The ''Huang-Ming Zuxun'' (''Instructions of the Ancestor of the August Ming'') were admonitions left by the

Hongwu Emperor The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang (), courtesy name Guorui (), was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty of China, reigning from 1368 to 1398. As famine, plagues and peasant revolts in ...

Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

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 ...

, to his descendants. The text was composed in 1373 under the title ''Record of the Ancestor's Instructions''; this was changed to ''Huang Ming Zu Xun'' during the publication of the 1395 edition.Liao Xinyi (). "Huang-Ming Zuxun" (). ''Zhongguo Lishi: Zhongguo Da Baike Quanshu'' (), Vol. 1, p. 401. Zhongguo Da Baike Quanshu Chubanshe (Shanghai), 1992. Op. cit. Theobald, Ulrich.
Chinese Literature: Huang-Ming zuxun
. Accessed 12 Oct 2012. The book was divided into thirteen sections: # Preface (, ''Zhēnjiè'') # Personal Austerity (, ''Chíshǒu'') # Ritual Observance (, ''Yán Jìsì'') # Coronations (, ''Jǐn Chūrù'') # National Policy (, ''Shèn Guózhèng'') # Protocol (, ''Lǐyí'') # Legislation (, ''Fǎlǜ'') # The Inner Chambers (, ''Nèilìng'') # The Inner Offices (, ''Nèiguān'') # Administration (, ''Zhízhì'') # Guards (, ''Bīngwèi'') # Public Works (, ''Yíngshàn'') # Public Funds (, ''Gōngyòng'') The Preface, composed by Zhu Yuanzhang himself, admonishes his descendants to exert a strict legalist government. The work pins the survival on the dynasty principally upon personal austerity and watchfulness both over practical administration of the empire, the niceties of ritual and etiquette on various occasions, and various potential traitors including their relatives, spouses, and officials both military and civil.

Sources

1370s books Ming dynasty literature Constitution of China {{china-hist-stub