Who was the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty?
House of Zhu
The founder of the Ming dynasty was the Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), who is also known variably by his personal name "Zhu Yuanzhang" and his temple name "Taizu of Ming" (literally "Great Ancestor of Ming"). He was the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. His regnal name, Hongwu, means "vastly martial".
Imperial Preceptor
At their capture of Khanbaliq in 1368, it led to the formation of the Ming Dynasty, led by Zhu Yuanzhang, otherwise called the Hongwu Emperor. As the Yuan Dynasty were Mongol people, the Hongwu Emperor passed many edicts that were intended to purify China of their influence whilst also forbidding many Mongolian practices.
Hongwu Emperor
In the middle of the 14th century, with famine, plagues, and peasant revolts sweeping across China, Zhu Yuanzhang rose to command the force that conquered China and ended the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, forcing the Mongols to retreat to the Eurasian Steppe. Zhu claimed the Mandate of Heaven and established the Ming dynasty at the beginning of 1368; later in the same year his army occupied the Yuan capital, Khanbaliq (present-day Beijing). Trusting only in his family, he made his many sons powerful feudal princes along the northern marches and the Yangtze valley. Having outlived his first successor, the Hongwu Emperor enthroned his grandson via a series of instructions; this ended in failure, when the Jianwen Emperor's attempt to unseat his uncles led to the Ming Yongle Emperor (r. 14021424)".
History of the Ming dynasty
The Oirat Mongol leader Esen Tayisi launched an invasion into Ming China in July 1449. The chief eunuch Wang Zhen encouraged the Zhengtong Emperor (r. 1435–1449) to personally lead a force to face the Mongols after a recent Ming defeat; marching off with 50,000 troops, the emperor left the capital and put his half-brother Zhu Qiyu in charge of affairs as temporary regent. In the battle that ensued, his force of 50,000 troops were decimated by Esen's army. On 3 September 1449, the Zhengtong Emperor was captured and held in captivity by the Mongols—an event known as the Tumu Crisis. After the Zhengtong Emperor's capture, Esen's forces plundered their way across the countryside and all the way to the suburbs of Beijing. Following this was another plundering of the Beijing suburbs in November of that year by local bandits and Ming dynasty soldiers of Mongol descent who dressed as invading Mongols. Many Han Chinese also took to brigandage soon after the Tumu incident.
The Mongols held the Zhengtong Emperor for ransom. However, this scheme was foiled once the emperor's younger brother assumed the throne as the Jingtai Emperor (r. 1449–1457); the Mongols were also repelled once the Jingtai Emperor's confidant and defense minister Yu Qian (1398–1457) gained control of the Ming armed forces. Holding the Zhengtong Emperor in captivity was a useless bargaining chip by the Mongols as long as another sat on his throne, so they released him back into Ming China. The Zhengtong Emperor was placed under house arrest in the palace until the coup against the Jingtai Emperor in 1457, which is known as the "Wresting the Gate Incident". The Zhengtong Emperor retook the throne as the Tianshun Emperor (r. 1457–1464).
Ming dynasty
The "Mingshi" – the official history of the Ming dynasty compiled by the Qing dynasty in 1739 – states that the Ming established itinerant commanderies overseeing Tibetan administration while also renewing titles of ex-Yuan dynasty officials from Tibet and conferring new princely titles on leaders of Tibetan Buddhist sects. However, Turrell V. Wylie states that censorship in the "Mingshi" in favor of bolstering the Ming emperor's prestige and reputation at all costs obfuscates the nuanced history of Sino-Tibetan relations during the Ming era.
List of emperors of the Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty ruled China from 1368 to 1644, succeeding the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty and falling amidst much peasant turmoil to the Manchu-ruled Qing dynasty. Sixteen emperors ruled over the whole of China spanning 276 years. A series of claimants to the Ming throne continued to claim the throne of what was known as the Southern Ming until the last was executed in 1662.
