Qianlong Emperor

1711–1799

The Qianlong Emperor ruled the Qing Empire from 1735 to 1796. His reign combined territorial expansion, court patronage and increasingly severe political control. The Book and the Sword centres on the legend that he was born Han Chinese and exchanged with a Manchu infant.

Jin Yong’s fiction uses this historical figure within a narrative that blends documented events, popular legend and wuxia invention.