[China and the Manchus by Herbert A. Giles]@TWC D-Link book
China and the Manchus

CHAPTER V--YUNG CHENG AND CH`IEN LUNG
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In 1732 he thought of expelling them altogether; but finding that they were enthusiastic teachers of filial piety, he left them alone, merely prohibiting fresh recruits from coming to China.
These domestic troubles were followed by a serious rebellion in Kokonor, which was not fully suppressed until the next reign; also by an outbreak among the aborigines of Kueichow and Yuennan, which lasted until three years later, when the tribesmen were brought under Imperial rule.
A Portuguese envoy, named Magalhaens (or Magaillans), visited Peking in 1727, bearing presents for the Emperor; but nothing very much resulted from his mission.

In 1730, in addition to terrible floods, there was a severe earthquake, which lasted ten days, and in which one hundred thousand persons are said to have lost their lives.

In 1735, Yung Cheng's reign came to an end amid sounds of a further outbreak of the aborigines in Kueichow.

Before his death, he named his fourth son, then only fifteen, as his successor, under the regency of two of the boy's uncles and two Grand Secretaries, one of the latter being a distinguished scholar, who was entrusted with the preparation of the history of the Ming dynasty.

Yung Cheng's name has always been somewhat unfairly associated by foreigners with a bitter hostility to the Catholic priests of his day, simply because he refused to allow them a free hand in matters outside their proper sphere.


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