Qian Long (1711——1799) was the reign¹ title of the fourth emperor (1735——1796) of the Qing Dynasty, whose given name was Hong-li.

乾隆(1711——1799)是清代第四个皇帝弘历的年号。

双语阅读之中国历史名人:乾隆

Under his vigorous military policy, China attained² its maximum territorial³ expanse; Xinjiang in the west was conquered, and Myanmar and Annam in the south were forced to recognize Chinese suzerainty.

在乾隆强劲的军事政策下，中国领土面积达到最大。他征服了西部的新疆，南方的缅甸和安南也被迫承认中国的领主地位。

He restricted Western merchants to Guangzhou (Canton) in 1759, and he rejected British overtures⁴ for expanded trade and diplomatic ties in 1793.

1759年乾隆将西方商人限制在广州境内，1793年拒绝了英国扩大贸易和加强外交关系的建议。

Ch'ien-lung was a patron of scholarship and the arts; some of China's finest porcelain⁵ and cloisonné were produced for his collections, and vast anthologies were edited, partly to censor⁶ seditious references to the Manchus.

乾隆热爱学问和艺术，中国一些最好的瓷器和景泰蓝是专门为乾隆生产的。大量的文选被编辑成书，部分是为了审查里面是不是有反满言论。

Despite the surface splendor⁷ of cultural achievement and imperial expansion，his reign in later years was characterized by growing official corruption⁸, loss of military efficiency，and fiscal⁹ imbalance.

尽管文化成就和帝国的扩张表面上看起来富丽堂皇，但是乾隆统治的后期官僚腐败日趋严重，军队不振，财政失衡。