Here's another story (or part of a story) for the Kids in Ancient Chinese history collection. It's also a few part story; this is the first part. Enjoy!
Can you imagine becoming emperor at the age of seven? This was Kangxi (May 5, 1654-December 20, 1722). When he was born, he was called by a different name “Xuanye” but changed his name to show that this was a new life for him. If you were to change your name, what would you change it to? He was the second person to become emperor during the Qing Dynasty. This was an interesting time in China because a completely different people took over China. Some of them didn’t even know Chinese, but they ruled over China! They had the men wear their hair in a “queue.” This is when men have a long braid of hair in the back and then no hair on the top. It must’ve been cold in the winter without hair! Hopefully a lot of the men had good, warm hats to wear! The women’s clothes changed too. They were now supposed to wear a Qipao, which is a type of dress that had buttons close to the shoulder. For men to have a queue was a big thing. If you were a man who was seen not having the long braid (or not trying to grow one!) You could be put in jail! They wanted to show the people that this was a new China.
What about Kangxi? Why is he so famous? He’s probably one of the most famous emperors in all of Chinese history, which is a lot to say! China has had many, many emperors. For a country to have over 4,000 years of history, there has to be a lot of emperors! So, how did Kangxi look like? During Kangxi’s time a lot of people came from Europe to China and when they went back, they talked about how China was and about the emperor. From what people have said about him, he was tall. Not really tall, but a little taller than most people around him. He loved exercising and one of his favorite hobbies was hunting.
Kangxi was a busy man! It’s often said that he went to sleep very late because he was always reading about how the country was doing and about different parts of the country. He was the first emperor to learn how to play a musical instrument that wasn’t from China. He learned to play the harpsichord, which is a type of piano. Do you think they made the harpsichord in China or brought it with them from Europe. If they brought it with them, it must’ve been a lot of work! This was before there were cars and moving trucks. Let’s read about a few other things this famous emperor did in his lifetime:
