29 Facts About Hong Taiji

Hong Taiji, rendered as Huang Taiji and sometimes referred to as Abahai in Western literature, known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizong of Qing, was the second khan of the Later Jin dynasty and the founding emperor of the Qing dynasty.

Hong Taiji was responsible for consolidating the empire that his father Nurhaci had founded and laid the groundwork for the conquest of the Ming dynasty, although he died before this was accomplished.

The modern Chinese rendering "Huang Taiji", which uses the character huang, misleadingly implies that Hong Taiji once held the title of "imperial prince" or heir apparent, even though his father and predecessor Nurhaci never designated a successor.

In redacted documents, Hong Taiji was simply called the "Fourth Beile" or "fourth prince", indicating that he was the fourth ranked among the eight beile Nurhaci had designated from among his sons.

Tatiana Pang and Giovanni Stary, two specialists of early Manchu history, consider this document as "further evidence" that Hong Taiji was his real name, "not being at all connected with the Chinese title huang taizi".

Historian Mark Elliott views this as persuasive evidence that Hong Taiji was not a title, but a personal name.

Hong Taiji was never mentioned under this name in Manchu and Chinese sources; it was a mistake first made by Russian clergyman Vladimir Gorsky and later repeated by sinologists starting in the early twentieth century.

Hong Taiji was the second Khan of the Later Jin and then Emperor of the Qing dynasty, after he changed its name.

Hong Taiji was the eighth son of Nurhaci, whom he succeeded as the second ruler of the Later Jin dynasty in 1626.

Hong Taiji might have had Mongolian ancestry as the son of Yehe-Nara Monggo Jerjer, and he might have been genetically related to the Mongolic Daur people as a member of the Aisin-Gioro clan.

Originally, at the end of Nurhaci's reign, Hong Taiji controlled the two White Banners, but after Lady Abahai's death, he switched his two banners with Dorgon and Dodo's two Yellow banners.

Hong Taiji continued the expansion of the Later Jin dynasty in Manchuria, pushing deeper into the Mongolian Plateau and raiding the Joseon dynasty and the Ming dynasty.

Hong Taiji described some Tibetan Buddhist lamas as "incorrigibles" and "liars", but still patronized Buddhism in order to harness the Tibetans' and Mongols' belief in the religion.

Hong Taiji started his conquest by subduing the potent Ming ally in Korea.

Hong Taiji realized the advantage of the Red Cannons and later bought the Red Cannons into the army.

In 1636, Hong Taiji invaded Joseon Korea, as the latter did not accept that Hong Taiji had become emperor and refused to assist in operations against the Ming.

Also during this period, Hong Taiji took over Inner Mongolia, which protected northern border of China, in three major wars, each of them victorious.

Hong Taiji recognized that the Manchus needed Han defectors in order to assist in the conquest of the Ming, and thus explained to other Manchus why he needed to be lenient to recent defectors like Ming general Hong Chengchou, who surrendered to the Qing in 1642.

When Hong Taiji came into power, the military was composed of entirely Mongol and Manchu companies.

However, Hong Taiji adopted from the Ming such institutions as the Six Ministries, the Censorate and others.

In 1635, Hong Taiji changed the name of his people from Jurchen to Manchu, or manju in the Manchu language.

Hong Taiji's ambition was to conquer China proper and overthrow the Ming dynasty, and to do that required not only a powerful military force but an effective bureaucratic administration.

Hong Taiji captured one of the Yuan dynasty's imperial jade seals and a golden Buddha called "Mahakala".

Whatever his precise motivation behind doing so might've been, Hong Taiji proclaimed the establishment of the Qing dynasty and changed his era name to Chongde in 1636.

Hong Taiji therefore adopted the new name of Qing, which includes the Chinese character for water on its left hand side.

Hong Taiji claimed that the progenitor of his clan, the Aisin Gioro, was the legendary figure Bukuri Yongson, who was supposedly conceived from a virgin birth.

However, another older version of the story by the Hurha tribe member Muksike recorded in 1635 contradicts Hong Taiji's version, claiming that it was in Heilongjiang province close to the Amur river where Bulhuri lake was supposedly located and that it was there that the "heavenly maidens" took their bath.

Hong Taiji's body was buried in Zhaoling, located in northern Shenyang.

Some historians suspect Hong Taiji was overall underrated and overlooked as a great emperor because he was a Manchu.