Also known by his temple name Emperor Xuanxong of Qing, born Mianning, was the seventh Emperor of the Qing dynasty. His reign was marked by "external disaster and internal rebellion." These included the First Opium War and the beginning of the Taiping Rebellion which nearly brought down the dynasty. The historian Jonathan Spence characterizes the Daoguang Emperor as a "well-meaning but ineffective man".

The monarch ascended the throne in 1820, assuming the reign name Daoguang in 1821. The imperial treasury had been greatly depleted during previous reigns, and he tried to restore China's finances by personal austerity. The need to repair the dikes along the Huang He (Yellow River) to prevent flooding and further famine became urgent, as did repair of the Grand Canal, which brought rice from South China to the capital at Beijing. Yet corrupt officials embezzled money for repairs, and the Daoguang emperor feared to reduce the size of the labour force lest repair problems increase. By 1849 the Grand Canal was impassable, and the rice shipments had to be made by sea, where they were endangered by pirates. The thousands of unemployed canal boatmen helped fan the flames of unrest.

Meanwhile, in 1838 the emperor's attempts to stop the opium trade carried on by Western merchants resulted in the First Opium War between Britain and China (1839-42). The cost of the war and the large indemnity paid under terms of the peace treaty further increased discontent. Daoguang died just as the great political-religious upheaval known as the Taiping Rebellion (1850-64) was beginning to sweep South China.