The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang (),
courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...
Guorui (), was the
founding emperor of the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
of China, reigning from 1368 to 1398.
As
famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...
,
plagues and
peasant revolts
This is a chronological list of conflicts in which peasants played a significant role.
Background
The history of peasant wars spans over two thousand years. A variety of factors fueled the emergence of the peasant revolt phenomenon, including:
...
increased across
China proper
China proper, Inner China, or the Eighteen Provinces is a term used by some Western writers in reference to the "core" regions of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China. This term is used to express a distinction between the "core" regions popu ...
in the 14th century, Zhu Yuanzhang rose to command the
Red Turban forces that conquered China proper, ending the
Mongol
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...
-led
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
and forcing the remnant Yuan court (known as
Northern Yuan
The Northern Yuan () was a dynastic regime ruled by the Mongols, Mongol Borjigin clan based in the Mongolian Plateau. It existed as a rump state after the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368 and lasted until its conquest by the Jurchen people, ...
in historiography) to retreat to the
Mongolian Plateau
The Mongolian Plateau is the part of the Central Asian Plateau lying between 37°46′-53°08′N and 87°40′-122°15′E and having an area of approximately . It is bounded by the Greater Hinggan Mountains in the east, the Yin Mountains to th ...
. Zhu claimed the
Mandate of Heaven
The Mandate of Heaven () is a Chinese political philosophy that was used in ancient and imperial China to legitimize the rule of the King or Emperor of China. According to this doctrine, heaven (天, ''Tian'') – which embodies the natural ...
and established the Ming dynasty at the beginning of 1368 and occupied the Yuan capital,
Khanbaliq
Khanbaliq or Dadu of Yuan () was the winter capital of the Yuan dynasty of China in what is now Beijing, also the capital of the People's Republic of China today. It was located at the center of modern Beijing. The Secretariat directly administ ...
(present-day
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
), with his army that same year. Trusting only
his family
''His Family'' is a novel by Ernest Poole published in 1917 about the life of a New York widower and his three daughters in the 1910s. It received the first Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1918.
Plot introduction
''His Family'' tells the story of ...
, he made his many sons feudal princes along the northern marches and the Yangtze valley.
[Chan Hok-lam.]
Legitimating Usurpation: Historical Revisions under the Ming Yongle Emperor (r. 14021424)
". ''The Legitimation of New Orders: Case Studies in World History''. Chinese University Press, 2007. , 9789629962395. Retrieved 12 October 2012. Having outlived his eldest son
Zhu Biao
Zhu Biao (; 10 October 1355 17 May 1392) was the Hongwu Emperor's eldest son and crown prince of the Ming dynasty. His early death created a crisis in the dynasty's first succession that was resolved by the successful usurpation of his brother ...
, Zhu enthroned
Zhu Biao
Zhu Biao (; 10 October 1355 17 May 1392) was the Hongwu Emperor's eldest son and crown prince of the Ming dynasty. His early death created a crisis in the dynasty's first succession that was resolved by the successful usurpation of his brother ...
's son via a
series of instructions. This ended in failure when the
Jianwen Emperor
The Jianwen Emperor (5 December 1377 – ?), personal name Zhu Yunwen (), was the second Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1398 to 1402. The era name of his reign, Jianwen, means "establishing civility" and represented a sharp chan ...
's attempts to unseat his uncles led to the
Jingnan Rebellion.
The era of Hongwu was noted for its tolerance of minorities and religions;
Ma Zhou
Ma Zhou (601–648), courtesy name Binwang, formally the Duke of Gaotang (), was a Chinese politician who served as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Taizong in the Tang dynasty. He was initially a commoner and a guest of the general Chan ...
, the Chinese historian, indicates that the Hongwu ordered the renovation and construction of many mosques in Xi’an and Nanjing.
Wang Daiyu
Wáng Dàiyú (, Xiao'erjing: ) (ca. 1570 - ca. 1660) was a Chinese Hanafi-Maturidi ( Hui) scholar of Arab descent. His given name was Ya, style name Daiyu. He called himself ''Zhenhui Laoren'' ("The True Old Man of Islam") and went by his sty ...
also recorded that the emperor wrote 100 characters praising Islam,
Baizi zan.
The reign of the Hongwu Emperor is notable for his unprecedented political reforms. The emperor abolished the position of
chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
, drastically reduced the role of court
eunuch
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
s, and adopted draconian measures to address corruption. He also established the
Embroidered Uniform Guard
The Embroidered Uniform Guard () was the imperial secret police that served the emperors of the Ming dynasty in China. The guard was founded by the Hongwu Emperor in 1368 to serve as his personal bodyguards. In 1369 it became an imperial militar ...
, one of the best known
secret police
Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...
organizations in imperial China. In the 1380s and 1390s a series of purges were launched to eliminate his high-ranked officials and generals; tens of thousands were executed. The reign of Hongwu also witnessed much cruelty. Various cruel methods of execution were introduced for punishable crimes and for those who directly criticized the emperor, and massacres were also carried out against everyone who resisted his rule.
[劉辰. ''國初事迹''][李默. ''孤樹裒談''][楊一凡(1988). ''明大誥研究''. Jiangsu Renmin Press.]
The emperor encouraged agriculture, reduced taxes, incentivized the cultivation of new land, and established laws protecting peasants' property. He also confiscated land held by large estates and forbade private slavery. At the same time, he banned free movement in the empire and assigned hereditary occupational categories to households. Through these measures, Zhu Yuanzhang attempted to rebuild a country that had been ravaged by war, limit and control its social groups, and instill orthodox values in his subjects, eventually creating a strictly regimented society of self-sufficient farming communities.
[Zhang Wenxian.]
The Yellow Register Archives of Imperial Ming China
". ''Libraries & the Cultural Record'', Vol. 43, No. 2 (2008), pp. 148–175. Univ. of Texas Press. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
Early life
Zhu was born to a family of impoverished
peasant
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...
tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...
s in Zhongli County in the
Huai River
The Huai River (), Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in China. It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins ...
plain, which is in present-day
Fengyang
Fengyang County () is a county in north-central Anhui Province, China. It is under the administration of Chuzhou, a prefecture-level city. The county was home to 765,600 people as of 2013.
Administrative divisions
Fengyang County is divided into ...
,
Anhui Province
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
.
[Dreyer, 22–23.] His father's name was
Zhu Shizhen
Zhu Shizhen (; 1281–1344), born Zhu Wusi (), was the father of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming dynasty.
In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming dynasty in Nanjing and posthumously honoured Zhu Shizhen as emperor, with the temple nam ...
(朱世珍, original name Zhu Wusi 朱五四) and his mother was Chen Erniang. He had seven older siblings, several of whom were "given away" by his parents, as they not always had enough food to support the family. When he was 16, severe drought ruined the harvest where his family lived and famine subsequently killed everyone in his family except for him and one of his brothers. He then buried them by wrapping them in white cloth.
His grandfather, who lived to be 99 years old, had served in the
Southern Song
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. ...
army and navy, which had fought against the Mongol invasion, and told his grandson tales of it.
Destitute after his family's death, Zhu accepted a suggestion to take up a pledge made by his brother and became a novice monk at the Huangjue Temple, a local
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
. However, he was forced to leave the monastery after it ran short of funds.
For the next few years, Zhu led the life of a wandering beggar and personally experienced the hardships of the common people. After about three years, he returned to the monastery and stayed there until he was around 24 years old. He learned to read and write during the time that he spent with the
Buddhist monks
A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics ("nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist c ...
.
Rise to power
![Red Turban](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Red_Turban.png)
The monastery where Zhu lived was eventually destroyed by an army suppressing a local rebellion. In 1352, Zhu joined one of the many insurgent forces that had risen in rebellion against the
Mongol
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...
