Qing Tombs

Jiaqing Emperor - Ruled from 1796 to 1820
Lived November 13, 1760 - September 2, 1820

He was born at the Old Summer Palace, 8km (5 mi) northwest of the walls of Beijing, and was given the name Yongyan. He was the fifteenth son of the Qianlong Emperor. His mother was a Han Chinese concubine, Concubine of the second rank Ling, who became a favorite of Qianlong. She was posthumously made Empress Xiao Yi Chun when her son became emperor. She was the daughter of Wei Qingtai, an official in the Qing administration whose Han Chinese family had long been integrated in the Manchu elites. In 1818 Emperor Jiaqing made his mother's family officially Manchu, and changed their Chinese family name Wei into the Manchu clan name Weigiya.

After the first two original choices for heir to the throne succumbed early to disease, in December 1773 Yongyan was secretly chosen by Qianlong to be the next emperor. In 1789 he was made Prince of the 1st rank Jia.

At the end of his reign, Gaozong worked closely with a Manchu government minister called Heshen. Prince Jia hated the notoriously corrupt Heshen for his abuse of power, and vowed to punish the minister once he became emperor.