Qishan was born in Beijing in January 1786. He obtained the position of a Yinsheng in the Imperial Examination and entered the Qing bureaucracy in 1806, at the age of 20. He was part of the Jiaqing Emperor's bodyguard force from 1808 to 1814, and served as the Governor-General of Liangjiang, one of the richest regions in the Qing Dynasty, in 1825. From 1831 to 1840, Qishan governed Zhili, the province surrounding the Qing capital, Beijing. In 1840, Qishan was selected to succeed Lin Zexu as the Qing Dynasty's Imperial Commissioner. After successful negotiations in the Hai River and in Guangzhou, Qishan and British Superintendent of Trade in China, Charles Elliot, drafted and signed the Convention of Chuenpi. Due to this, Qishan was arrested and stripped of his ranks. He was reinstated as an official in 1842, and was appointed terms as the Viceroy of Tibet in 1843, Sichuan in 1846, and Shaan-Gan (Shaanxi and Anhui)in 1849. In 1852, he was once again appointed as Imperial Commissioner of the Qing to stop the Taiping Rebellion, which resulted in a failure. Qishan died in the summer of 1854.
The Borjigit Clan was split into branches, and Qishan's specific branch was from the Jasaghtu Khan of the Khorchin Mongols, who were among the first to submit to the Qing and form marriage alliances with the Aisin Gioro house. After intermarrying with the Aisin-Gioro house and successfully annexing Mongolia, Qishan's family was incorporated into the Plain Yellow Banner, which was part of the "Upper Three Banners" of the Qing Dynasty, as they were directly under the command of the Emperor.
Qishan's 7th generation ancestor Enggeder had led his followers to submit to the Qing Dynasty and received a hereditary first class marquis peerage in return. Qishan inherited the peerage from his ancestor. Qishan's great-great-grandfather, Céng Shùn (成顺 / 常绶), held the title of Fuguo Gong (辅国公, Duke of the Third Order), which was a high-ranking noble title in the Qing Dynasty. Qishan's great-grandfather and grandfather, Fùjíng (富景 / 傅景) and Bǐngshù (炳舒 / 炳绶), served as a high-ranking military commanders. Qishan's father, Yùlín (裕麟), held the position of Fengche Duwei (奉车都尉), a prestigious title involving close proximity to the Emperor (who, at the time, was the Qianlong Emperor).
Qishan was born in Beijing on 18 January 1786, and he was a Khalkha Mongol by birth. He was from the Borjigit clan. Qishan's primary education was conducted through the Qing Banner System, which involved fluency in Manchu and high proficiency in Mandarin Chinese. He was also schooled in the principles of statecraft, law, and the complex administrative machinery of the Qing government. He lived in a multi-courtyard compound in the Banner Garrison Area of Beijing's Inner City, and also studied horsemanship and archery.
In his early career, Qishan also had a Yin privilege, a system of where sons of high-ranking Qing officials were granted official titles or direct access to government posts by virtue of their father's status and service, as Qishan was a young nobleman and part of a banner. This also meant that Qishan did not need to take the standard Civil Service examination, and instead needed to take the Imperial examination.
Career
Qing Bureaucracy And Successes (1806-1840)
In 1806, aged 20, Qishan obtained the position of a yinsheng (蔭生) in the entry-level imperial examination, meaning he did not need to take the imperial examination to enter the Qing bureaucracy due to his Yin privilege. His first official appointment in the bureaucracy was as a yuanwailang (員外郎;assistant director) in the Ministry of Justice. The Yuanwailang was a rank 5b position in the Qing bureaucracy, and it's role was a section head or deputy director. He would have been responsible for assisting in the review of legal cases, managing documents, and overseeing clerks. For a young man in his early twenties, this was a very high starting point.
An Imperial bodyguard from the late 1700s.
In 1808, Qishan was selected as a junior officer (延勤侍) of the elite Imperial Bodyguard. The selection operated as a strategic promotion, as service in the Imperial Bodyguard granted Qishan direct communication with the Jiaqing Emperor, the Qing emperor at the time, and a position in the Imperial Bodyguard was reserved for the most trusted future officials, and it signaled that Qishan was marked for high office. From 1809 to 1813, He was intermittently promoted to higher ranks within the Bodyguard, such as Yizheng Dachen (議政大臣). In 1814, Qishan shifted back to the Qing bureaucracy, and was appointed Vice-commander of the Mongol Plain Yellow Banner, where he managed Manchu-Mongol affairs. In 1817, he was appointed as the Junior Vice-President of the Court of Colonial Affairs, also known as the Lifan Yuan, which was responsible for managing Qing relations with provinces Outer Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang.
