"Heaven does not speak but merely reveals itself through acts and deeds."
Mencius, 5A.5
In the first year of the Yongzheng reign (1723), on the sixth day of the eighth month, a spectacular sight of lotus seed pods sharing a single stem with divided calyxes was observed. Marvelling at the sighting of the Bingdi lotus, an auspicious sign symbolising “two hearts united as one,” the Yongzheng Emperor and his court officials make haste to capitalise on this rare phenomenon.
Just days earlier, the Yongzheng Emperor had received news of a bountiful wheat harvest in Shandong Province of several hundred stalks of auspicious grain – each vividly purple stalk bore double ears, with strong, upright yellow stems over a foot long.
The Yongzheng Emperor’s accession to the throne had been marked by political instability. Personal tragedy and natural disaster within the first months of his reign only further made the legitimation of his rule ever more pressing. All this, compounded by allegations that the Yongzheng Emperor had usurped the throne by forging the succession edict, left the new emperor facing heavy opposition.
"If Heaven gives it to the worthy, it will be given to the worthy. If Heaven gives it to the son, it will be given to the son."
Mencius, 5A.6
It was on these grounds that two extraordinarily rare auspicious signs appearing simultaneously in the first year of the Yongzheng reign became an omen of great importance. The auspicious signs were interpreted as Heaven’s will to herald the new emperor’s accession and a signifier the Yongzheng Emperor had received the Mandate of Heaven, thereby blessed by Heaven as the legitimate ruler of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty.
This legendary account of the Yongzheng Emperor receiving the Mandate of Heaven is immortalised on silk in Giuseppe Castiglione’s Gathering of Two Auspicious Signs.
Treasured in the imperial collection, once cherished by the Qianlong Emperor, the painting was gifted to the powerful warlord Zhang Xueliang, otherwise known as the Young Marshal, by Puyi, the last emperor of China, before entering the influential Soong family where it remained until recent years.
