Case of Dodo's Conspiracy for the Throne

Following the sudden death of Hong Taiji in 1643, a fierce succession struggle erupted among the Qing imperial princes. Dodo, the fifteenth son of Nurhaci, actively conspired with his full brothers Dorgon and Ajige to seize power. During the council of princes, Dodo openly proposed himself as emperor and, when rejected, suggested that Prince Li Daišan take the throne. The dispute ultimately settled on installing the young Fulin (Shunzhi Emperor) with Dorgon as regent. After Dorgon died, the Shunzhi Emperor purged his faction in 1652. Dodo, though deceased since 1649, was posthumously charged with conspiring for the throne during the 1643 crisis, stripped of his princely title, and his descendants were demoted.

In 1652, Dodo was posthumously demoted from Prince of the First Rank (Qinwang) to Prince of the Second Rank (Junwang) for his role in the succession plot and his alliance with the disgraced Dorgon. His descendants inherited the reduced title. In 1778, the Qianlong Emperor fully rehabilitated Dodo, restoring his rank as Prince Yu of the First Rank and enshrining his tablet in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

Whether Dodo's actions during the 1643 council constituted a criminal conspiracy to usurp imperial authority, and whether his posthumous conviction was a legitimate application of the law or a politically motivated act of retaliation against Dorgon's faction.

The case exemplifies the brutal consolidation of imperial power in the early Qing Dynasty. It demonstrated the Shunzhi Emperor's determination to eradicate Dorgon's influence and served as a severe warning against factionalism among the Manchu nobility. The subsequent rehabilitation by Qianlong reflected an attempt to reconcile historical grievances, stabilize the clan's morale, and establish a definitive official narrative regarding the founding merits of princes like Dodo.