Yunti, Prince Xun

Kangxi era

Yunti was born "Yinti" (胤祯; 胤禎; Yìnzhēn) in the Aisin Gioro clan as the 14th son of the Kangxi Emperor. His mother was Empress Xiaogongren, who also bore the Yongzheng Emperor. As Yunti's birth name "Yinti" was similar to that of his fourth brother, Yinzhen (胤禛), it was changed to "Yunti".

In 1709, Yinti was granted the title of a beizi. In 1718, after Dzungar forces defeated a Qing army along the Salween River in Tibet, the Kangxi Emperor appointed Yinti as "Great General Who Pacifies the Frontier" (撫遠大將軍) to lead an army of 300,000 into Tibet to attack the Dzungars and their leader, Tsewang Rabtan. It was believed that this was a sign that the Kangxi Emperor was considering Yinti as a potential heir to his throne. In February 1720, Yinti ordered his deputies Galbi and Yanxin to set out from Xining to take Lhasa, while he remained in Xining to build up support with their Mongol allies and then escort the Seventh Dalai Lama to Lhasa. On 24 September 1720, Yinti's army captured Lhasa and returned the Dalai Lama to the Potala Palace.

Yongzheng era

On 21 December 1722, just as Yinti was planning for a conquest of the Dzungar Khanate, he received news of the Kangxi Emperor's death and was immediately summoned back to the capital, Beijing, to attend his father's funeral. His fourth brother, Yinzhen, succeeded their father and became historically known as the Yongzheng Emperor. Yinti and his brothers had to change the character Yin (胤) in their names to Yun (允) to avoid naming taboo, because the reigning emperor's personal name contained the character Yin.

In 1723, Yunti was promoted from beizi to junwang (second-rank prince). However, in the following year, he was demoted back to beizi. The Yongzheng Emperor perceived Yunti as a potential threat to his throne, so he stripped Yunti of his beizi title in 1725 and placed him under house arrest at Shouhuang Palace, in the present-day Jingshan Park.

Qianlong era

In 1735, the Yongzheng Emperor died and was succeeded by his fourth son Hongli, who became historically known as the Qianlong Emperor. The Qianlong Emperor released Yunti in the same year after his coronation. In 1737, Yunti was restored to the ranks of nobility as a fuguo gong (a lesser duke). Ten years later, in 1747, he was promoted to beile. In 1748, he was further promoted back to junwang and granted the title "Prince Xun of the Second Rank" (恂郡王).

Yunti died on 16 February 1755 and was posthumously honoured as Prince Xunqin of the Second Rank (恂勤郡王). The Prince Xun peerage was inherited by his second son, Hongming (弘明; 1705–1767), who became a beile in 1735.

Ancestry