1345
By 1345, the Yuan dynasty in China was steadily declining. Chinese peasants, upset with the lack of effective policies by the government when they were facing droughts, floods, and famines, were becoming rebellious. The Yellow River flooded in Jinan in 1345. The river had flooded previously in 1335 and in 1344. There was also conflict between the rulers of the dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang was about 16 years old in 1345. His parents and brothers had died of plague or famine (or both) in 1344, and he joined a Buddhist monastery. In 1345 he left the monastery and joined a band of rebels. He would lead a series of rebellions until he overthrew the Yuan dynasty and became the first emperor of the Ming dynasty in 1368.
Fengyang County
Fengyang's best known historical site is linked with the name of the county's most famous native, Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-1398). Although coming from a poor family, he became an important rebel leader and, later, the founder of China's Ming Dynasty. Once entrenched as the Hongwu Emperor in the nearby Nanjing, he honored the memory of his father, Zhu Wusi (d. 1344), and his mother, Lady Chen, by posthumously raising them to imperial dignity, and building for them an imperial-style mausoleum, known as Ming Huangling (, literally, "Ming Imperial Mausoleum"). The emperor even started building the new imperial capital, named Zhongdu (中都, "The Central Capital") near his childhood hometown, but the project was eventually abandoned.
Zhu Yuyue
Zhu Yuyue (; died January 1647), the Prince of Tang (唐王) reigned as the Shaowu Emperor (紹武) of the Southern Ming dynasty from 1646-1647.
He was a descendant of the first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Before ascending to the throne he followed his father as the Prince of Tang and elder brother, the future Longwu Emperor, their fief being situated in Nanyang prefecture, in Henan province. In 1646 he succeeded the title of Prince of Tang after the accession of the Longwu Emperor.
Ming Palace
Zhu Yuanzhang, who became the founder and first Emperor of the Ming dynasty, began building a palace in what was then known as Jiankang in 1367. At the time, he was self-styled "King of Wu". The palace was built outside the existing city of Jiankang, and was completed by 1368. With its completion, Zhu proclaimed the Ming Dynasty; with himself as the first emperor, known as the Hongwu Emperor; and that Jiankang, now Yingtian, was the "southern capital" (""nanjing"") of his empire. For the next few years, few changes were made to the palace in Nanjing as the Emperor focused on building the "middle capital", located in his home town of Fengyang.
Ming (disambiguation)
The Ming dynasty was the ruling dynasty in China from 1368 to 1644.
Wanli Emperor
The Wanli Emperor (; 4 September 1563 – 18 August 1620), personal name Zhu Yijun (), was the 14th emperor of the Ming dynasty of China. "Wanli", the era name of his reign, literally means "ten thousand calendars". He was the third son of the Longqing Emperor. His reign of 48 years (1572-1620) was the longest among all the Ming dynasty emperors and it witnessed the steady decline of the dynasty.
Chin Ning Chu
Chin-Ning Chu is a descendant of Yuan-Zhang Chu, the pauper who became the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 AD) by defeating the Mongol rule of Genghis Khan. At the age of three, holding tight to her mother's skirt, she ran for her life across the Shanghai airport runway amid bombs bursting as her parents boarded the last commercial flight out of China. Her family, from a life of affluence, were reduced to refugees. At the age of twenty-two, clutching two suitcases, again she up-rooted herself and came to America. She brought two books, Sun Tzu - The Art of War and Li Zongwu - Thick Black Theory.
Emperor Ming of Jin
One of the first things that Emperor Ming did was locating his birth mother Lady Xun, putting her in a mansion, and creating her the Lady of Jian'an. However, perhaps out of respect for his deceased stepmother Princess Yu (who had died in 312 but was posthumously honored as an empress), he never gave her an empress dowager title—and Emperor Ming honored Princess Yu's family as appropriately he would a mother's family—and he was particularly close to Princess Yu's brother Yu Yin (虞胤). A few months after he took the throne, Lady Xun moved into the palace. Emperor Ming also created his wife, Crown Princess Yu, empress.
Gao Guiying
In 1644, Li Zicheng captured Beijing, deposed the Ming dynasty and declared himself the emperor of a new dynasty, Shun 大順. Accordingly, Guiying became the empress and took control over the city as his regent, but soon after, the Manchu took Beijing and established the new Qing dynasty. Li was killed in 1645. Gao now saw the Manchu as her new enemies, and switched her allegiance to her former enemies: the remnants of the Ming ruling family had formed a new court in the south of China and ruled as the Southern Ming dynasty, and Gao, making herself known as the greatest enemy of the Qing dynasty, was called there to serve and continue the fight against the foreign intruders. She was styled "Lady of the first degree" in her own right, her position as military commander was secured and she was declared protector of the new Ming dynasty. Gao led the fight against the Qing dynasty until her death in 1647.
