The Jiajing Emperor (; 16September 150723January 1567) was the 12th
Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1521 to 1567. Born Zhu Houcong, he was the former
Zhengde Emperor
The Zhengde Emperor (; 26 October 149120 April 1521) was the 11th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1505 to 1521.
Born Zhu Houzhao, he was the Hongzhi Emperor's eldest son. Zhu Houzhao took the throne at only 14 with the era name Zhen ...
's cousin. His father,
Zhu Youyuan
Zhu Youyuan (; 22 July 1476 – 13 July 1519), was a prince of the Ming dynasty of China. He was the fourth son of the Chenghua Emperor.
Created Prince of Xing (興王), his fief was near today's Zhongxiang, in Hubei Province. He and his wif ...
(1476–1519), Prince of Xing, was the fourth son of the
Chenghua Emperor
The Chenghua Emperor (; 9 December 1447 – 9 September 1487), personal name Zhu Jianshen, was the ninth Emperor of the Ming dynasty, who reigned from 1464 to 1487. His era name " Chenghua" means "accomplished change".
Childhood
Zhu Jianshen wa ...
(reigned from 1464 to 1487) and the eldest son of three sons born to the emperor's concubine, Lady Shao. The Jiajing Emperor's
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 ...
, "
Jiajing
Jiajing () (28 January 1522 – 8 February 1567) was the era name of the Jiajing Emperor, the 12th emperor of the Ming dynasty of China.
Comparison table
Other eras contemporaneous with Jiajing
* China
** ''Tianyuan'' (天淵, 1546): Ming peri ...
", means "admirable tranquility".
Early years
Born as heir apparent of a vassal prince, Zhu Houcong was not brought up to succeed to the throne. However, the throne became vacant in 1521 after the sudden death of the
Hongzhi Emperor
The Hongzhi Emperor () (30 July 1470 – 9 June 1505) was the tenth Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1487 to 1505. Born Zhu Youcheng, he was the eldest surviving son of the Chenghua Emperor and his reign as emperor of China is called t ...
's son, the
Zhengde Emperor
The Zhengde Emperor (; 26 October 149120 April 1521) was the 11th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1505 to 1521.
Born Zhu Houzhao, he was the Hongzhi Emperor's eldest son. Zhu Houzhao took the throne at only 14 with the era name Zhen ...
, who did not leave an heir. Prior to the Zhengde Emperor's death, the line of succession was as follows:
* ''
Zhu Jianshen, the Chenghua Emperor (1447–1487)''
** ''Unnamed son (1466–1466)''
** ''Zhu Youji (1469–1472)''
** ''
Zhu Youcheng, the Hongzhi Emperor (1470–1505)''
***
Zhu Houzhao, the Zhengde Emperor (1491–1521)
*** ''Zhu Houwei, Prince Dao of Wei (1496–1497, title posthumously)
** ''
Zhu Youyuan, Prince Xian of Xing (1476–1519)''
*** '' Zhu Houxi, Prince Huai of Yue (1500–1500, title posthumously)''
*** (1) Zhu Houcong, Prince of Xing (b. 1507)''
The 13-year-old Zhu Houcong, then heir presumptive, succeeded to the throne, and so relocated from his father's princedom (near present-day
Zhongxiang
Zhongxiang () is a county-level city of Jingmen, central Hubei province, People's Republic of China. The name ''Zhongxiang'' means "Blessed with propitious omen", and was given to the city by the Jiajing Emperor in the Ming dynasty.
History
Zhong ...
,
Hubei
Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...
) to the capital,
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 ...
. As the Jiajing Emperor, Zhu Houcong had his parents posthumously elevated to an "honorary" imperial rank, and had an imperial-style Xianling Mausoleum built for them near Zhongxiang.
Reign as emperor
![Yellow glazed pot and cover with hidden streak designs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Yellow_glazed_pot_and_cover_with_hidden_streak_designs.jpg)
Custom dictated that an emperor who was not an immediate descendant of the previous one should be adopted by the previous one, to maintain an unbroken line. Such a posthumous adoption of Zhu Houcong by the Hongzhi Emperor was proposed, but he resisted, preferring instead to have his father declared emperor posthumously. This conflict is known as the "
Great Rites Controversy
The Great Rites Controversy () took place in the decade following 1524 in Ming China. It pitted the young and newly enthroned Jiajing Emperor against the Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe and the majority of the Confucian officials in his government. ...