In 1819, he was promoted to xunfu (provincial governor) of Henan Province but was later demoted to zhushi (主事) and put in charge of river works. In 1821, under the new Daoguang Emperor, Qishan was sent to Jiangsu, one of the Qing's richest provinces, as Financial Commissioner (布政使). In 1825, Qishan was appointed as Governor-General of Liangjiang. This appointment meant he was the Governor-General of Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Anhui, which was the wealthiest and most strategically important region in China. He also served in more appointments, including Sichuan (1829–1831) and Zhili (1831–1840). Qishan's term as Viceroy of Zhili was extremely important, as he was governing the province surrounding Beijing, the capital. He was required to defend the capital, manage the transportation of goods to Beijing, and manage water conservancy of the Yellow River and Jinghang Waterway. Due to the Yellow River's proneness to flooding, Qishan reinforced dikes.
Encampment where Qishan met British Plenipotentiary Charles Elliot
In June 1840, Qishan was chosen to represent Qing authorities and the Daoguang Emperor in negotiations with the British Empire's Expeditionary Force, led by Charles Elliot, in Hai River regarding compensation for the Opium destroyed by Lin Zexu. Upon witnessing British naval power during negotiations, he ordered his troops to evacuate from the artillery batteries and sent Bao Peng (鮑鵬) to meet the British at Chuenpi (穿鼻; present-day Humen, Guangdong Province) and call for a peace settlement. To convince the expeditionary force to continue negotiations in Chuenpi and in return for the courtesy of the British north division expeditionary forces to withdraw themselves from the Hai River and Yellow Sea, Qishan promised to requisition imperial funds as restitution for British merchants who had suffered damages during Lin Zexu’s confiscation of Opium.
On 20 January 1841 in Chuenpi, without seeking approval from the Qing imperial court, Qishan agreed to the Convention of Chuenpi with Charles Elliot after negotiations. The convention stipulated that the Qing Dynasty would pay the British an indemnity of six million silver coins, cede Hong Kong Island in exchange for Zhoushan Island, there be equal diplomatic relations between the British and Qing, the release of British merchants trapped and held captive by the Qing, and Guangzhou reopening for trade in February of 1841. The Daoguang Emperor was furious when he found out later that Qishan had agreed to the convention without his permission. He ordered Qishan to be arrested and escorted as a criminal to Beijing for trial. Qishan had his properties and assets confiscated and was sentenced to military service as a result. He was replaced by Yishan as Imperial Commissioner afterwards.
Reinstatement and Political Redemption (1842-1851)
Qishan was pardoned later and reinstated as an official in 1842. To regain the trust of the Qing Imperial court, Qishan was appointed as an Imperial Resident in Tibet from 1843 to 1847. During his term as an Imperial resident of Tibet, the British East India Company expressed interest in opening trade with Tibet and solving border disputes between the Qing, Sikkim, and Bhutan, which presented itself as a threat. Qishan also viewed the Sikh Empire as a threat towards Tibet's western frontiers. As a result, Qishan accused a Tibetan official, Doring Pandita, of conspiring with the Nepalese court without the knowledge or permission of Qishan or the Daoguang Emperor. Qishan then arrested, tried, and imprisoned Pandita and his associates in 1845.
Throughout his term, Qishan also remained strict and vigilant towards the British, brought on from his failed experiences in the First Opium War. He reinforced border defences towards the south, where the British East India Company was located, and refused British trade attempts. After his term in Tibet ended in 1847, he was appointed a second term as Viceroy of Sichuan (1846–1849). Sichuan was infamously filled with bandits, and it's topographically diverse environment made it difficult for Qing authorities to traverse and enforce control on the province. Sichuan was also heavily impacted by the Qing Dynasty's decline in the 19th century, which allowed for smaller protests similar to the White Lotus Rebellion to surface in the province. This showed that Sichuan was a very unstable province at the time. As the Viceroy, Qishan deployed Green Standard Army troops to rat out bandits.
In 1847, a rebellion took place in Sichuan led by a man named Li Yuanfa. The rebellion's motives and ideologies were similar to those of the White Lotus Rebellion. Qishan acted decisively, mobilizing forces to besiege and crush the rebellion in Guang'an and surrounding areas. The suppression was swift and ruthless, resulting in the execution of the rebel leaders and the dispersal of their followers. After his term as Viceroy of Sichuan ended, he was appointed as Viceroy of Shaan-Gan from 1849 to 1851.