Emperor Ming of Jin
Early in 323, Emperor Yuan died in distress after his defeat by Wang. Crown Prince Shao succeeded to the throne as Emperor Ming.
Yongle Emperor
The Yongle Emperor was born Zhu Di () on 2 May 1360, the fourth son of the new leader of the central Red Turbans, Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang would later rise to become the Hongwu Emperor, the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. According to surviving Ming historical records, Zhu Di's mother was the Hongwu Emperor's primary consort, Empress Ma, the view Zhu Di himself maintained. Some contemporaries maintained, however, that Zhu Di's mother was a non-Han Chinese concubine of his father's, and that the official records were changed during his reign to list him as a son of the Empress Ma in order to sanction his succession on the "death" of the Jianwen Emperor.
History of the Ming dynasty
Zhu cemented his power in the south by eliminating his arch rival and rebel leader Chen Youliang in the Battle of Lake Poyang in 1363. This battle was—in terms of personnel—one of the largest naval battles in history. After the dynastic head of the Red Turbans suspiciously died in 1367 while hosted as a guest of Zhu, the latter made his imperial ambitions known by sending an army toward the Yuan capital in 1368. The last Yuan emperor fled north into Mongolia and Zhu declared the founding of the Ming dynasty after razing the Yuan palaces in Dadu (present-day Beijing) to the ground.
Daoguang Emperor
In September 1820, at the age of 38, Mianning inherited the throne after the Jiaqing Emperor died suddenly of unknown causes. He became the first Qing emperor who was the eldest legitimate son of his father. Now known as the Daoguang Emperor, he inherited a declining empire with Westerners encroaching upon the borders of China. The Daoguang Emperor had been ruling for six years when the exiled heir to the Khojas, Jahangir Khoja, attacked Xinjiang from Kokand in the Afaqi Khoja revolts. By the end of 1826, the former Qing cities of Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan, and Yangihissar had all fallen to the rebels. After a friend betrayed him in March 1827, Khoja was sent to Beijing in an iron litter and subsequently executed, while the Qing Empire regained control of their lost territory.
Relic of an Emissary
The story takes place during Zheng He's younger years, several years before his oceanic voyages. When the Jianwen Emperor ascended to the throne in 1399, he changed the era name to "Jianwen First Year" (). After Zhu Di usurped the throne in 1402, he purged all of Jianwen's supporters and ordered all documents that recorded the era name "Jianwen First Year" to be changed to "Hongwu Year 32" () in order to establish himself as the legitimate successor of the Hongwu Emperor, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Hui people
The Ming Dynasty employed many Muslims. Some Hui people claimed that the first Ming Emperor Ming Taizu might have been a Muslim, but this is rejected by most scholars. The Ming used Hui troops to crush the Miao and other aboriginal rebels during the Miao Rebellions, and settled in Changde, where their descendants remain. Muslims were citizens and lived freely in Beijing, with no restrictions placed on their religious practices or freedom of worship. By contrast Tibetan Buddhists and Catholics suffered restrictions and censure in Beijing.
Economic history of China before 1912
Hongwu's successor and grandson, the Jianwen Emperor, was overthrown by his uncle, Zhu Di, called the Yongle Emperor, in a bloody civil war that lasted three years. Zhu Di was more liberally-minded than his father and he repealed many of the controls on gentry and merchants. Thus, his reign is sometimes regarded as a 'second founding' of the Ming dynasty. The expeditions of his eunuch Zheng He created new trade routes. Under Yongle's rule, Ming armies enjoyed continued victories against the Mongols, who were forced to acknowledge him as their ruler. He also moved the capital to Beijing. By Yongle's reign, China had recovered the territories of Eastern Xinjiang, Manchuria, Tibet, and those lost during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Era.
