Ancient emperors, who had everything, but why didn't they live very long?
There is a statistic that scares you to death when you say it, there were more than 400 emperors in ancient China, but the average life expectancy is no more than 40 years old. It's about the same as ordinary people, and it's not even as long as ordinary people, why is that?
It is said that the ancient emperor should have had everything in his word. What's going on here? Let's talk.
First of all, start with Qin Shi Huang. He only lived to be about 50 years old, and Qin II was gone at the age of 24.
The Han Dynasty had 29 emperors. The average age was 34 years. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was the longest-lived among them, only 69 years old. The shortest-lived emperor was only two years old, and he was still a baby and was gone. It was also the shortest-lived emperor in Chinese history.
Then there are the 15 emperors of the Jin Dynasty, and the average life expectancy is only about 35 years old. The longest-lived was the founding emperor, Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin, who was only 55 years old.
In the Sui Dynasty, the average age of the emperor was also at this level, the founding emperor Yang Jian. Lived to be 64 years old. It's already quite long.
Then it came to the Tang Dynasty, which had a total of 21 emperors, the eldest and especially familiar, Tang Xuanzong Li Longji, who lived to be 77 years old. We all know that Tang Xuanzong has experienced ups and downs in his life, and the first half of his life was the prosperous era of Kaiyuan. In the second half of his life, he experienced the Anshi Rebellion, if he hadn't lived so long, he might have been a generation of famous kings.
The average age of the emperors of the Tang Dynasty was 44 years old, which is already relatively good.
Then there is the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty had 18 emperors, and there are quite a few who are over 50 years old, 12. The longest is Song Gaozong Zhao Gou. That is, the more obscene emperor actually lived to be 81 years old, and it seems that his psychological quality is really good. The average age of the emperor was 48.
Then there were the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty, and there were 15 in total. The longest, Kublai Khan, lived to be 80 years old, and the shortest was only seven years old. The average is also 39 years old. There were 16 emperors in the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang was the longest. In his 70s, the shortest-lived was the Emperor of the Apocalypse. There are 23 years old, and the average age is 42 years.
The Qing Dynasty had a total of 12 emperors. The longest was the Qianlong Emperor, who lived to be 89 years old, which is also the ceiling of Chinese emperors. The shortest life was 19 years old for the Tongzhi Emperor, while the average life expectancy of the Qing Dynasty emperor reached 53 years, which was the longest.
Why were the emperors of ancient times so short-lived? Unlike what we think, first, the emperors of ancient China were actually more diligent. It's very hard, there are all kinds of things you need to worry about, and most of them are in a bad mood. The emperor you imagine is brocade clothes and jade food, and there are 3,000 harem concubines, but in fact, you really achieve the position of emperor, and the pressure is very great, because there are too many people who want to replace you. Think about it, how do you feel every day when you become the loneliest person in the world, with no friends, no one to trust? This can still be carried down, and some of them were really taken from the throne, or they were killed before they reached adulthood, which greatly lowered the average age of the emperor.
There is another reason, that is, the emperor's power is too great, he can have whatever he wants, and some emperors do not know moderation at all. Addicted to beauty, addicted to lust. Became a faint king. Heaven ignores the government and politics, and every day is drunk and dreams of death, and the body must slowly collapse. In addition, the medical technology of ancient times was not so good, and the hygiene was not so good. The emperor's short life is understandable.
As for some emperors who lived for a long time, such as Qianlong, on the one hand, he knew how to maintain health and knew how to balance rest and work, and on the other hand, he especially liked fitness hunting, exercise, and was very strong.
So after reading the stories of these emperors, it also inspires us, that is, don't overwork, don't overindulge, we must reasonably regulate our body and mind, and let our body be in the best state.