As Viceroy of Shaan-Gan, Qishan was tasked with governing the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. At the time, the Shaan-Gan region had many issues, ranging from ethnic and religious diversity (especially in Gansu) due to the presence of Muslims, Han Chinese, Tibetans, and Mongols coexisting, history of conflict, and economic hardship (due to proneness to famine). Qishan was appointed as Viceroy to resolve such issues, as it was a vital land corridor connecting China proper to Central Asia (Xinjiang), making the maintenance of the "Gansu Corridor" important for imperial control.
Qishan's approach was relatively similar to his past approaches in Tibet and Sichuan, where he used overwhelming military force to suppress protests, uprisings, and rebellions. During his tenure, there were several localized uprisings and "bandit" activities, often with sectarian undertones, which he dealt with promptly using this tactic. Additionally, he oversaw the Green Standard Army garrisons in the region, ensuring they were equipped and ready to respond to threats. However, managing the provinces' economic issues was significantly more difficult. One of Qishan's strategies was to manage the granary system, which would help with the provinces' economy and prevent famines. By 1851, the Qing Imperial court considered Qishan's governing of Tibet, Sichuan, and Shaan-Gan to be massively successful.
Taiping Rebellion and death (1852-1854)
In the summer of 1852, Qishan was appointed once again as the Imperial Commissioner and a commander of Qing forces by the new Xianfeng Emperor, who had inherited the throne only two years prior due to the Daoguang Emperor's death. Realising the inadequacy of the Qing's existing commanders and recognising Qishan's successes in governing provinces, the Xianfeng Emperor appointed Qishan as Imperial Commissioner and commander mainly to battle the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of the Taiping Rebellion, the deadliest Civil war since the Ming-Qing Transition.
To begin the defensive, Qishan bolstered defences in Henan to prevent any move north from the Taiping forces, which had already captured the Nanjing region, and had placed their capital in Nanjing (renamed Tianjing). Qishan then established one of the two camps used to besiege Taiping forces in Nanjing, named the "Jiangbei Camp" (江北大營) on the northern bank of the Yangtze River at Yangzhou. Qishan's army, which resided in the camp, was named the Jiangnan Daying and consisted of 18,000 Green Standard Army infantry soldiers. As commander of the Jiangbei Camp, Qishan was tasked to apply constant pressure on the Taiping-controlled Nanjing.
Having experienced British military strength a decade prior, Qishan prioritised well-organised attacks over immediate attacks. Because of this, Qishan's tactic was to cut off Nanjing supply routes and starve the Taiping forces to death. However, this "slow" approach sparked tensions between Qishan, the Xianfeng Emperor, and Xiang Rong, another Qing general. The Xianfeng Emperor criticised Qishan for his "sluggish" approach, and urged him to launch an immediate attack to recapture Nanjing. Furthermore, Qishan's troops were also unable to recapture Zhenjiang, a city that had been besieged by Taiping forces.
In May 1853, the Taiping forces launched the Northern Expedition, a long march headed directly towards Beijing. The march broke through Qishan's siege, and he was heavily criticised for his failed efforts. His forces at the camp remained locked in a stalemate with the Taiping defenders, meaning he could not prevent sorties from the city nor could he mount a successful assault. From Summer to Autumn of 1853, Northern Expedition forces navigated Anhui, Henan, and began travelling into Shanxi, threatening Beijing. Panicked, the Xianfeng Emperor demanded Qishan break the siege and launch an attack on Nanjing. Under immense pressure, Qishan launches multiple attacks around Nanjing, but all result in devastating defeats. In early 1854, Taiping Western Expeditionary forces threaten the Middle Yangtze Region.
Qishan died on 3 August, 1854, aged 68, in camp due to illness from physical exhaustion, and immense distress. The Qing government granted him the posthumous name "Wenqin" (文勤).
Personal life
Qishan had two children. His son Jingshou (景寿) married the Daoguang Emperor's sixth daughter, Princess Hejing (固伦和静公主). Meanwhile, Qishan's daughter married the Daoguang Emperor's son, Prince Chun, making her the stepmother of the Guangxu Emperor and the step-grandmother of Puyi, the last Qing emperor.
Qishan was also described as pragmatic and arrogant by British Superintendent Charles Elliot.
During negotiations with Charles Elliot in Guangzhou in the First Opium War, Qishan faked an illness to buy time. This prompted British soldiers to search Qishan's sewage, where they allegedly found traces of Opium. However, many historians approach this information with skepticism, as they believe it was Propaganda from the British.
Notes
Footnotes
↑The British referred to him as "Keshen". Later usage was "Ch'i Shan" and the pinyin is "Qíshàn".[1][2]
Citations
↑Hoe, Susanna; Roebuck, Derek (1999). The Taking of Hong Kong: Charles and Clara Elliot in China Waters. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press. p.xviii. ISBN0-7007-1145-7.
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