Yunreng


Yunreng, born Yinreng, was a Manchu prince of the Qing dynasty. He was the second among the Kangxi Emperor's sons to survive into adulthood and was designated as Crown Prince for two terms between 1675 and 1712 before being deposed. He was posthumously honoured as Prince Limi of the First Rank.

Life

Yunreng was born of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan as the seventh son of the Kangxi Emperor, but was the second among the emperor's sons to survive into adulthood. He was given the infant name "Baocheng", and was renamed "Yinreng" when he became older. His mother was the Kangxi Emperor's first empress, Empress Xiaochengren from the Hešeri clan, who was also a granddaughter of Sonin. She died not long after giving birth to Yinreng, and was greatly lamented by the Kangxi Emperor.
The Kangxi Emperor personally taught Yinreng to read and he proclaimed Yinreng as his Crown Prince when Yinreng was only a year old. Under the tutelage of several scholar-officials, Yinreng became well-versed in the Chinese and Manchu languages. Between 1696 and 1697, when the Kangxi Emperor was away twice on military campaigns against Galdan Khan of the Zunghar Khanate, Yinreng was appointed as regent to supervise affairs in the imperial capital, Beijing. Despite scandals and accusations of immorality, Yinreng remained in his father's favour and was given the Western Gardens of Beijing as his residence.
In 1703, Yinreng's granduncle Songgotu was found guilty of attempting to murder the Kangxi Emperor, along with a series of corruption charges, and was imprisoned and died shortly afterwards. Yinreng gradually fell out of his father's favour as a result. In 1708, during a hunting expedition in Rehe, the Kangxi Emperor accused Yinreng of immorality, sexual impropriety, usurping power, and treason. Yinreng was stripped of his position as Crown Prince and imprisoned. When it was later discovered that the First Prince Yinzhi had employed lamas to cast evil spells on Yinreng, the Kangxi Emperor pardoned Yinreng in 1709 and restored him as Crown Prince. In the following three years, Yinreng's condition deteriorated and the Kangxi Emperor became convinced that Yinreng was insane. Consequently, in 1712, Yinreng was deposed again and placed in perpetual confinement.
In 1722, the Kangxi Emperor died and was succeeded by his fourth son Yinzhen, who became historically known as the Yongzheng Emperor. Yinreng changed his name to Yunreng to avoid naming taboo because the Chinese character for "Yin" in "Yinreng" is the same as the one in the Yongzheng Emperor's personal name "Yinzhen". Yunreng died three years later in 1725 while still being incarcerated. He was granted the posthumous title of "Prince Limi of the First Rank".
The bitter factionalism between the Kangxi Emperor's sons and the dispute over the succession prompted the Yongzheng Emperor to establish a practice of writing a secret imperial edict on who would succeed to the throne, and sealing the edict in a box behind a tablet in the Palace of Heavenly Purity in the Forbidden City. The edict would only be publicly revealed upon the death of the reigning emperor.

Family

----

In fiction and popular culture