Hongshi (Manchu: Hung ši; 18 March 1704 – 20 September 1727) was a Manchu prince of the Qing dynasty. Born to the ruling Aisin Gioro clan as the third son of the Yongzheng Emperor, he was banished from the imperial clan in 1725, ostensibly for supporting his uncle Yunsi, a political rival of his father. He died in disgrace in 1727 but was later posthumously restored to the imperial clan by his younger brother, the Qianlong Emperor. Early life Hongshi was born to the Aisin Gioro clan as the third son of Yinzhen (Prince Yong), who was the fourth son of the Kangxi Emperor. Hongshi's mother, a Han Chinese woman with the family name "Li", was a secondary consort of Yinzhen. Yinzhen ascended to the throne in December 1722 after the death of his father, and became known as the Yongzheng Emperor. In his father's early reign, Hongshi was not known to have played a major role in the imperial court. Unlike his fourth brother Hongli, who was awarded the title of a qinwang (first-rank prince), Hongshi never received a noble rank. Between 1722 and 1726, Hongshi became associated with his uncle Yunsi, who was a political rival of his father. In 1725, the Yongzheng Emperor stripped Yunsi of his princely title and banished him from the Aisin Gioro clan on trumped-up charges; by extension, the emperor also decreed that Hongshi would be expelled from the Forbidden City. In his imperial edict, the emperor wrote that Hongshi could "be Yunsi's son if he wishes to" – suggesting that Hongshi was especially close with Yunsi, and that the emperor was deeply troubled by their relationship. Hongshi was barred from entering the Forbidden City, but unlike Yunsi, he was not imprisoned. He was instead placed under the custodianship of his uncle, the imperial prince Yuntao, 12th son of the Kangxi Emperor. After his banishment, Hongshi did not show any remorse. In April 1726, the Yongzheng Emperor, deeply angered at his son's refusal to repent, ordered Hongshi's name removed from the yudie (玉牒; i.e., the imperial clan genealogy book), a symbolic gesture that formally marked Hongshi's expulsion from the Aisin Gioro clan, and, by extension, the renunciation of their father-son relationship. Death and rehabilitation Hongshi died on 20 September 1727, aged 23, in the fifth year of his father's reign. There is no authoritative account of the circumstances of his death. Some historians