The Prince of Ning rebellion () was a rebellion that took place in China between 10 July and 20 August 1519 during 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 ...

. It was started by

Zhu Chenhao Zhu Chenhao (; 1 July 1476 – 12 January 1521), or Prince of Ning (), art name Weitian (畏天), was a member of the Ming dynasty's imperial family. He was the 5th generation descendant of Zhu Quan, the 17th son of the Hongwu Emperor. He attem ...

, Prince of Ning and a fifth-generation descendant of

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 ...

, and was aimed at overthrowing 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 ...

. The Prince of Ning revolt was one of two princedom rebellions during the Zhengde Emperor's reign; it was preceded by the

Prince of Anhua rebellion The Prince of Anhua rebellion () or Prince Anhua uprising was a rebellion by Zhu Zhifan, Prince of Anhua and member of the House of Zhu, against the reign of the Zhengde Emperor from 12 May 1510 to 30 May 1510. The Prince of Anhua revolt was one ...

in 1510.

Background

The first Prince of Ning,

, was awarded the title for his military service under 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 ...

and was given the land of Daning, a region north of

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 ...

. Ning was later moved to

Nanchang Nanchang (, ; ) is the capital of Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

by 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 ...

. His fifth generation descendant and fourth Prince of Ning was

, a leader known more for his indulgent lifestyle and hedonism than his military prowess. The Zhengde Emperor was warned of the rumor of Zhu Chenhao's treason prior to the rebellion. There were reports that Zhu had been gathering an army, when the military power of regional princes had long ago been abolished. Zhu had also been bribing members of the Zhengde Emperor's cabinet, as part of his plans to usurp the throne. In 1507, he offered the official

Liu Jin Liu Jin (; 28 February 1451 – 25 August 1510) was a powerful Ming dynasty Chinese eunuch during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor. Liu was famous for being one of the most influential officials in Chinese history. For some time, Liu was the em ...

a large sum of money in exchange for personal bodyguards, a bribe that Liu agreed to but was unable to carry out, once he was executed for plotting against the emperor in September 1510. In 1514, he funded bandits as henchmen, seized land and property, issued taxes, and received bodyguards after successfully bribing the general and Minister of War Lu Wan. Zhu Chenhao also tried to bribe the famous painter

Guo Xu "Guo", written in Chinese: 郭, is one of the most common Chinese surnames and means "the wall that surrounds a city" in Chinese. It can also be transliterated into English as Cok, Gou, Quo, Quach, Quek, Que, Keh, Kuo, Kwo, Kuoch, Kok, Koc, ...

to his side, and although Guo took the money he immediately gave it away. The Zhengde Emperor, who was childless, lacked an heir and Zhu had been pushing for his son to take over as

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

. The rumors were ignored by the emperor, who did not respond to the allegations. By the end of 1514, Zhu was so emboldened that he began to refer to himself as emperor and issued his commands as imperial edicts. This too was ignored by the Zhengde Emperor.

Rebellion

On 14 June 1519, Zhu Chenhao initiated the rebellion by announcing that the Zhengde Emperor was not the legitimate successor 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 ...

and had usurped the throne. His army marched north, in an attempt to capture the city

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 ...

. On their way to Nanjing, Zhu attacked

Anqing Anqing (, also Nganking, formerly Hwaining, now the name of Huaining County) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Anhui province, People's Republic of China. Its population was 4,165,284 as of the 2020 census, with 804,493 living in the ...

on 9 August but failed to capture it. The Neo-Confucian philosopher and general

Wang Yangming Wang Shouren (, 26 October 1472 – 9 January 1529), courtesy name Bo'an (), art name Yangmingzi (), usually referred to as Wang Yangming (), was a Chinese calligrapher, general, philosopher, politician, and writer during the Ming dynasty ...

was sent out to suppress the rebellion and captured the Ning princedom's capital of

on 13 August 1519. Zhu's army was defeated by Wang on 20 August 1519, ending the forty-two days of rebellion, and Zhu was later captured. It is largely believed that although Zhu had planned his rebellion for over a decade, Wang had already foreseen his intentions and, assisted by reputable poet Lei Ji, had been sowing discontent in the Prince's ranks many years before the rebellion.

Aftermath

Zhu was sentenced to

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 ...

, the punishment for treason, but committed suicide on 13 January 1521. The officials and eunuchs who had conspired with Zhu were also sentenced to death. Two years after the revolt, Zhengde died of an illness in 1521 caught after, according to legend, falling off a boat while drunk on a fishing trip.

References

{{Ming dynasty topics Rebellions in the Ming dynasty 1519 in Asia Conflicts in 1519 16th century in China 1519 in China Rebellious princes