Thanks for the warming words! For years I put my heart and soul into that website.
I've been too busy to continue the work since I'm now trading antique arms full time, but there are many more articles I want to do for the site. I'm sure I will get back on it at some point. It's nice to hear it's appreciated. Writing the articles was also a great way for myself to arrange the info I had found, and test my theories. Through it, I made a lot of valuable contacts who helped me advance my understanding of the Manchus.
As for Qianlong, yes he was quite a workaholic and got himself involved in the most minute details when it came to state affairs. His involvement in arms manufacture, both practical and stylistic seems to have increased in 1748. In this year, Qianlong lost the love of his life, Xiaoxianchun, something he would emotionally never overcome.
He was always a hard worker but it seems he immersed himself in more work ever since she passed, redesigning ceremonial regalia but also re-thinking strategies in war and founding the elite force Jianruiying. All started right after she passed in 1748.
He was a Tibetan Buddhist himself, which explains the strong Tibetan influence he put into the design of auspicious ceremony regalia. This could be seen as a smart political choice as Tibetan Buddhism was the main religion of many Manchus and his most powerful Tibetan and Mongol allies. But when warlords opened his tomb in 1928, they found Qianlong next to Xiaoxianchun in a tomb covered entirely with Tibetan Buddhist scriptures, indicating his devotion wasn't just for the outside world.
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