-led
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
. He rose rapidly through the ranks and became a commander. His rebel force later joined the
Red Turbans (then led by
Han Shantong
Han Shantong ({{zh, t=韓山童, p=Hán Shāntóng; died 1351), born in Luancheng, Hebei, was one of the early leaders of the Red Turban Rebellions. He claimed to be the descendant of Emperor Huizong of Song (1082–1135), the penultimate empero ...
), a
millenarian
Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenariani ...
sect related to the
White Lotus Society, and one that followed cultural and religious traditions of
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
,
Manichaeism
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...
and other religions. Widely seen as a defender of
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...
and
neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy
Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period () and Wa ...
among the predominant
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
population in
China proper
China proper, Inner China, or the Eighteen Provinces is a term used by some Western writers in reference to the "core" regions of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China. This term is used to express a distinction between the "core" regions popu ...
, Zhu emerged as a leader of the rebels that were struggling to overthrow the Yuan dynasty.
In 1356, Zhu and his army conquered
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
, which became his base of operations and the capital of the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
during his reign. Zhu's government in Nanjing became famous for good governance, and the city attracted vast numbers of people fleeing from other more lawless regions. It is estimated that Nanjing's population increased tenfold over the next 10 years.
[Ebrey, "Cambridge Illustrated History of China", pg. 191] In the meantime, the Yuan government had been weakened by internal factions fighting for control, and it made little effort to retake the
Yangtze River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...
valley. By 1358, central and Southern China had fallen into the hands of different rebel groups. During that time the
Red Turbans also split up. Zhu became the leader of a smaller faction (called "Wu" around 1360), while the larger faction, under
Chen Youliang
Chen Youliang (陳友諒; 1320 – 3 October 1363For those cross-referencing the Mingshi, in the old Chinese calendar 至正二十三年 refers to the year 1363 CE, 七月二十日 refers to 8月29日 or 29 August, and 八月二十六日 re ...
, controlled the center of the Yangtze River valley.
Zhu Yuanzhang was the Duke of Wu, which was nominally under the control of Han Shantong's son Han Lin'er (), who was enthroned as the Longfeng Emperor of the Song dynasty.
Zhu was able to attract many talents into his service. One of them was Zhu Sheng (), who advised him to "build high walls, stock up rations, and delay claiming kingship" (). Another,
Jiao Yu
Jiao Yu () was a Chinese military general, philosopher, and writer of the Yuan dynasty and early Ming dynasty under Zhu Yuanzhang, who founded the dynasty and became known as the Hongwu Emperor. He was entrusted by Zhu as a leading artillery ...
, was an
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
officer, who later compiled a military treatise outlining the various types of
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...
weapons. Another one,
Liu Bowen
Liu Ji (1 July 1311 – 16 May 1375),Jiang, Yonglin. Jiang Yonglin. 005(2005). The Great Ming Code: 大明律. University of Washington Press. , 9780295984490. Page xxxv. The source is used to cover the year only. courtesy name Bowen, better kn ...
, became one of Zhu's key advisors, and edited the military-technology treatise titled ''
Huolongjing
The ''Huolongjing'' (; Wade-Giles: ''Huo Lung Ching''; rendered in English as ''Fire Drake Manual'' or ''Fire Dragon Manual''), also known as ''Huoqitu'' (“Firearm Illustrations”), is a Chinese military treatise compiled and edited by Jiao ...
'' in later years.
Beginning in 1360, Zhu and Chen Youliang fought a protracted war for supremacy over the former territories controlled by the Red Turbans. The pivotal moment in the war was the
Battle of Lake Poyang
The Battle of Lake Poyang () was a naval conflict which took place (30 August – 4 October 1363) between the rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang during the Red Turban Rebellion which led to the fall of the Yuan dynasty. Chen Youlian ...
in 1363. The battle lasted three days and ended with the defeat and retreat of Chen's larger navy. Chen died a month later in battle. Zhu did not participate personally in any battles after that and remained in Nanjing, where he directed his generals to go on campaigns.
In 1367, Zhu's forces defeated
Zhang Shicheng
Zhang Shicheng (; 1321-1367), born Zhang Jiusi (), was one of the leaders of the Red Turban Rebellion in the late Yuan dynasty of China. Later, he established the ''Da Zhou'' (大周) kingdom with reigning name "Tianyou" ().
Early life
Zhang S ...
's Zhou (周) regime, which was centered in
Suzhou
Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
and had previously included most of the
Yangtze River Delta
The Yangtze Delta or Yangtze River Delta (YRD, or simply ) is a triangle-shaped megalopolis generally comprising the Wu Chinese-speaking areas of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. The area lies in the heart of the Jiangnan reg ...
, and
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
, which was formerly the capital of the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
.
[Edward L. Farmer, ''Zhu Yuanzhang and Early Ming Legislation: The Reordering of Chinese Society Following the Era of Mongol Rule''. BRILL, 1995. , ]
On Google Books
P 23. This victory granted Zhu's government authority over the lands north and south of the Yangtze River. The other major warlords surrendered to Zhu and on 23 January 1368, Zhu proclaimed himself
emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
of the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
in
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
and adopted "Hongwu" (lit. "vastly martial") as his
era name
A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year o ...
.
In 1368, Ming armies headed north to attack territories that were still under Yuan rule.
Toghon Temür
Toghon Temür ( mn, Тогоонтөмөр; Mongolian script: ; ; 25 May 1320 – 23 May 1370), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Huizong of Yuan () bestowed by the Northern Yuan dynasty and by his posthumous ...
(Emperor Shun of Yuan) gave up his capital,
Khanbaliq
Khanbaliq or Dadu of Yuan () was the winter capital of the Yuan dynasty of China in what is now Beijing, also the capital of the People's Republic of China today. It was located at the center of modern Beijing. The Secretariat directly administ ...
(present-day
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
), and the rest of northern China in September 1368 and retreated to the
Mongolian Plateau
The Mongolian Plateau is the part of the Central Asian Plateau lying between 37°46′-53°08′N and 87°40′-122°15′E and having an area of approximately . It is bounded by the Greater Hinggan Mountains in the east, the Yin Mountains to th ...
. On 15 October 1371, one of Hongwu's sons,
Zhu Shuang
Zhu Shuang (; 3 December 1356 – 19 April 1395) was an imperial prince of the Chinese Ming dynasty. He was the second son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming. In May 1370, the Hongwu Emperor granted the title of Prince of Qin to him ...
, was married to the sister of
Köke Temür
Köke Temür (; Mongolian: ᠬᠥᠬᠡᠲᠡᠮᠦᠷ, Köketemür, Хөхтөмөр; died 1375), sinicized name Wang Baobao (), was a prominent general of the Yuan dynasty of China.
History
He was born in Henan province. His paternal line orig ...
, a
Bayad
The bayad (''Bagrus bajad''), is a species of bagrid catfish from Africa.
Distribution
The natural habitat of the bayad are lakes and rivers in Africa. These include lakes such as Lake Chad, Lake Albert (Africa), Lake Albert, and Lake Turkana, as ...
general of the Yuan dynasty.
In 1371, the Ming dynasty defeated the
Ming Xia dynasty founded by
Ming Yuzhen
Ming Yuzhen (; 2 October 1328 – 17 March 1366) was a peasant rebel leader who established the dynasty of Ming Xia during the late Yuan dynasty in China.
Ming was born in Suizhou (today Sui County, Hubei) in a farmer family. He changed the ch ...
, which ruled Sichuan.
The Ming army captured the last Yuan-controlled province of
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
in 1381, and China proper was unified under Ming rule.
