The Jiaqing Emperor was the son of the Qianlong Emperor. From 1796 to 1820, he was the fifth emperor of the Qing dynasty

He was born at the Old Summer Palace, 8 km (5 mi) northwest of the walls of Beijing, and was given the name Yongyan, changed into Yongyan when he became emperor: the first character of his private name was changed from 永 to 顒, both pronounced Yong, as the former is used commonly. This novelty was introduced by his father the Qianlong Emperor who thought it was not proper to use a common character in the Emperor's private name due to the long-standing practice of naming taboo.

He was the fifteenth son of the Qianlong Emperor. His mother was a Han Chinese concubine of the second rank Ling (令贵妃/令貴妃), who became a favorite of the Emperor. She was posthumously made Empress Xiaoyichun when her son became emperor. She was the daughter of Wei Qingtai, an official in the Qing administration whose Han Chinese family had long been integrated in the Manchu elites. In 1818 Jiaqing Emperor made his mother's family officially Manchu, and changed their Chinese family name Wei into the Manchu clan name Weigiya.

At the end of his reign, the Qianlong Emperor worked closely with a Manchu government minister called Heshen. Prince Jia hated the notoriously corrupt Heshen for his abuse of power, and vowed to punish the minister once he became Emperor.

Court intrigues and incidents

Members of the Qing royal family tried to assassinate him twice – in 1803 and in 1813. The princes involved in the attempts on his life were executed. Other members of the imperial family, numbering in the hundreds, were exiled.