1. Ortai was an eminent Manchu official from the Sirin Gioro clan, belonging to the Bordered Blue Banner, during the Qing dynasty.
16 Facts About Ortai
1. 2.
Ortai served both the Yongzheng Emperor and the Qianlong Emperor.
3.
Ortai was originally wed to a woman of the Guwalgiya clan, until she died.
4.
Ortai then refused to take on secondary spouses despite polygamous customs of aristocratic men of his generation.
5.
Ortai rose quickly through the ranks in his youth, reportedly due to his reputation for incorruptibility.
6.
In 1699, Ortai became a juren, and by 1703, he was promoted to captain of his family's Banner company.
7.
Ortai's assignment was to stabilize the region for Qing rule.
8.
Ortai dealt with more resistances in the next few years, including in Guzhou in 1729, and again in Wumeng in 1730.
9.
Ortai has been described as a successful Qing governor by Kent and other scholars, as he took power from local leaders and placed it in the hands of the Qing.
10.
Ortai increased the tax productive territory available to the empire via methods such as instituting mining reforms in Yunnan's salt and copper mining industries, increasing profits overall.
11.
Ortai took the blame for not having prevented this rebellion when he was governor general, and was demoted from hereditary rank.
12.
Ortai was honored in the Imperial Ancestral Temple and in the Temple of Eminent Statesmen, though this latter honor was later retracted.
13.
Ortai was a confidant and advisor to the Yongzheng emperor, and under the Yongzheng emperor, he was the second most powerful Manchu in the empire.
14.
The personal friendship and trust that Ortai enjoyed from the Yongzheng emperor allowed him greater authority as a governor.
15.
Zhang was a confidant and advisor to the Yongzheng emperor, like Ortai was, and he enjoyed a similar amount of power.
16.
In 1743, the emperor learned that Ortai had covered up corruption on the part of one of his sons.