Reign
![明太祖画像](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/%E6%98%8E%E5%A4%AA%E7%A5%96%E7%94%BB%E5%83%8F.jpg)
Under Hongwu's rule, Mongol and other foreign bureaucrats who had dominated the government during the
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
along with Northern Chinese officials were replaced by
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...
officials. The emperor re-instituted, then abolished, then restored, the
Confucian
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...
civil service
imperial examination
The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...
system, from which most state officials were selected based on their knowledge of
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
and
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
. The Ming examination curriculum followed that set by the Yuan in 1313: a focus on the Four Books over the Five
Classics
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
and the commentaries of Zhu Xi. The Confucian
scholar-bureaucrats
The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class.
Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...
who had been previously marginalized during the Yuan dynasty were reinstated to their predominant roles in the government.
"Barbarian" (i.e. Mongol-related) elements, including garments and names, were made illegal. There was no clear definition on what was "barbarian", and individual clothing styles and names were banned at the emperor’s will. There were also attacks on palaces and administrative buildings previously used by the rulers of the Yuan dynasty. But many of Taizu's government institutions were actually modeled on those of the Yuan dynasty: community schools required for primary education in every village.
Ming's legal system established by Hongwu contains various methods of execution including
flaying
Flaying, also known colloquially as skinning, is a method of slow and painful execution in which skin is removed from the body. Generally, an attempt is made to keep the removed portion of skin intact.
Scope
A dead animal may be flayed when pre ...
, and
slow slicing
''Lingchi'' (; ), translated variously as the slow process, the lingering death, or slow slicing, and also known as death by a thousand cuts, was a form of torture and execution used in China from roughly 900 CE up until the practice ended aro ...
.
One of his generals,
Chang Yuchun
Chang Yuchun (1330 – 9 August 1369), courtesy name Boren and art name Yanheng, was a Chinese military general of the Ming dynasty. He was a follower of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, and contributed heavily to the est ...
, carried out massacres in
Shandong
Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region.
Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
and
Hunan
Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...
provinces to take revenge against people who resisted his army.
Over time, Hongwu became increasingly fearful of rebellions and coups, and also ordered the execution of those of his advisors who criticized him.
Manicheanism
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...
and the
White Lotus Sect
The White Lotus () is a syncretic religious and political movement which forecasts the imminent advent of the "King of Light" (), i.e., the future Buddha Maitreya. As White Lotus sects developed, they appealed to many Han Chinese who found solac ...
, which played significant roles during the revolts against the Yuan, were outlawed. He was also said to have ordered the massacre of several thousand people living in
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
after having heard one talked about him without respect. In the
Hu Weiyong
Hu Weiyong (; died 1380) was a Chinese politician and the last chancellor of the Ming dynasty, from 1373 to 1380. Hu was a main member of Huaixi meritorious group. He was later accused of attempting to rebel and was thus executed by the Hongwu Em ...
case alone, tens of thousands of officials and their families were executed over sedition, treason, corruption and other charges. According to an anecdote noted by Ming dynasty writers, in 1380, after much killing, a lightning bolt struck his palace and he stopped the massacres for some time, as he was afraid divine forces would punish him. In the 1390s, however, tens of thousands more people were executed due to their association with an alleged plot of rebellion by general
Lan Yu.
When the Ming dynasty emerged, Hongwu's military officers were given noble titles. These privileged the holder with a stipend, but in all other aspects was merely symbolic.
Mu Ying
Mu Ying (1345–1392) was a Chinese military general and politician during the Ming dynasty, and an adopted son of its founder, the Hongwu Emperor.
When the Ming dynasty emerged, the Hongwu Emperor's military officers who served under him were gi ...
's family was among them. Special rules against abuse of power were implemented on the nobles.
Land reforms
As Hongwu came from a peasant family, he was aware of how peasants used to suffer under the oppression of the scholar-bureaucrats, and the wealthy. Many of the latter, relying on their connections with government officials, encroached unscrupulously on peasants' lands and bribed the officials to transfer the burden of taxation to the poor. To prevent such abuse, he instituted two systems: ''Yellow Records'' and ''Fish Scale Records''. They served both to secure the government's income from land taxes and to affirm that peasants would not lose their lands.
However, the reforms did not eliminate the threat of the bureaucrats to peasants. Instead, the expansion of the bureaucrats and their growing prestige translated into more wealth, and tax exemption for those in the government service. The bureaucrats gained new privileges, and some became illegal money-lenders and managers of gambling rings. Using their power, the bureaucrats expanded their estates at the expense of peasants' lands through outright purchase of those lands, and foreclosure on their mortgages whenever they wanted the lands. The peasants often became either tenants, or workers, or sought employment elsewhere.
Since the beginning of the Ming dynasty in 1357, great care was taken by Hongwu to distribute land to peasants. One way was by forced migration to less-dense areas.
Hongtong County
Hongtong County () is a county in the southwest of Shanxi Province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Linfen. The county spans an area of 1,494 square kilometers, and has a population of approximately 766,579 as ...
, for example, was the source of many of those migrants due to its particularly dense population. The migrants were gathered under a
pagoda tree
''Styphnolobium japonicum'', the Japanese pagoda tree (also known as the Chinese scholar tree and pagoda tree; syn. ''Sophora japonica'') is a species of tree in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae.
It was formerly included withi ...
() and escorted to neighboring provinces. "The great pagoda tree in Hongtong, Shanxi" became a common idiom when referring to one's ancestral home in certain areas of Henan and Hebei.
Public works projects, such as the construction of irrigation systems, and dikes, were undertaken in an attempt to help farmers. In addition, Hongwu also reduced the demands for
forced labor
Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...
on the peasantry.
In 1370, Hongwu ordered that some lands in
Hunan
Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...
and
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
should be given to young farmers who had reached adulthood. The order was intended to prevent landlords from seizing the land, as it also decreed that the titles to the lands were not transferable. During the middle part of his reign, he passed an edict, stating that those who brought fallow land under cultivation could keep it as their property without being taxed. The policy was well received by the people and in 1393, cultivated land rose to 8,804,623 ''qing'' and 68 ''mu'', something not achieved during any other Chinese dynasty. Hongwu also instigated the planting of 50 million trees in the vicinity of Nanjing, reconstructing canals, irrigation, and repopulation of the North.
Social policy
Under the Hongwu reign, rural China was reorganized into ''li'' (), communities of 110 households. The position of community chief rotates among the ten most populous households, while the rest were further divided into tithings (''jia'', 甲). Together, the system was known as ''lijia''. The communities were responsible for collecting tax and drafting labor for the local government. Village elders were also obliged to keep surveillance on the community, report criminal activities, and ensure that the residents are fully committed to agricultural work.
The Yuan dynasty ''Zhuse Huji'' () system was continued and the households were categorized into different types. The most basic types, namely civilian households (), military households (), craftsmen households () and salt worker households (), defined the family's form of
corvée
Corvée () is a form of unpaid, forced labour, that is intermittent in nature lasting for limited periods of time: typically for only a certain number of days' work each year.
Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state for the purposes of ...
labor. Military households, for example, accounted for around one-sixth of the total population at the beginning of the
Yongle era
The Yongle Emperor (; pronounced ; 2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), personal name Zhu Di (), was the third List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424.
Zhu Di was the fourth son of the Hongwu ...
, and each was required to provide an adult man as soldier, and at least one more person to work in support roles in the military. The military, craftsmen and salt worker households were hereditary, and converting into civilian households was impossible except in a few very rare situations. A family may simultaneously belong in one of the minor categories, e.g. physician households and scholar households, according to their occupation. In addition to the aforementioned "good" households, discriminatory types also existed, such as entertainer households ().
Travelers were required to carry a ''luyin'' (), a permit issued by the local government, and their neighbors were required to have knowledge of their itinerary. Unauthorized domestic migration was banned, and offenders were exiled. The policy was strictly enforced during the Hongwu era.
