The Palace plot of ''Renyin'' year (), also known as the Palace Women's Uprising (), was a

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 ...

plot against the

Jiajing Emperor The Jiajing Emperor (; 16September 150723January 1567) was the 12th List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1521 to 1567. Born Zhu Houcong, he was the former Zhengde Emperor's cousin. His father, Zhu You ...

, where 16 palace women attempted to murder the emperor. It occurred in 1542, the 21st year of the reign of the Jiajing Emperor and the ''renyin'' year of the

sexagenary cycle The sexagenary cycle, also known as the Stems-and-Branches or ganzhi ( zh, 干支, gānzhī), is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus a total of sixty years for one cycle, historically used for recording time in China and t ...

, hence its name.

Causes

The

has been called the “Daoist emperor”, due to his adherence to

Daoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...

beliefs, particularly that of

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...

and

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

. One of the alchemical concoctions he took to prolong his life was red lead (), a substance made from the menstrual blood of female

virgins Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

. Girls aged 13–14 were kept for this purpose, and were fed only

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...

leaves and rainwater. Any girls who developed illnesses were thrown out and they could be beaten for the slightest offence. It has been suggested that this cruel treatment led to the uprising. Another version of the story is that the Jiajing Emperor's garden had many banana trees, and the morning dew collected from the leaves tasted sweet and refreshing. The Jiajing Emperor thus drank the water, believing it would promote longevity. Young girls in the palace were made to collect the dew every morning, and many of them fell ill due to the cold. Sometimes older women were sent to collect the dew as a form of punishment. One time, the emperor was given a 'longevity turtle' dyed in 5 different colours, and he ordered his lower-ranking concubines to care for the animal. However, the turtle died, and the furious Emperor ordered the concubines to collect the morning dew. Around the same time, Imperial Concubine Wang Ning was spreading rumours that the emperor had lost the favour of Heaven because he had been enchanted by his 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 ...

. The rumour alleged that Consort Duan was actually a fox spirit and her spell on the emperor offended Heaven. When the emperor found out, he ordered Imperial Concubine Wang Ning to collect the dew as punishment. When in the garden, the Imperial Concubine met other concubines who had been similarly punished, and they hatched a plan. If the emperor were found dead in

's quarters, the incident of the dead turtle would be forgotten, and the Imperial Concubine would be vindicated for saying that the emperor had lost Heaven's favour due to Consort Duan.

Events

In 1542, the

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), ...

was staying in Consort Duan's quarters. A group of palace women pretended to wait on him, tied a rope around his neck and attempted to strangle him.Zhang (1739) They failed to do so and, in the meantime, one of them got cold feet and went to alert

Empress Fang Empress Xiaolie (1516–1547), of the Fang clan, was a Chinese empress consort of the Ming dynasty, third empress to the Jiajing Emperor. Early life Fang originated from the area of Nanjing. She was selected for palace service in 1531, and chos ...

. The empress hurried over, and the palace

eunuchs 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 ...

revived the emperor. The palace women were all arrested.

Participants

The role of each individual in the attempt on the emperor's life was judged and recorded as below: *Concubine Ning, of the Wang clan (宁嫔王氏), head of the plot *

, the assault happened in her quarters *Chen Juhua (陈菊花), personally involved in strangling the emperor *Deng Jinxiang (邓金香), conspired to murder the emperor *Guan Meixiu (关梅秀), personally involved in strangling the emperor *Huang Yulian (黄玉莲), conspired to murder the emperor *Liu Miaolian (刘妙莲), personally involved in strangling the emperor *Su Zhouyao (苏川药), personally involved in strangling the emperor *Wang Xiulan (王秀兰), personally involved in strangling the emperor *Xing Cuilian (邢翠莲), personally involved in strangling the emperor *Xu Qiuhua (徐秋花), conspired to murder the emperor *Yang Cuiying (杨翠英), personally involved in strangling the emperor *Yang Jinying (杨金英), personally involved in strangling the emperor *Yang Yuxiang (杨玉香), personally involved in strangling the emperor *Yao Shucui (姚淑翠), personally involved in strangling the emperor *Zhang Chunjing (张春景), conspired to murder the emperor *Zhang Jinlian (张金莲), reported the murder attempt to

Aftermath

After the attack, the Jiajing Emperor was unconscious for several days, so

set the punishment for the palace women. She ordered all of them, including Zhang Jinlian, who had informed her of the attack, to death by slow slicing. Although

had not been present, the empress decided that she had been involved with the plot and sentenced her to death too. The bodies of the palace women, Imperial Concubine Ning, and Consort Duan were then displayed. 10 members of the women's families were also beheaded, while a further 20 were enslaved and gifted to ministers.History Office (1620s), volume 267

Consequences

Although the Jiajing Emperor had been incapacitated at the time, he resented

for having killed his favourite concubine,

. He later determined Consort Duan had been innocent and suspected the Empress of using the situation to rid herself of a hated rival. In 1547, when a fire destroyed parts of the palace, the emperor refused to have Empress Fang rescued, and she burned to death.Keith McMahon: Celestial Women: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Song to Qing The emperor claimed that this was the will of heaven. After the uprising, the

did not stop creating red lead. Instead, he ordered restrictions on girls entering the palace to be tightened. In 1547, 300 girls between the ages of 11 and 14 were selected as new palace women. In 1552, a further 200 girls were selected to serve in the palace, but the lower age limit was reduced to eight years old. Three years later, in 1555, 150 girls below the age of eight were taken into the palace to be used for making the emperor’s medicine.

References

Notes

Works cited

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Renyin, palace rebellion Conflicts in 1542 1542 in Asia Failed assassination attempts in Asia Ming dynasty Conspiracies 16th-century coups d'état and coup attempts