." The Jiajing Emperor prevailed and hundreds of his opponents were banished, flogged in the imperial court (), or executed. Among the banished was the poet
Yang Shen
Yang Shen (; 1488–1559) was a poet in the Chinese Ming dynasty. His courtesy name was Yongxiu (); his art names included Sheng'an (), Bonan Shanren () and Diannan Shushi ().
Yang Shen was the son of Yang Tinghe and originally lived in Chengdu ...
.
The Jiajing Emperor was known to be intelligent and efficient; whilst later he went on strike, and choose not to attend any state meetings, he did not neglect the paperwork and other governmental matters. The Jiajing Emperor was also known to be a cruel and self-aggrandizing emperor and he also chose to reside outside of 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 ...
in Beijing so he could live in isolation. Ignoring state affairs, the Jiajing Emperor relied on Zhang Cong and
Yan Song
Yan Song (; 1480–1567), courtesy name Weizhong (惟中), pseudonym Jiexi (介溪), was a Chinese politician and regent of the Ming dynasty. He was notorious for being corrupt and for dominating the Ming government for two decades as Grand Sec ...
to handle affairs of state. In time, Yan Song and his son Yan Shifan – who gained power only as a result of his father's political influence – came to dominate the whole government even being called the "First and Second Prime Minister". Ministers such as
Hai Rui
Hai Rui (海瑞; ''Hǎi Ruì'' ; 23 January 1514 – 13 November 1587), courtesy name Ruxian (汝贤), art name Gangfeng (刚峰), was a Chinese scholar-official of the Ming dynasty, remembered as a model of honesty and integrity in office. A p ...
and
Yang Jisheng challenged and even chastised Yan Song and his son but were thoroughly ignored by the emperor. Hai Rui and many ministers were eventually dismissed or executed. The Jiajing Emperor also abandoned the practice of seeing his ministers altogether from 1539 onwards, and for a period of almost 25 years refused to give official audiences, choosing instead to relay his wishes through eunuchs and officials. Only Yan Song, a few handful of eunuchs and Daoist priests ever saw the emperor. This eventually led to corruption at all levels of the Ming government. However, the Jiajing Emperor was intelligent and managed to control the court.
The Ming dynasty had enjoyed a long period of peace, but in 1542 the Mongol leader
Altan Khan
Altan Khan of the Tümed (1507–1582; mn, ᠠᠯᠲᠠᠨ ᠬᠠᠨ, Алтан хан; Chinese language, Chinese: 阿勒坦汗), whose given name was Anda (Mongolian language, Mongolian: ; Chinese language, Chinese: 俺答), was the leader of ...
began to harass China along the northern border. In 1550, he even reached the suburbs of Beijing. Eventually the Ming government appeased him by granting special trading rights. The Ming government also had to deal with
wokou pirates attacking the southeastern coastline.
Starting in 1550, Beijing was enlarged by the addition of the
outer city.
Palace plot of Renyin year
Due to the Jiajing Emperor's cruelty and promiscuous lifestyle, his concubines and palace maids plotted to assassinate him in October 1542 by strangling him while he slept. His pursuit of eternal life led him to believe that one of the elixirs of extending his life was to force virgin palace maids to collect menstrual blood for his consumption. These arduous tasks were performed non-stop even when the palace maids were taken ill and any unwilling participants were executed on the Emperor's whim. A group of palace maids who had had enough of the emperor's cruelty decided to band together to murder him in an event known as the
Palace plot of Renyin year
The Palace plot of ''Renyin'' year (), also known as the Palace Women's Uprising (), was a Ming dynasty plot against the Jiajing Emperor, where 16 palace women attempted to murder the emperor. It occurred in 1542, the 21st year of the reign of the ...
(). The lead palace maid tried to strangle the emperor with ribbons from her hair while the others held down the emperor's arms and legs but made a fatal mistake by tying a knot around the emperor's neck which would not tighten. Meanwhile, some of the young palace maids involved began to panic and one (Zhang Jinlian) ran to the empress. The plot was exposed and on the orders of the empress and some officials, all of the palace maids involved, including the emperor's favourite concubine (
Consort Duan
Consort Duan (曹端妃; d. 1542), of the Cao clan, was a Ming dynasty concubine of the Jiajing Emperor. She was one of the emperor's most beloved concubines, but was implicated in an assassination attempt and subsequently executed.Zhang (1739)
B ...