Zhu Yuanzhang passed a law on mandatory hairstyle on 24 September 1392, mandating that all males grow their hair long and making it illegal for them to shave part of their foreheads while leaving strands of hair which was the Mongol hairstyle. The penalty for both the barber and the person who was shaved and his sons was castration if they cut their hair and their families were to be sent to the borders for exile. This helped eradicated partially shaved Mongol hairstyles and enforced long Han hairstyle.
Military
![Juyongguan Wall 20090714-2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Juyongguan_Wall_20090714-2.JPG)
The Hongwu Emperor realized that the
Northern Yuan
The Northern Yuan () was a dynastic regime ruled by the Mongols, Mongol Borjigin clan based in the Mongolian Plateau. It existed as a rump state after the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368 and lasted until its conquest by the Jurchen people, ...
still posed a threat to the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
, even though they had been driven away after the collapse of the
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
. He decided to reassess the orthodox
Confucian
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...
view that the military class was inferior to that of the scholar bureaucracy. He kept a powerful army, which in 1384 he reorganized using a model known as the ''weisuo'' system (). Each military unit consisted of 5,600 men divided into five battalions and ten companies. By 1393 the total number of ''weisuo'' troops had reached 1,200,000. Soldiers were also assigned land on which to grow crops whilst their positions were made hereditary. This type of system can be traced back to the ''fubing'' system () of the
Sui and
Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
dynasties.
Training was conducted within local military districts. In times of war, troops were mobilized from all over the empire on the orders of the
Ministry of War Ministry of War may refer to:
* Ministry of War (imperial China) (c.600–1912)
* Chinese Republic Ministry of War (1912–1946)
* Ministry of War (Kingdom of Bavaria) (1808–1919)
* Ministry of War (Brazil) (1815–1999)
* Ministry of Defence (Est ...
, and commanders were appointed to lead them to battle. After the war, the army was disbanded into smaller groups and sent back to their respective districts, while the commanders had to return their authority to the state. This system helped to prevent military leaders from having too much power. The military was under the control of a civilian official for large campaigns, instead of a military general.
Bureaucratic reforms and consolidation of power
Hongwu attempted, and largely succeeded in, the consolidation of control over all aspects of government, so that no other group could gain enough power to overthrow him. He also buttressed the country's defense against the Mongols. He increasingly concentrated power in his own hands. He abolished the
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
's post, which had been head of the main central administrative body under past dynasties, by suppressing a plot for which he had blamed his chancellor
Hu Weiyong
Hu Weiyong (; died 1380) was a Chinese politician and the last chancellor of the Ming dynasty, from 1373 to 1380. Hu was a main member of Huaixi meritorious group. He was later accused of attempting to rebel and was thus executed by the Hongwu Em ...
. Many argue that Hongwu, because of his wish to concentrate absolute authority in his own hands, removed the only insurance against incompetent emperors.
However, Hongwu could not govern the sprawling Ming Empire all by himself and had to create the new institution of the "
Grand Secretary
The Grand Secretariat (; Manchu: ''dorgi yamun'') was nominally a coordinating agency but ''de facto'' the highest institution in the imperial government of the Chinese Ming dynasty. It first took shape after the Hongwu Emperor abolished the off ...
". This cabinet-like organisation progressively took on the powers of the abolished prime minister, becoming just as powerful in time.
Ray Huang
Ray Huang (; 25 June 19188 January 2000) was a Chinese-American historian and philosopher who was an officer in the National Revolutionary Army and fought in the Burma Campaign. In 1964, Huang earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of M ...
argued that Grand-Secretaries, outwardly powerless, could exercise considerable positive influence from behind the throne. Because of their prestige and the public trust which they enjoyed, they could act as intermediaries between the emperor and the ministerial officials, and thus provide a stabilising force in the court.
In Hongwu's elimination of the traditional offices of grand councilor, the primary impetus was
Hu Weiyong
Hu Weiyong (; died 1380) was a Chinese politician and the last chancellor of the Ming dynasty, from 1373 to 1380. Hu was a main member of Huaixi meritorious group. He was later accused of attempting to rebel and was thus executed by the Hongwu Em ...
's alleged attempt to usurp the throne. Hu was the Senior Grand Councilor and a capable administrator; however over the years, the magnitude of his powers, as well as involvement in several political scandals eroded the paranoid emperor's trust in him. Finally, in 1380, Hongwu had Hu and his entire family arrested and executed on charges of treason. Using this as an opportunity to purge his government, the emperor also ordered the execution of countless other officials, as well as their families, for associating with Hu. The purge lasted over a decade and resulted in more than 30,000 executions. In 1390, even Li Shanchang, one of the closest old friends of the emperor, who was rewarded as the biggest contributor to the founding of the Ming Empire, was executed along with over 70 members of his extended family. A year after his death, a deputy in the Board of Works made a submission to the emperor appealing Li's innocence, arguing that since Li was already at the apex of honour, wealth and power, the accusation that he wanted to help ''someone else'' usurp the throne was clearly ridiculous. Hongwu was unable to refute the accusations and finally ended the purge shortly afterwards.
Hongwu also noted the destructive role of court
eunuch
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
s under the previous dynasties. He drastically reduced their numbers, forbidding them to handle documents, insisting that they remain illiterate, and executing those who commented on state affairs. The emperor had a strong aversion to the eunuchs, epitomized by a tablet in his palace stipulating: "''Eunuchs must have nothing to do with the administration''". This aversion to eunuchs did not long continue among his successors, as the Hongwu and Jianwen emperors' harsh treatment of eunuchs allowed the
Yongle Emperor
The Yongle Emperor (; pronounced ; 2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), personal name Zhu Di (), was the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424.
Zhu Di was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dyn ...
to employ them as a power base during his coup.
In addition to Hongwu's aversion to eunuchs, he never consented to any of his
consort kin
The consort kin ({{zh, c=外戚, p=wàiqì) was the kin or a group of people related to an empress dowager or a consort of a monarch or a warlord in the Sinosphere. The leading figure of the clan was either a (usually male) sibling, cousin, or ...
becoming court officials. This policy was fairly well-maintained by later emperors, and no serious trouble was caused by the empresses or their families.
The
Embroidered Uniform Guard
The Embroidered Uniform Guard () was the imperial secret police that served the emperors of the Ming dynasty in China. The guard was founded by the Hongwu Emperor in 1368 to serve as his personal bodyguards. In 1369 it became an imperial militar ...
or ''Jinyiwei'' was transformed into a secret police organization during the Hongwu era. It was given the authority to overrule judicial proceedings in prosecutions with full autonomy in arresting, interrogating and punishing anyone, including nobles and the emperor's relatives. In 1393, Jiang Huan (), the chief of ''Jinyiwei'', accused general
Lan Yu of plotting rebellion. 15,000 people was executed in
familial extermination during the subsequent purges, according to Hongwu.
Through the repeated purges and the elimination of the historical posts, Hongwu fundamentally altered the centuries-old government structure of China, greatly increasing the emperor's absolutism.
Legal reforms
The legal code drawn up in the time of Hongwu was considered one of the great achievements of the era. The ''
History of Ming
The ''History of Ming'' or the ''Ming History'' (''Míng Shǐ'') is one of the official Chinese historical works known as the ''Twenty-Four Histories''. It consists of 332 volumes and covers the history of the Ming dynasty from 1368 to 1644. It ...
'' mentioned that as early as 1364, the monarchy had started to draft a code of laws. This code was known as ''Da Ming Lü'' (, "Code of the Great Ming" or "Laws of the Great Ming"). The emperor devoted much time to the project and instructed his ministers that the code should be comprehensive and intelligible, so as not to allow any official to exploit loopholes in the code by deliberately misinterpreting it. The Ming code laid much emphasis on family relations. The code was a great improvement on the code of the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
in regards to the treatment of slaves. Under the Tang code, slaves were treated as a species of domestic animal; if they were killed by a free citizen, the law imposed no sanction on the killer. Under the Ming dynasty, the law protected both slaves and free citizens.