Yongle Emperor
Having captured the capital, Zhu Di now left aside his former arguments about rescuing his nephew from evil counsel and voided the Jianwen Emperor's entire reign, taking 1402 as the 35th year of the Hongwu era. His own brother Zhu Biao, whom the Jianwen Emperor had posthumously elevated to emperor, was now posthumously demoted; Zhu Biao's surviving two sons were demoted to commoners and placed under house arrest; and the Jianwen Emperor's surviving younger son was imprisoned and hidden for the next 55 years. After a brief show of humility where he repeatedly refused offers to take the throne, Zhu Di accepted and proclaimed that the next year would be the first year of the Yongle era. On 17 July 1402, after a brief visit to his father's tomb, Zhu Di was crowned emperor of the Ming Empire at the age of 42. He would spend most of his early years suppressing rumours and outlaws.
Li Shanchang
Li Shanchang (; 1314-1390) was the founding chancellor of the Ming dynasty. Deemed the recognized leader of the West Huai (Huaixi) faction, and given first rank among the six dukes in 1370, it is said that Li was the Emperor Hongwu's closest comrade during the war (against the Yuan dynasty), and greatest contributor to his ultimate victory and thus establishment of the Ming Dynasty. Deeply trusted by the Emperor, Hongwu consulted Li on institutional matters, but became "bored with Li's arrogance" in old age.
Emperor Yingzong of Ming
Zhu Qizhen (; 29 November 1427 – 23 February 1464) was the sixth and eighth emperor of the Ming dynasty. He ascended the throne as the Zhengtong Emperor () in 1435, but was forced to abdicate in 1449, in favour of his younger brother the Jingtai Emperor, after being captured by the Mongols during the Tumu Crisis. In 1457, he deposed Jingtai and ruled again as the Tianshun Emperor () until his death in 1464. His temple name is Yingzong ().
Li Zicheng
Li Zicheng (22 September 1606 – 1645), born Li Hongji, also known by the nickname, "Dashing King", was a Chinese rebel leader who overthrew the Ming dynasty in 1644 and ruled over northern China briefly as the emperor of the short-lived Shun dynasty before his death a year later.
Chen Jinfeng
Empress Chen Jinfeng (陳金鳳) (893 – November 17, 935) was the third known wife of Wang Yanjun (Emperor Huizong, also known as Wang Lin), a ruler of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Min. Wang Yanjun, while not the first ruler of Min, was the first to claim imperial title, and Empress Chen was the first Empress of Min. When Wang Yanjun was assassinated in 935, she was also killed.
Ming tombs
The Ming tombs are a collection of mausoleums built by the emperors of the Ming dynasty of China. The first Ming emperor's tomb is located near his capital Nanjing. However, the majority of the Ming tombs are located in a cluster near Beijing and collectively known as the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty (). They are within the suburban Changping District of Beijing Municipality, north-northwest of Beijing city center. The site, on the southern slope of Tianshou Mountain (originally Huangtu Mountain), was chosen based on the principles of "feng shui" by the third Ming emperor, the Yongle Emperor. After the construction of the Imperial Palace (Forbidden City) in 1420, the Yongle Emperor selected his burial site and created his own mausoleum. The subsequent emperors placed their tombs in the same valley.
Ming Dynasty in 1566
Ming Dynasty in 1566 is a Chinese television series based on the events in the reign of the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming dynasty. It was first broadcast on Hunan TV in China in 2007.
Ming Dynasty (TV series)
Ming Dynasty, also known as Tianxia, is a Chinese television series based on historical events in the late Ming dynasty during the reign of the Tianqi Emperor. It was directed by Wu Ziniu and was first broadcast on GZTV in China in December 2007. The series' working title was "Da Ming Tianxia" (大明天下).
Prince of Qin of Ming dynasty
Prince of Qin (), was a first-rank princely peerage used during Ming dynasty, this peerage title was created by Hongwu Emperor. The first Prince of Qin was Zhu Shuang, 2nd son of Hongwu Emperor. He was awarded the title by his father. This peerage had 20 cadet commandery prince peerages. Among them, there were 12 commandery princely peerages had not inherited, and 10 of these peerages had absorbed into the peerage of Prince of Qin.