) and another concubine (Consort Ning, née Wang), were ordered to be executed by
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 ...
and their families were killed. The Jiajing Emperor later determined that Consort Duan had been innocent, and dictated that their daughter,
Luzheng, be raised by Imperial Noble Consort Shen.
Taoist pursuits
The Jiajing Emperor was a devoted follower of
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmo ...
and attempted to suppress
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 ...
. After the assassination attempt in 1542, the emperor moved out of the imperial palace, and lived with a small, thin, 13-year-old girl who was able to satisfy his sexual appetite (Lady Shan). The Jiajing Emperor began to pay excessive attention to his Taoist pursuits while ignoring his imperial duties. He built three Taoist temples:
Temple of the Sun
A sun temple (or solar temple) is a building used for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, dedicated to the sun or a solar deity. Such temples were built by a number different cultures and are distributed around th ...
,
Temple of the Earth and
Temple of the Moon, and extended the
Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven () is a complex of imperial religious buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperor of China, Emperors of the Ming dynasty, Ming and Qing dynasty, Qing dynasties for ...
by adding the ''Earthly Mount''. Over the years, the emperor's devotion to Taoism was to become a heavy financial burden for the Ming government and create dissent across the country.
Particularly during his later years, the Jiajing Emperor was known for spending a great deal of time on alchemy in hopes of finding medicines to prolong his life. He would forcibly recruit young women in their early teens and engage in sexual activities in the hope of empowering himself, along with the consumption of potent
elixirs
ELIXIR (the European life-sciences Infrastructure for biological Information) is an initiative that will allow life science laboratories across Europe to share and store their research data as part of an organised network. Its goal is to bring t ...
. He employed Taoist priests to collect rare minerals from all over the country to create elixirs, including elixirs containing
mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
, which inevitably posed health problems at high doses.
Legacy and death
After 45 years on the throne (the second longest reign in the Ming dynasty), the Jiajing Emperor died in 1567 – possibly due to mercury overdose from
Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning In Chinese alchemy, elixir poisoning refers to the toxic effects from elixirs of immortality that contained metals and minerals such as mercury and arsenic. The official ''Twenty-Four Histories'' record numerous Chinese emperors, nobles, and offic ...
– and was succeeded by his son, the
Longqing Emperor
The Longqing Emperor (; 4March 15375July 1572), personal name Zhu Zaiji (朱載坖), was the 13th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1567 to 1572. He was initially known as the Prince of Yu (裕王) from 1539 to 1567 before he became th ...
. Though his long rule gave the dynasty an era of stability, the Jiajing Emperor's neglect of his official duties resulted in the decline of the dynasty at the end of the 16th century. His style of governance, or the lack thereof, would be emulated by his
grandson
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
later in the century.
The time when the Jiajing Emperor was buried was very close to the time of completion of the manuscript copy of the lost
Yongle Encyclopedia
The ''Yongle Encyclopedia'' () or ''Yongle Dadian'' () is a largely-lost Chinese ''leishu'' encyclopedia commissioned by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty in 1403 and completed by 1408. It comprised 22,937 manuscript rolls or chapters, in 1 ...
. The Jiajing Emperor died in December 1566, but was buried three months later, in March 1567.
One possibility is that they were waiting for the manuscript to be completed.
Portrayal in art
The Jiajing Emperor was portrayed in contemporary court portrait paintings, as well as in other works of art. For example, in this
panoramic painting
Panoramic paintings are massive artworks that reveal a wide, all-encompassing view of a particular subject, often a landscape, military battle, or historical event. They became especially popular in the 19th century in Europe and the United St ...
below, the Jiajing Emperor can be seen in the right half riding a black steed and wearing a plumed helmet. He is distinguished from his entourage of bodyguards as an abnormally tall figure.
Family
![Ming Composite Gun (9872833824)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Ming_Composite_Gun_%289872833824%29.jpg)
Consorts and Issue:
*
Empress Xiaojiesu, of the Chen clan (; 1508–1528)
**miscarriage (1528)
*
Deposed Empress, of the Zhang clan (; d. 1537), personal name Zhang Qijie ()
*
Empress Xiaolie, of the Fang clan (; 1516–1547)
*
Empress Xiaoke, of the Du clan (; d. 1554)
** Zhu Zaihou, the
Longqing Emperor
The Longqing Emperor (; 4March 15375July 1572), personal name Zhu Zaiji (朱載坖), was the 13th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1567 to 1572. He was initially known as the Prince of Yu (裕王) from 1539 to 1567 before he became th ...
