When There Is Peace, There Are Elephants

Abstract

The Forbidden City, the symbolic and actual centre of power of the Qing Empire, was crowded with animals. This chapter focuses on elephants, a crucial part of imperial ceremonial processions. As performers in various imperial ritual ceremonies from the early Qing to almost the end of the dynasty, elephants exemplified how the palace machine of performative emperorship domesticated and imperialized wild animals, made them subject to imperial rule and metaphoric paragons of imperial virtue.