Xuanye

Xuanye (玄燁) is the personal name of the Qing dynasty emperor better known by his reign title, the Kangxi Emperor. He was the fourth emperor of the Qing and one of the longest-reigning in Chinese history, holding the throne from 1661 to 1722. Born in 1654, he ascended at age seven after the death of his father Shunzhi. Early years were overseen by regents, but he assumed full power in 1669 and guided the empire through decades of consolidation, expansion, and cultural flowering.

During his reign, Xuanye presided over the suppression of internal revolts, notably the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, and he expanded Qing authority across the south and west. He extended Qing control into Taiwan (1683) and intensified campaigns that brought much of Xinjiang under imperial rule, reinforcing a multi-ethnic, centralized state. In diplomacy, he negotiated the Nerchinsk Treaty with Russia in 1689, establishing borders and regularized relations for the first time between the two empires. The Kangxi era also saw administrative reforms that increased central oversight, the growth of a centralized Grand Secretariat-adjacent apparatus, and cultural patronage.

Culturally, Xuanye sponsored scientific and literary work and oversaw the compilation of the Kangxi Dictionary (Kangxi Zidian), published in 1716, which became a foundational reference for Chinese lexicography. His long, stable rule is viewed as a high point of early Qing governance, balancing expansion with consolidation and Confucian statecraft. He died in 1722, and was succeeded by his son Yongzheng.