(; 4 March 1537 – 5 July 1572), third son
* Imperial Noble Consort Duanhegongrongshunwenxi, of the Wang clan (; d. 1553)
** Zhu Zairui, Crown Prince Zhuangjing (; 1536–1549), second son
* Imperial Noble Consort Zhuangshunanrongzhenjing, of the Shen clan (; d. 1581)
* Imperial Noble Consort Ronganhuishunduanxi, of the Yan clan (; d. 1541)
** Zhu Zaiji, Crown Prince Aichong (; 7 September 1533 – 27 October 1533), first son
* Noble Consort Gongxizhenjing, of the Wen clan ()
* Noble Consort Rong'an, of the Ma clan ()
* Noble Consort, of the Zhou clan (; d. 1540)
* Consort Daoyingong, of the Wen clan (; d. 1532)
*
Consort Duan
Consort Duan (曹端妃; d. 1542), of the Cao clan, was a Ming dynasty concubine of the Jiajing Emperor. She was one of the emperor's most beloved concubines, but was implicated in an assassination attempt and subsequently executed.Zhang (1739)
B ...
, of the Cao clan (; d. 1542)
** Zhu Shaoying, Princess Chang'an (; 1536–1549), first daughter
** Zhu Luzheng, Princess Ning'an (; 1539–1607), third daughter
*** Married Li He () in 1555, and had issue (one son)
* Consort Huairongxian, of the Zheng clan (; d. 1536)
* Consort Jing, of the Lu clan (; d. 1588)
** Zhu Zaizhen, Prince Gong of Jing (; 29 March 1537 – 9 February 1565), fourth son
* Consort Su, of the Jiang clan ()
** Zhu Zaishang, Prince Shang of Ying (; 8 September 1537 – 9 September 1537), fifth son
* Consort Yi, of the Zhao clan (; d. 1569)
** Zhu Zai, Prince Huai of Qi (; 1 October 1537 – 5 August 1538), sixth son
* Consort Yong, of the Chen clan (; d. 1586)
** Zhu Zaikui, Prince Ai of Ji (; 29 January 1538 – 14 February 1538), seventh son
** Zhu Ruirong, Princess Guishan (; 1541–1544), fourth daughter
* Consort Hui, of the Wang clan ()
** Zhu Fuyuan, Princess Sirou (; 1538–1549), second daughter
* Consort Rong, of the Zhao clan ()
** Zhu Zaifeng, Prince Si of Jun (; 23 August 1539 – 16 April 1540), eighth son
* Consort Rongzhaode, of the Zhang clan (; d. 1574)
** Zhu Suzhen, Princess Jiashan (; 1541–1564), fifth daughter
*** Married Xu Congcheng () in 1559
* Consort Rong'anzhen, of the Ma clan (; d. 1564)
* Consort Duanjingshu, of the Zhang clan ()
* Consort Gongxili, of the Wang clan (; d. 1553)
* Consort Gongshurong, of the Yang clan (; d. 1566)
* Consort Duanhuiyong, of the Xu clan ()
* Concubine Ning, of the Wang clan (王宁嫔) d. 1542), head of the
Renyin plot
Ancestry
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 ...
References
Further reading
* Fisher, Carney T. "Smallpox, Salesmen, and Sectarians: Ming-Mongol Relations in the Jiajing Reign (1522–67)." ''Ming Studies'' 1988.1 (1988): 1-23.
* Mote, F.W. ''Imperial China 900–1800'' (1999) pp 660–72.
* Wan, Maggie CK. "Building an Immortal Land: The Ming Jiajing Emperor's West Park." ''Asia Major'' (2009): 65-99
online* ''The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part I,'' "The Prince of Ning Treason" by Frederick W. Mote and Denis Twitchett.
* Huiping Pang, "The Confiscating Henchmen: The Masquerade of Ming Embroidered-Uniform Guard Liu Shouyou (ca. 1540-1604)," Ming Studies 72 (2015): 24-45. ISSN 0147-037X
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jiajing Emperor
1507 births
1567 deaths
Ming dynasty emperors
16th-century Chinese monarchs
People from Xiaogan