I’ll admit it: I can be snarky. Even in class. And one of my favorite pieces of snark for the last eight years or so has been the occasional flippant comparison between the George W. Bush years and the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1722-1796/1799).
In his Search for Modern China, the core text for my modern history class, Jonathan Spence writes of Qianlong:
“One can trace, running through many of Qianlong’s pronouncements and actions, an undercurrent–faint yet disturbing. It is that of a man who has been praised too much and has thought too little, of someone who has played to the gallery in public life, mistaken grandeur for substance, sought confirmation and support for even routine actions, and is not really equipped to make difficult or unpopular decisions.”
Despite vastly differences in times and circumstances, it is hard not to think of W. when reading those words.
Both were scions of powerful families who realized early on they probably were never going to live up to the past even though we must admit that Kangxi and Yongzheng are a helluva lot more intimidating and imposing figures to follow than George H.W. Bush. But the need for redemption