the corrupt favorite of his father and attempted to restore order within the empire while curbing the smuggling of opium into China. Assessments of his reign are mixed, either seen as the "beginning of the end" of the Qing dynasty, or as a period of moderate reform that presaged the intellectual movements of the 1860s.

Early years

Yongyan was born in the Old Summer Palace, 8 km (5 mi) northwest of the walls of

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