Yangshan Quarry
After Zhu Yuanzhang (the Hongwu Emperor) founded the Ming dynasty in 1368, the city of Nanjing became the capital city of his empire. The Yangshan quarry became the main source of stone for the major construction projects that changed the face of Nanjing.
In 1405, Hongwu's son, the Yongle Emperor, ordered the cutting of a giant stele in this quarry, for use in the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum of his deceased father. In accordance with the usual design of a Chinese memorial stele, three separate pieces were being cut: the rectangular stele base (pedestal), the stele body, and the stele head (crown, to be decorated with a dragon design). After most of the stone-cutting work had been done, the architects realized that moving stones that big from Yangshan to Ming Xiaoling, let alone installing them there in a proper way, would not be physically possible. As a result, the project was abandoned. In place of the stele, a much smaller tablet (still, the largest in the Nanjing area), known as the "Shengong Shengde" ("Divine Merits and Godly Virtues") Stele was installed in Ming Xiaoling's "Square Pavilion" (Sifangcheng) in 1413.
Ming Ancestors Mausoleum
The Ming Ancestors Mausoleum () is the first imperial mausoleum complex of the Ming dynasty, and a cenotaph located north of the former Sizhou City, Yangjiadun, in present-day Xuyi County, Huaian City, by Hongze Lake, north of Huai River Jiangsu Province, China. It was built by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, in 1385, for his great-great-grandfather (posthumously styled Emperor Xuan), great-grandfather (posthumously styled Emperor Heng) and grandfather (posthumously styled Emperor Yu). It is also the actual burial site of Zhu Chuyi, Zhu Yuanzhang's grandfather.
Jiuhuang Bencao
Prince Zhu Xiao/Su (朱橚), was born in 1361 as the fifth son of the Hongwu Emperor (1328–1398), the founder of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Sources differ regarding whether the prince's given name was pronounced Xiao or Su. The uncommon Chinese character (橚) can be pronounced "sù" ("a tall tree"), "xiāo" ("flourishing vegetation"), or "qiū" as a phonetic loan character for "qiū" (楸, "Chinese catalpa").
Mochou Lake
Since the early Ming Dynasty, Mochou Lake was gradually developed into a famous garden, which was bestowed to Xu Da by the Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of Ming Dynasty, because he won his majesty while playing chess. Chinese folklore tells that the emperor and the general played the game regularly, and although the general was a great player, he always lost intentionally so as not to offend the emperor. Before long Emperor Taizu discovered the general's habit and ordered him to play normally. Needless to say, the general won. But while playing the general skillfully displayed the character 'wan sui,' meaning 'long life'. This feat pleased the emperor so much that he instantly gave Shengqi ('winning the game') Pavilion along with the Mochou Lake to his general During the following dynasty, this garden was extended several times and many other pavilions were added.
Emperor Ming of Han
In 57, Emperor Guangwu died, and Crown Prince Zhuang succeeded to the throne as Emperor Ming.
House of Zhu
The Hongwu Emperor's grandson, Zhu Yunwen, assumed the throne as the Jianwen Emperor (r. 1398–1402) after the Hongwu Emperor's death in 1398. In a prelude to a three-year-long civil war beginning in 1399, the Jianwen Emperor became engaged in a political showdown with his uncle Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan. The Jianwen Emperor was aware of the ambitions of his prince uncles, establishing measures to limit their authority. The militant Zhu Di, given charge over the area encompassing Beijing to watch the Mongols on the frontier, was the most feared of these princes. After the Jianwen Emperor arrested many of Zhu Di's associates, Zhu Di plotted a rebellion. Under the guise of rescuing the young Jianwen Emperor from corrupt officials, Zhu Di personally led forces in the revolt; the imperial palace in Nanjing was burned to the ground. The Jianwen Emperor, his wife, mother, and courtiers were supposedly killed. Having overthrown his nephew, Zhu Di seized the throne and became known as the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424); his reign is universally viewed by scholars as a "second founding" of the Ming dynasty since he reversed many of his father's policies.
List of vassals prince peerages of Ming dynasty
After Hongwu Emperor of Ming dynasty succeeded the throne, he designated his eldest son, Zhu Biao as crown prince, and enfeoffed his all other sons and a grandnephew as vassals princes. Fiefs of nine of these princes were located at borders of Central and Mongol for defensive. Hongwu Emperor also posthumously bestowed his late patrilineal and matrilineal relatives with princely titles too. 