Later during his reign, however, the ''Code of the Great Ming'' was set aside in favor of the far harsher legal system documented in ''Da Gao'' (大誥, "Great Announcements"). Compared to the ''Da Ming Lü'', the penalties for almost all crimes were drastically increased, with more than 1,000 crimes eligible for
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
.
[ Much of the ''Da Gao'' was dedicated to the government and officials, particularly for anti-corruption. Officials who embezzled more than the equivalent of 60 '' liang'' (one ''liang'' was around 30 grams) of silver were to be beheaded and then flayed, the skin publicly exhibited. Zhu Yuanzhang granted all people the right to capture officials suspected of crimes and directly send them to the capital, a first in Chinese history.] Apart from regulating the government, ''Da Gao'' aimed to set limits to various social groups. For example, "idle men" () who did not change their lifestyles after the new law came into effect would be executed and their neighbors exiled. ''Da Gao'' also included extensive sumptuary laws
Sumptuary laws (from Latin ''sūmptuāriae lēgēs'') are laws that try to regulate consumption. ''Black's Law Dictionary'' defines them as "Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expendi ...
, down to details such as banning ornaments in heating rooms in the houses of commoners.
Economic policy
Supported by the scholar-bureaucrats
The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class.
Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...
, he accepted the Confucian
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...
viewpoint that merchants were solely parasitic. He felt that agriculture should be the country's source of wealth and that trade was ignoble. As a result, the Ming economic system emphasized agriculture, unlike the economic system of the Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
, which had preceded the Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
and relied on traders and merchants for revenues. Hongwu also supported the creation of self-supporting agricultural communities.
However, his prejudice against merchants did not diminish the numbers of traders. On the contrary, commerce increased significantly during the Hongwu era because of the growth of industry throughout the empire. This growth in trade was due in part to poor soil conditions and the overpopulation of certain areas, which forced many people to leave their homes and seek their fortunes in trade. A book titled ''Tu Pien Hsin Shu'', written during the Ming dynasty, gave a detailed description of the activities of merchants at that time.
Although the Hongwu era saw the reintroduction of paper currency
A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand.
Banknotes were originally issued ...
, its development was stifled from the beginning. Not understanding inflation, Hongwu gave out so much paper money as rewards that by 1425, the state was forced to restore copper coins
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...
because the paper currency had sunk to only 1/70 of its original value.
Education policy
Hongwu tried to remove Mencius
Mencius ( ); born Mèng Kē (); or Mèngzǐ (; 372–289 BC) was a Chinese Confucianism, Confucian Chinese philosophy, philosopher who has often been described as the "second Sage", that is, second to Confucius himself. He is part of Confuc ...
from the Temple of Confucius as certain parts of his work
His or HIS may refer to:
Computing
* Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company
* Honeywell Information Systems
* Hybrid intelligent system
* Microsoft Host Integration Server
Education
* Hangzhou International School, in ...
were deemed harmful. These include "the people are the most important element in a nation; the spirits of the land and grain are the next; the sovereign is the lightest" (''Mengzi, Jin Xin II''), as well as, "when the prince regards the ministers as the ground or as grass, they regard him as a robber and an enemy" (''Mengzi, Li Lou II''). The effort failed due to the objection from important officials, particularly Qian Tang (), Minister of Justice. Eventually, the emperor organized the compilation of the ''Mencius Abridged'' () in which 85 lines were deleted. Apart from those mentioned above, the omitted sentences also included those describing rules of governance, promoting benevolence, and those critical of King Zhou of Shang
King Zhou (; ) was the pejorative posthumous name given to Di Xin of Shang () or King Shou of Shang (), the last king of the Shang dynasty of ancient China. He is also called Zhou Xin (). In Chinese, his name Zhòu (wikt:紂, 紂) also refers to a ...
.
At the Guozijian
The Guozijian,Yuan, 194. sometimes translated as the Imperial College, Imperial Academy, Imperial University, National Academy, or National University, was the national central institution of higher learning in Chinese dynasties after the Sui ...
, law, math, calligraphy, equestrianism
Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, Driving (horse), driving, and Equestrian vaulting, vaulting ...
, and archery were emphasized by Hongwu in addition to Confucian classics and also required in the Imperial Examinations
The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...
. Archery and equestrianism were added to the exam by Hongwu in 1370, similarly to how archery and equestrianism were required for non-military officials at the College of War () in 1162 by Emperor Xiaozong of Song
Emperor Xiaozong of Song (27 November 1127 – 28 June 1194), personal name Zhao Shen, courtesy name Yuanyong, was the 11th emperor of the Song dynasty of China and the second emperor of the Southern Song dynasty. He started his reign in 1 ...
. The area around the Meridian Gate of Nanjing was used for archery by guards and generals under Hongwu.
A cavalry based army modeled on the Yuan military was implemented by the Hongwu and Yongle Emperors. Hongwu's army and officialdom incorporated Mongols.
Equestrianism and archery were favorite pastimes of He Suonan who served in the Yuan and Ming militaries under Hongwu. Archery towers were built by Zhengtong Emperor at the Forbidden City
The Forbidden City () is a Chinese palace, palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples includ ...
and archery towers were built on the city walls of Xi'an which had been erected by Hongwu.
Hongwu wrote essays which were posted in every village throughout China warning the people to behave or else face horrifying consequences. The 1380s writings of Hongwu includes the "''Great warnings''" or "''Grand Pronouncements''", and the "''Ancestral Injunctions''". He wrote the ''Six Maxims'' (六諭, 聖諭六言) which inspired the Sacred Edict of the Kangxi Emperor
In 1670, when the Kangxi Emperor of China's Qing dynasty was sixteen years old, he issued the Sacred Edict (), consisting of sixteen maxims, each seven characters long, to instruct the average citizen in the basic principles of Confucian orthodoxy ...
.
Around 1384, Hongwu ordered the Chinese translation and compilation of Islamic astronomical tables, a task that was carried out by the scholars Mashayihei, a Muslim astronomer, and Wu Bozong, a Chinese scholar-official. These tables came to be known as the ''Huihui Lifa
The ''Huihui Lifa'' (Traditional Chinese: 回回歷法; Simplified Chinese: 回回历法; pinyin: Huíhuí Lìfǎ) was a set of astronomical tables published throughout China from the time of the Ming Dynasty in the late 14th century through the ...
'' (''Muslim System of Calendrical Astronomy''), which was published in China a number of times until the early 18th century,
Religious policy
Mongol and Central Asian Semu
Semu () is the name of a caste established by the Yuan dynasty. The 31 Semu categories referred to people who came from Central and West Asia. They had come to serve the Yuan dynasty by enfranchising under the dominant Mongol caste. The Semu were ...
Muslim women and men were required by the ''Code of the Great Ming'' to marry Han Chinese after the first Ming emperor Hongwu passed the law in Article 122.
Hongwu ordered the construction of several mosques in Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
, Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
, Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
and Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...
provinces, and had inscriptions praising the Islamic prophet Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
placed in them. He rebuilt the Jinjue Mosque
The Jinjue Mosque () is a mosque in Qinhuai District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, China.
History
The mosque was constructed under the order of Hongwu Emperor of Ming Dynasty in 1388. The construction of the mosque was completed in 1392. Dur ...
(literally meaning: ''Pure Enlightenment Mosque'') in Nanjing and large numbers of Hui people
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the ...
moved to the city during his rule.
Foreign policy
Hongwu designated the "country without conquest" (). He listed 15 countries that Ming would not attempt to conquest, such as Japan, Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
and Vietnam.
