Status and court service
Yunzhi, previously named Yinzhi, was the Kangxi emperor's third son. He accompanied imperial military expeditions, at one stage administered the Bordered Red Banner's principal camp, and received the title Prince Cheng of the Second Rank. His rank did not remain unchanged: he was reduced to beile following a punishment for shaving his head during the mourning period for Consort Min, and was restored to the higher rank of Prince Cheng of the First Rank in 1709.
Scholarship and compilation
Yunzhi was closely associated with imperial scholarly projects involving musical pitch and theory, calendrical calculation, and mathematics. The Lüli yuanyuan (Origins of Musical Pitch and Calendrical Calculation) belongs to this court-sponsored program. His role as director or supervisor should be distinguished from personally devising each procedure, calculation, or passage in the resulting books. These compilations illustrate the relationship between the imperial household and the organization of technical knowledge at the Qing court.
Disgrace and historical interpretation
After Yongzheng became emperor, Yunzhi was ordered to attend to the Jingling imperial tomb. He subsequently faced repeated sanctions arising from accusations that included bribery and breaches of court ceremonial practice. In 1730 his princely title was removed and he was confined at Yong'an Pavilion on Jingshan. He died in 1732 and was buried according to the protocol for a prince of the second rank; the posthumous name Yin was subsequently bestowed in 1737. Accounts of these penalties should identify them as judgments made in the political context of the reigning court, rather than repeating their condemnatory language as an independent assessment of character.
Sources and Bibliography
Links reproduce references supplied with the Chinese editorial manuscript; they do not establish that every individual statement has undergone independent archival verification.
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