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Jiaqing was an emperor with a rather low sense of existence. When people mentioned him, what people could think of was the phrase Heshen fell and Jiaqing was full. What Jiaqing took over from his father Qianlong, who was overjoyed at success, loved ostentation, and indulged in hedonism in his later years, was a world where the external airs were not much reduced, but the internal pockets were exhausted, as well as a corrupt and eroded bureaucracy. As a mediocre and declining leader, he has neither the ability to carry out drastic reforms nor the courage to change the status quo of bureaucrats. He can only watch the country's irreparable decline. "The Eighteen Years of Jiaqing: The Decline of the Qing Dynasty" takes the power transfer between Qianlong and Jiaqing, the liquidation of Heshen and other historical events as the entry point, and shows the Chinese society in the Jiaqing era from multiple levels such as politics, economy, culture, military, as well as Jiaqing's personal character and ruling style.