Mencius depicts a moral political decline: Five Hegemons betrayed the Three Kings’ ideal order; current lords break the Kuiqiu Alliance’s five rules. Ministers who abet rulers’ misdeeds bear graver guilt than those who merely tolerate evil.
This article reviews Qianlong’s late reign. He boasted of “Ten Great Campaigns,” rejected Britain’s Macartney mission, and abdicated to Jiaqing but kept real power. He held the grand Banquet of Ten Thousand Elders to show prosperity. The feast marked the Qing’s peak, yet hidden decline and official corruption loomed beneath.