Vietnam
Hongwu was a non-interventionist, refusing to intervene in a Vietnamese invasion of Champa
Champa (Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ; km, ចាម្ប៉ា; vi, Chiêm Thành or ) were a collection of independent Cham polities that extended across the coast of what is contemporary central and southern Vietnam from approximately the 2nd cen ...
to help the Chams
The Cham (Cham: ''Čaṃ'') or Champa people (Cham: , ''Urang Campa''; vi, Người Chăm or ; km, ជនជាតិចាម, ) are an Austronesian ethnic group. From the 2nd century to 1832 the Cham populated Champa, a contiguous territo ...
, only rebuking the Vietnamese for their invasion, being opposed to military action abroad. He specifically warned future emperors only to defend against foreign barbarians, and not engage in military campaigns for glory and conquest. In his 1395 ancestral injunctions, the emperor specifically wrote that China should not attack Champa, Cambodia or Annam (Vietnam). With the exception of his turn against aggressive expansion, much of Hongwu's foreign policy and his diplomatic institutions were based on Yuan practice.
"Japanese" pirates
Hongwu sent a message to the Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
that his army would "capture and exterminate your bandits, head straight for your country, and put your king in bonds". In fact, many of the " dwarf pirates" and " eastern barbarians" raiding his coasts were Chinese,[ and Hongwu's response was almost entirely passive. The ]Ashikaga shōgun Ashikaga (足利) may refer to:
* Ashikaga clan (足利氏 ''Ashikaga-shi''), a Japanese samurai clan descended from the Minamoto clan; and that formed the basis of the eponymous shogunate
** Ashikaga shogunate (足利幕府 ''Ashikaga bakufu''), a ...
replied "Your great empire may be able to invade Japan, but our small state is not short of a strategy to defend ourselves."[.] The necessity of protecting his state against the Northern Yuan
The Northern Yuan () was a dynastic regime ruled by the Mongols, Mongol Borjigin clan based in the Mongolian Plateau. It existed as a rump state after the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368 and lasted until its conquest by the Jurchen people, ...
remnants meant that the most Hongwu was able to accomplish against Japan was a series of "sea ban
The Haijin () or sea ban was a series of related isolationism, isolationist policies in China restricting private maritime trading and coastal settlement during most of the Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty. Despite official proclamations the M ...
" measures. Private foreign trade was made punishable by death, with the trader's family and neighbors exiled; ships, docks, and shipyards were destroyed, and ports were sabotaged.[.][ The plan was at odds with Chinese tradition and was counterproductive as it tied up resources. 74 coastal garrisons had to be established from ]Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
to Shandong
Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region.
Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
, though they were often manned by local gangs.[ Hongwu's measures limited tax receipts, impoverished and provoked both coastal Chinese and Japanese against the Hongwu regime,][ and actually ''increased'' piracy-][.] offering too little as a reward for good behavior and enticement for Japanese authorities to root out their own smugglers and pirates.[ Regardless of the policy, piracy had dropped to negligible levels by the time of its abolition in 1568.][
Nonetheless, the sea ban was added by Hongwu to his '']Ancestral Injunctions
The ''Huang-Ming Zuxun'' (''Instructions of the Ancestor of the August Ming'') were admonitions left by the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Chinese Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynas ...
''[ and so continued to be broadly enforced through most of the rest of his dynasty: for the next two centuries, the rich farmland of the south and the military theaters of the north were linked only by the ]Jinghang Canal
The Grand Canal, known to the Chinese as the Jing–Hang Grand Canal (, or more commonly, as the「大运河」("Grand Canal")), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the longest canal or artificial river in the world. Starting in Beijing, it passes ...
.
Despite the deep distrust, in Hongwu's ''Ancestral Injunctions'', he listed Japan along with 14 other countries as "countries against which campaigns shall not be launched", and advised his descendants to maintain peace with them. This policy was violated by his son Yongle Emperor
The Yongle Emperor (; pronounced ; 2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), personal name Zhu Di (), was the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424.
Zhu Di was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dyn ...
who ordered multiple interventions in Annam (present-day northern Vietnam), but remained influential for several centuries afterwards.
Byzantine Empire
The ''History of Ming
The ''History of Ming'' or the ''Ming History'' (''Míng Shǐ'') is one of the official Chinese historical works known as the ''Twenty-Four Histories''. It consists of 332 volumes and covers the history of the Ming dynasty from 1368 to 1644. It ...
'', compiled during the early Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
, describes how Hongwu met with an alleged merchant of ''Fulin'' (拂菻; the Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
) named "Nieh-ku-lun" (). In September 1371, he had the man sent back to his native country with a letter announcing the founding of the Ming dynasty to his ruler (i.e. John V Palaiologos
John V Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Ἰωάννης Παλαιολόγος, ''Iōánnēs Palaiológos''; 18 June 1332 – 16 February 1391) was Byzantine emperor from 1341 to 1391, with interruptions.
Biography
John V was the son of E ...
). It is speculated that the merchant was actually a former bishop of Khanbaliq
Khanbaliq or Dadu of Yuan () was the winter capital of the Yuan dynasty of China in what is now Beijing, also the capital of the People's Republic of China today. It was located at the center of modern Beijing. The Secretariat directly administ ...
(Beijing) called Nicolaus de Bentra, sent by Pope John XXII
Pope John XXII ( la, Ioannes PP. XXII; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death in December 1334.
He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Pope, elected by ...
to replace Archbishop John of Montecorvino
John of Montecorvino or Giovanni da Montecorvino in Italian (1247 – 1328) was an Italian Franciscan missionary, traveller and statesman, founder of the earliest Latin Catholic missions in India and China, and archbishop of Peking. He converte ...
in 1333. The ''History of Ming'' goes on to explain that contacts between China and ''Fu lin'' ceased after this point, and diplomats of the great western sea (the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
) did not appear in China again until the 16th century, with the Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci, SJ (; la, Mattheus Riccius; 6 October 1552 – 11 May 1610), was an Italians, Italian Society of Jesus, Jesuit Priesthood in the Catholic Church, priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He create ...
.
Death
After a 30-year reign, Hongwu died on 24 June 1398, at the age of 69. After his death, his physicians were penalized. He was buried at Xiaoling Mausoleum on the Purple Mountain Purple Mountain may refer to:
China
* Purple Mountain (Nanjing), a mountain in Nanjing, Jiangsu
Ireland
* Purple Mountain (Kerry), a mountain in County Kerry
United States
* Purple Mountain (Alaska), a mountain in Alaska
* Purple Peak (Col ...
, in the east of Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
. The mass sacrifice of concubine
Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive.
Concubi ...
s after the emperor's death, a practice long disappeared among Chinese dynasties, was revived by Zhu Yuanzhang, probably to clear potential obstacles to the reign of his chosen successor. At least 38 concubines were killed as part of Hongwu's funeral human sacrifice.
Assessment
Historians consider Hongwu as one of the most significant emperors of China. As Patricia Buckley Ebrey
Patricia Buckley Ebrey (born March 7, 1947) is an American historian specializing in cultural and gender issues during the Chinese Song Dynasty. Ebrey obtained her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago in 1968 and her Masters and PhD fro ...
puts it, "Seldom has the course of Chinese history been influenced by a single personality as much as it was by the founder of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang."[Ebrey, "Cambridge Illustrated History of China", pg. 190] His rise to power was fast despite his having a poor and humble origin. In 11 years, he went from being a penniless monk to the most powerful warlord in China. Five years later, he became emperor of China. Simon Leys
Pierre Ryckmans (28 September 1935 – 11 August 2014), better known by his pen name Simon Leys, was a Belgian-Australian writer, essayist and literary critic, translator, art historian, sinologist, and university professor, who lived in Austral ...
described him this way: 'an adventurer from peasant stock, poorly educated, a man of action, a bold and shrewd tactician, a visionary mind, in many respects a creative genius; naturally coarse, cynical, and ruthless, he eventually showed symptoms of paranoia, bordering on psychopathy
Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent Anti-social behaviour, antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and Boldness, bold, Disinhibition, disinhibited, and Egotism, egotistical B ...
