in the same year when he died.

Dorgon fled Beijing with the active assistance of a key member of the White Banner under the command of Dorgon when he was alive.

Dorgon is usually considered a good, devoted politician but he is blamed for "Six Bad Policies ".

Dorgon was handsome, tall and slim, and had a shiny and beautiful beard.