盡管清代公主一生都享受來自皇室的照顧和封賞,但從乾隆朝起,公主府第的經濟狀況常常捉襟見肘。其后的歷代皇帝皆試圖解決公主的經濟困境,然而收效甚微。主要原因在于,從乾隆朝起公主都居住京城,由皇室負責其家庭一切開支,而囿于制度規定和儒家規范,皇室又沒有賦予公主與皇子同等的經濟待遇和社會地位,導致公主們既背負著融合滿、漢、蒙的政治使命,又掙扎于滿漢文化之間。清代公主的經濟困境,也是當時制度困局的一個縮影。

The Qing princesses,enjoying imperial rank,were looked after by the imperial family throughout their lives.However,they found it hard to make ends meet after they married.Successive emperors tried to solve their predicament with little effect.The main reason for their dilemma was that from the time of the Qianlong Emperor,the princesses lived in the capital.The imperial house was responsible for all their household expenses,but due to institutional rules and Confucian norms,it did not give princesses the same economic treatment and social status as princes.On the princesses’ shoulders fell the responsibility for the political mission of integrating Manchu,Han and Mongol;culturally,they struggled between Han and Manchu.Their economic predicament was a microcosm of the institutional dilemma of the time.