.'
Chancellors during reign
* Early Ming: Zhongshu Zuo You Chengxiang (中書左右丞相)
* After Yongle: ''Grand Secretary'' (內閣大學士)
Four Grand chancellors:
* Li Shanchang
Li Shanchang (; 1314–1390) was a Chinese politician of the Ming dynasty, part of the West Huai (Huaixi) faction, and Duke of Han, one of the six founding dukes of the Ming Dynasty in 1370. Li Shanchang was one of Emperor Hongwu's associates durin ...
* Xu Da
Xu Da (1332–1385), courtesy name Tiande, was a Chinese military general and politician who lived in the late Yuan dynasty and early Ming dynasty. He was a friend of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder and first ruler of the Ming dynasty, and assist ...
* Wang Guangyang
* Hu Weiyong
Hu Weiyong (; died 1380) was a Chinese politician and the last chancellor of the Ming dynasty, from 1373 to 1380. Hu was a main member of Huaixi meritorious group. He was later accused of attempting to rebel and was thus executed by the Hongwu Em ...
Family
Zhu Yuanzhang had many Korean and Mongolian women among his concubines along with his Empress Ma and had 16 daughters and 26 sons with all of them.
----
Consorts and Issue:
* Empress Xiaocigao, of the Ma clan (; 1332–1382), personal name Xiuying ()
** Zhu Biao
Zhu Biao (; 10 October 1355 17 May 1392) was the Hongwu Emperor's eldest son and crown prince of the Ming dynasty. His early death created a crisis in the dynasty's first succession that was resolved by the successful usurpation of his brother ...
, Crown Prince Yiwen (; 10 October 1355 – 17 May 1392), first son
** Zhu Shuang
Zhu Shuang (; 3 December 1356 – 19 April 1395) was an imperial prince of the Chinese Ming dynasty. He was the second son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming. In May 1370, the Hongwu Emperor granted the title of Prince of Qin to him ...
, Prince Min of Qin (; 3 December 1356 – 9 April 1395), second son
** Zhu Gang
Zhu or ZHU may refer to:
*Zhu (surname), common Chinese surnames
*Zhu River, or Pearl River, in southern China
*Zhu (state), ancient Chinese state, later renamed Zou
*House of Zhu, the ruling house of the Ming dynasty in Chinese history
*Zhu (stri ...
, Prince Gong of Jin (; 18 December 1358 – 30 March 1398), third son
** Zhu Di, the Yongle Emperor
The Yongle Emperor (; pronounced ; 2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), personal name Zhu Di (), was the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424.
Zhu Di was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dyn ...
(; 2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), fourth son
** Zhu Su
Zhu Su (; 8 October 1361 – 2 September 1425), the Prince of Wu (吳王, created 1370), later the Prince of Zhou (周王), was a prince of the Ming dynasty. He was the fifth son of the Hongwu Emperor and Empress Ma. He was assigned to Kaifeng ...
, Prince Ding of Zhou (; 8 October 1361 – 2 September 1425), fifth son
** Princess Ningguo (; 1364 – 7 September 1434), second daughter
*** Married Mei Yin, Duke Rong (; d. 1405) in 1378, and had issue (two sons)
** Princess Anqing (), fourth daughter
*** Married Ouyang Lun (; d. 23 July 1397) on 23 December 1381
* Noble Consort Chengmu, of the Sun clan (; 1343–1374)
** Princess Lin'an (; 1360 – 17 August 1421), personal name Yufeng (), first daughter
*** Married Li Qi (; d. 1402), a son of Li Shanchang
Li Shanchang (; 1314–1390) was a Chinese politician of the Ming dynasty, part of the West Huai (Huaixi) faction, and Duke of Han, one of the six founding dukes of the Ming Dynasty in 1370. Li Shanchang was one of Emperor Hongwu's associates durin ...
, in 1376, and had issue (two sons)
** Princess Huaiqing (; 1366 – 15 July 1425), sixth daughter
*** Married Wang Ning, Marquis Yongchun () on 11 September 1382, and had issue (two sons)
** ''Tenth daughter''
** ''Thirteenth daughter''
* Noble Consort, of the Jiang clan (貴妃 江氏)
* Noble Consort, of the Zhao clan ()
** Zhu Mo, Prince Jian of Shen (; 1 September 1380 – 11 June 1431), 21st son
* Consort Ning, of the Guo clan ()
** Princess Runing (), fifth daughter
*** Married Lu Xian () on 11 June 1382
** Princess Daming (; 1368 – 30 March 1426), seventh daughter
*** Married Li Jian (; d. 1401) on 2 September 1382, and had issue (one son)
** Zhu Tan, Prince Huang of Lu (; 15 March 1370 – 2 January 1390), tenth son
* Consort Zhaojingchong, of the Hu clan ()
** Zhu Zhen, Prince Zhao of Chu (; 5 April 1364 – 22 March 1424), sixth son
* Consort Ding, of the Da clan (; d. 1390)
** Zhu Fu
Zhu Fu is a fictional character in ''Water Margin'', one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Nicknamed "Sneering Tiger", he ranks 93rd among the 108 Stars of Destiny and 57th among the 72 Earthly Fiends.
Background
Zhu Fu ...
, Prince Gong of Qi (; 23 December 1364 – 1428), seventh son
** Zhu Zi, Prince of Tan (; 6 October 1369 – 18 April 1390), eighth son
* Consort An, of the Zheng clan ()
** Princess Fuqing (; 1370 – 28 February 1417), eighth daughter
*** Married Zhang Lin () on 26 April 1385, and had issue (one son)
* Consort Hui, of the Guo clan ()
** Zhu Chun, Prince Xian of Shu (; 4 April 1371 – 22 March 1423), 11th son
** Zhu Gui, Prince Jian of Dai (; 25 August 1374 – 29 December 1446), 13th son
** Princess Zhenyi of Yongjia (; 1376 – 12 October 1455), 12th daughter
*** Married Guo Zhen (; 1372–1399) on 23 November 1389, and had issue (one son)
** Zhu Hui, Prince of Gu (; 30 April 1379 – 1428), 19th son
** Princess Ruyang (), 15th daughter
*** Married Xie Da (; d. 1404) on 23 August 1394
* Consort Shun, of the Hu clan ()
** Zhu Bai, Prince Xian of Xiang (; 12 September 1371 – 18 May 1399), 12th son
* Consort Xian, of the Li clan ()
** Zhu Jing, Prince Ding of Tang (; 11 October 1386 – 8 September 1415), 23rd son
* Consort Hui, of the Liu clan ()
** Zhu Dong, Prince Jing of Ying (; 21 June 1388 – 14 November 1414), 24th son
* Consort Li, of the Ge clan ()
** Zhu Yi, Prince Li of Yi (; 9 July 1388 – 8 October 1414), 25th son
** Prince Zhu Nan (; 4 January 1394 – February 1394), 26th son
* Consort Zhuangjinganronghui, of the Cui clan ()
* Consort, of the Han clan (). She was an ethnic Korean from Goryeo
** Zhu Zhi
Zhu Zhi (156–224), courtesy name Junli, was a Chinese military general and politician serving under the warlord Sun Quan during the late Eastern Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period of China. He was from Guzhang County (), Danyang Comm ...
, Prince Jian of Liao (; 24 March 1377 – 4 June 1424), 15th son
** Princess Hanshan (; 1381 – 18 October 1462), 14th daughter
*** Married Yin Qing () on 11 September 1394, and had issue (two sons)
* Consort, of the Yu clan ()
** Zhu Zhan, Prince Jing of Qing (; 6 February 1378 – 23 August 1438), 16th son
* Consort, of the Yang clan ()
** Zhu Quan
Zhu Quan (; 27 May 1378 – 12 October 1448), the Prince of Ning (), was a Chinese historian, military commander, musician, and playwright. He was the 17th son of the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty. During his life, he served as a milit ...
