Kangxi's Valedictory Edict, 1717

When I was young, Heaven gave me great strength, and I didn't know what sickness was. This spring I started to get serious attacks of dizziness and grew increasingly emaciated. Then I went hunting in the autumn beyond the borders, and the fine climate of the Mongolian regions made my spirits stronger day by day, and my face filled out again.

The rulers of the past all took reverence for Heaven and observance of ancestral precepts as the fundamental way in ruling the country. To be sincere in reverence for Heaven and ancestors entails the following: Be kind to men from afar and keep the able ones near, nourish the people, think of the profit of all as being the real profit and the mind of the whole country as being the real mind, be considerate to officials and act as a father to the people, protect the state before danger comes and govern well before there is any disturbance, be always diligent and always careful, and maintain the balance between leniency and strictness, between principle and expediency, so that long-range plans can be made for the country. That's all there is to it.

No dynasty in history has been as just as ours in gaining the right to rule ... when the roving bandit Li Tzucheng stormed the city of Peking, the Ming Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself, and the officials and people all came out to welcome us. Then we exterminated the violent bandits and inherited the empire. In olden times, it was Xiang Yu who raised an army and defeated the Qin, yet the country then passed to the Han, even though initially Emperor Han Kao Tsu was only a local constable on the Ssu River. At the end of the Yuan, it was Chen Youliang and others who rebelled, yet the country then passed to the Ming, even though initially Emperor Ming Taizu was only a monk in the Huang Jue Temple. The forebears of our dynasty were men who obeyed Heaven and lived in harmony with other men; and the empire was pacified. From this we can tell that all the rebellious officials and bandits are finally pushed aside by truly legitimate rulers.

I am now close to seventy, and have been over fifty years on the throne this is all due to the quiet protection of Heaven and earth and the ancestral spirits; it was not my meager virtue that did it. Since I began reading in my childhood, I have managed to get a rough understanding of the constant historical principles. Every Emperor and ruler has been subject to the Mandate of Heaven. Those fated to enjoy old age cannot prevent themselves from enjoying that old age; those fated to enjoy a time of Great Peace cannot prevent themselves from enjoying that Great Peace.