![Red Turban](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Red_Turban.png)
Ming Yuzhen (; 2 October 1328 – 17 March 1366) was a peasant rebel leader who established the dynasty of
Ming Xia
The Ming Xia (1363–1371), officially the Great Xia, was a short-lived Chinese dynasty in modern Sichuan and Chongqing during the chaotic late Yuan dynasty. It was founded by the Red Turban rebel general Ming Yuzhen whose army expelled Yuan loya ...
during the late
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 fift ...
in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
Ming was born in Suizhou (today
Sui County,
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 ...
) in a farmer family. He changed the character of his surname to mean "Brilliance" later. In 1353 he joined the
Red Turbans, a rebel group led by
Xu Shouhui
Xu Shouhui () (1320–1360) was a 14th-century Chinese rebel leader who proclaimed himself emperor of the Tianwan dynasty (天完) during the late Yuan dynasty period of China. He was also known as Xu Zhenyi (徐真一 or 徐真逸, romanized i ...
. He was blinded in the right eye during a battle.
In 1360, Xu was killed by
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 r ...
, so Ming left his group and proclaimed himself King of Longshu (隴蜀王). Two years later, he proclaimed himself Emperor of Great Xia in
Chongqing, with the
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 of ...
of Tiantong (天統). In Great Xia, there was taxation,
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 ...
, and a state religion 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 ...
.
In 1363, he attacked Prince Liang, Bolud Temür (
孛羅帖木兒) in
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in 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 Kunming. The province borders the C ...
. His plans to expand did not work out and he died in of illness at the age of 35. He was succeeded by his son Ming Sheng (明昇), who changed the era name to Kaixi (開熙) and was exiled to Korea when Longshu was destroyed by the
Ming Empire
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...
in 1371. The Korean official Yun Hui-chong's daughter married Ming Sheng in March 1373. Ming Sheng was 17 and
Chen Li was 21 when they were sent to Korea in 1372 by the Ming dynasty.
Also, Ming Yuzhen is the founder of one of the
Korean clan
Bon-gwan (or Bongwan) is the concept of clan in Korea, which is used to distinguish clans that happen to share the same family name (clan name). Since Korea has been traditionally a Confucian country, this clan system is similar to ancient Chinese ...
,
Yeonan Myeong clan
Yeonan Myeong clan () is one of the Korean clans. Their Bon-gwan is in Yonan County, Hwanghae Province.
According to the research held in 2015, the number of Yeonan Myeong clan’s member was 27133. Their founder was Ming Yuzhen who establis ...
,
Seochok Myeong clan
Seochok Myeong clan () is one of the Korean clans. Their Bon-gwan is in Sichuan, China. According to the research held in 2015, the number of Seochok Myeong clan's member was 27133. Their founder was Ming Yuzhen who established the short-lived Mi ...
and
Namwon Seung clan
Namwon Seung clan () was one of the Korean clans. Their Bon-gwan was in Namwon, North Jeolla Province. According to the research in 2000, the number of Namwon Seung clan was 613. Their founder was Ming Sheng who was the second emperor of the shor ...
.
[p20]
References
Red Turban rebels
Yuan dynasty people
1331 births
1366 deaths
Yeonan Myeong clan
Seochok Myeong clan
Founding monarchs
{{China-hist-stub