, Prince Xian of Ning (; 27 May 1378 – 12 October 1448), 17th son
* Consort, of the Zhou clan ()
** Zhu Pian, Prince Zhuang of Min (; 9 April 1379 – 10 May 1450), 18th son
** Zhu Song, Prince Xian of Han (; 20 June 1380 – 19 November 1407), 20th son
* Beauty, of the Zhang clan (), personal name Xuanmiao ()
** Princess Baoqing (; 1394–1433), 16th daughter
*** Married Zhao Hui (; 1387–1476) in 1413
* Lady, of the Lin clan ()
** Princess Nankang (; 1373 – 15 November 1438), personal name Yuhua (), 11th daughter
*** Married Hu Guan (; d. 1403) in 1387, and had issue (one son)
* Lady, of the Gao clan ()
** Zhu Ying, Prince Zhuang of Su (; 10 October 1376 – 5 January 1420), 14th son
* Unknown
** Princess Chongning (), third daughter
*** Married Niu Cheng () on 21 December 1384
** Zhu Qi, Prince of Zhao (; October 1369 – 16 January 1371), ninth son
** Princess Shouchun (; 1370 – 1 August 1388), ninth daughter
*** Married Fu Zhong (; d. 20 December 1394), the first son of Fu Youde
Fu Youde () (died 20 December 1394) was a Chinese general and a highly competent commander in the Ming navy.
Early life
Fu Youde came from an humble background in Anhui and became an eminent field marshal. In 1361, after serving under a success ...
, on 9 April 1386, and had issue (one son)
** Zhu Ying, Prince Hui of An (; 18 October 1383 – 9 October 1417), 22nd son
Ancestry
In popular culture
; Novels
* ''The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber
''The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber'' (), also translated as ''The Sword and the Knife'', is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It is the third and final installment in the ''Condor Trilogy'', preceded by ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes ...
'' (), a 1961–63 ''wuxia
( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted f ...
'' novel by Louis Cha
Louis Cha Leung-yung (; 10 March 1924 – 30 October 2018), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (), pronounced "Gum Yoong" in Cantonese, was a Chinese wuxia ("martial arts and chivalry") novelist and essayist who co-founded the Hong Kong dail ...
. Zhu Yuanzhang appears as a minor character in the novel. Zhu Yuanzhang has been portrayed by various actors in the films and television series adapted from this novel.
*''She Who Became The Sun'', a 2021 novel by Shelley Parker-Chan. Zhu Yuanzhang and his rise to power is the historical basis of the main character Zhu Chongba.
; Television series
* ''Born to be a King'' (), a 1987 Hong Kong television series produced by TVB
Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and TVB ...
and starring Simon Yam
Simon Yam Tat-wah (; born 19 March 1955) is a Hong Kong actor and film producer. He received international acclaim for his performances in international film festival and box office hits such as ''Naked Killer'', '' SPL: Sha Po Lang'', ''Election' ...
as Zhu Yuanzhang.
* ''Zhu Yuanzhang'' (), a 1993 Chinese television series produced by Beijing TV
Beijing Radio and Television Station (BRTV), formerly Beijing Media Network (BMN), is a government-owned television network in China. It broadcasts from Beijing. The channel is available only in Chinese.
Beijing Media Network was founded on ...
and starring Lü Qi as Zhu Yuanzhang.
* ''Empress Ma With Great Feet'' (), a 2002 Chinese television series about Zhu Yuanzhang's wife, Empress Ma. Tang Guoqiang
Tang Guoqiang (born 4 May 1952) is a Chinese actor best known for portraying historical figures in several films and television series. Some of his more notable roles include: various Chinese emperors (e.g. Emperor Taizong of Tang, Yongle Emper ...
starred as Zhu Yuanzhang.
* ''Chuanqi Huangdi Zhu Yuanzhang
''Chuanqi Huangdi Zhu Yuanzhang'' is a Chinese television series based on the life of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty. Starring Chen Baoguo as the emperor, the series was first broadcast on CCTV in mainland China in 2006.
C ...
'' (), a 2006 Chinese television series starring Chen Baoguo
Chen Baoguo (; born 9 March 1956) is a Chinese actor. He graduated from the Central Academy of Drama, Erjia in 1977 and has since acted in many films and television series, including ''The Emperor in Han Dynasty'', ''Da Zhai Men'' and ''Rob-B-Ho ...
as Zhu Yuanzhang.
* ''Founding Emperor of Ming Dynasty
''Founding Emperor of Ming Dynasty'' is a Chinese television series based on the life of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty. Directed by Feng Xiaoning and starring Hu Jun as the emperor, the series was first aired on CCTV in C ...
'' (), a 2006 Chinese television series directed by Feng Xiaoning
Feng Xiaoning () (born 1954) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. He is considered a member of the "Fifth Generation" Chinese directors who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1982. Feng however graduated from t ...
and starring Hu Jun
Hu Jun (born March 18, 1968) is a Chinese actor best known for playing dramatic roles in various films and television series. He has acted in a number of Hong Kong films.
Biography
Hu Jun was born on March 18, 1968, to Wang Yiman (), a drama ac ...
as Zhu Yuanzhang.
* ''The Legendary Liu Bowen'' (), a 2006–2008 Taiwanese television series about Zhu Yuanzhang's adviser, Liu Bowen
Liu Ji (1 July 1311 – 16 May 1375),Jiang, Yonglin. Jiang Yonglin. 005(2005). The Great Ming Code: 大明律. University of Washington Press. , 9780295984490. Page xxxv. The source is used to cover the year only. courtesy name Bowen, better kn ...
. It was produced by TTV and starred Huo Zhengqi as Zhu Yuanzhang.
* ''Zhenming Tianzi'' (), a 2015 Chinese television series produced by Jian Yuanxin and starring Zhang Zhuowen as Zhu Yuanzhang.
* ''Love Through Different Times
''Love Through Different Times'', also known as ''Funniest Stories of the Ming's Royalists'', is a 2002 Chinese television comedy-drama.
A ludicrous story, the drama uses time travel to explain the mysterious disappearance of Ming dynasty's Jianw ...
'' (), a 2002 Chinese television comedy-drama that is considered the first time-travel television series produced in mainland China.
See also
* Chinese emperors family tree (late)
This is a family tree of Chinese monarchs from the Yuan dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty.
__TOC__
Yuan dynasty and Northern Yuan
The following is the Yuan dynasty family tree. Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire in 1206. The empire ...
* Huang Ming Zu Xun
The ''Huang-Ming Zuxun'' (''Instructions of the Ancestor of the August Ming'') were admonitions left by the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Chinese Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynas ...
, the "Ancestral Instructions" written by Hongwu to guide his descendants
* Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum
The Ming Xiaoling () is the mausoleum of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dynasty. It lies at the southern foot of Purple Mountain, located east of the historical centre of Nanjing. Legend says that in order to prevent robbery of the tom ...
* Rags to riches
Rags to riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype in literature and popula ...
* Sino-Tibetan relations during the Ming dynasty
Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...
* Hongwu Tongbao
The ''Hongwu Tongbao'' ( Japanese language, Japanese: Kōbu Tsūhō) was the first Cash (Chinese coin), cash coin to bear the reign name of a reigning Ming dynasty Emperor bearing the reign title of the Hongwu Emperor. Hongwu Tongbao cash coin ...
Notes
References
*
*
*
Further reading
*
* Brook, Timothy. (1998). '' The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China''. Berkeley: University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
. (Paperback).
*
*
*
*
*
External links
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