Six Year Old Emperor Has Taken The Throne

            Emperor Shunzhi took the throne at age five in 1643 because his father Huang Taiji had died.

          Emperor Shunzhi was so young when he took charge of a whole dynasty. He tried to do everything that he could to make his people feel safe and welcome in his dynasty. Since he was the Emperor he had to start acting like one, and take charge of his people and the people around him.

He appointed bondservants as people in charge of the internal palace administration and supervisors of the imperial workshops that produced porcelain, silk and other luxury goods for imperial use.

He wanted people to like him as their new emperor so while he was emperor he kept taxes to a moderate amount. The taxes were also at a moderate amount because of the population. Taxes during this period in time were said to be one of the most moderate in Chinese imperial history.

Also in 1646 Shunzhi re-established the state examinations. The state examinations had been discontinued during the period of dynastic transition.

Many people had doubted that Shunzhi would do a very good job as emperor. They thought that there would be so much older, and more experienced emperor’s that could do a better job, but Huang Taiji picked Shunzhi.

Emperor Shunzhi did prove all of those who were against him wrong though. He turned out to be a very courageous, and strong emperor. It didn’t matter to him how old he was, all he cared about was making the Qing Dynasty a better dynasty in China.