This article shows all princes of Ming dynasty, included non-actual princes (male imperial members and nobles had not title).
History of the Great Wall of China
In 1368, the Hongwu Emperor (Zhu Yuanzhang, r.136898) ousted the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty from China to inaugurate the Ming dynasty. The Mongols fled back to Mongolia, but even after numerous campaigns, the Mongol problem remained.
List of Chinese monarchs
The Shun dynasty was an imperial dynasty created in the brief lapse from Ming to Qing rule in China. It was a state set up by the peasants' rebellion, in which they defeated the Ming forces, but former Ming general Wu Sangui led the Qing forces into Beijing and the Qing forces defeated the rebels.
The Southern Ming dynasty refers to the Ming loyalist regimes that existed in Southern China from 1644 to 1662. The regime was established by the princes of the already destroyed Ming dynasty. All of these monarchs had their regimes crushed by the Qing forces very quickly. Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong) used the Ming dynasty's name and gathered forces before fleeing to Taiwan.
Emperor Yingzong of Ming
Zhu Qizhen was the son of the Xuande Emperor and his second wife, Empress Sun. At the beginning of the Zhengtong reign, the Ming dynasty was prosperous and at the height of its power as a result of the Xuande Emperor's able administration. The Zhengtong Emperor's accession at the age of eight made him the first child emperor of the dynasty – hence the Zhengtong Emperor was easily influenced by others, especially the eunuch Wang Zhen. At first, Wang Chen was kept under control by Grand Mother Empress Zhang, Zhengtong's grandmother and the unofficial regent, who collaborated closely with three ministers, all with the surname Yang (hence the common name "Three Yangs"), thus the good administration continued. In 1442 though, Empress Zhang died, and the three Yangs also died or retired around that time. The emperor began to completely rely on Wang Zhen for advice and guidance.
China
The 13th century brought the Mongol conquest of China. In 1271, the Mongol leader Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty; the Yuan conquered the last remnant of the Song dynasty in 1279. Before the Mongol invasion, the population of Song China was 120 million citizens; this was reduced to 60 million by the time of the census in 1300. A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Yuan in 1368 and founded the Ming dynasty as the Hongwu Emperor. Under the Ming dynasty, China enjoyed another golden age, developing one of the strongest navies in the world and a rich and prosperous economy amid a flourishing of art and culture. It was during this period that admiral Zheng He led the Ming treasure voyages throughout the Indian Ocean, reaching as far as East Africa.
Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum
The Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum () is the tomb of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dynasty. It lies at the southern foot of Purple Mountain, located east of the historical centre of Nanjing. Legend says that in order to prevent robbery of the tomb, 13 identical processions of funeral troops started from 13 city gates to obscure the real burying site.
History of the Ming dynasty
The financial drain of the Imjin War in Korea against the Japanese was one of the many problems—fiscal or other—facing Ming China during the reign of the Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620). In the beginning of his reign, the emperor surrounded himself with able advisors and made a conscientious effort to handle state affairs. His Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng (in office from 1572 to 1582) built up an effective network of alliances with senior officials. However, there was no one after him skilled enough to maintain the stability of these alliances; officials soon banded together in opposing political factions. Over time, the Wanli Emperor grew tired of court affairs and frequent political quarreling amongst his ministers, preferring to stay behind the walls of the Forbidden City and out of his officials' sight.
Emperor Ming of Southern Qi
Emperor Ming of Southern Qi ((南)齊明帝) (452–498), personal name Xiao Luan (蕭鸞), courtesy name Jingqi (景栖), nickname Xuandu (玄度), was an emperor of the Chinese dynasty Southern Qi in the 5th century. He was a nephew of the founding emperor Emperor Gao, who later became prime minister during the reign of Emperor Gao's great-grandson Xiao Zhaoye.
Founding Emperor of Ming Dynasty
Turmoil engulfs China in the final years of the Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty as the government degenerates into corruption while rebel forces sprout throughout the land to overthrow the Yuan regime. Somewhere in the wilderness, Zhu Chongba, a young cowherd, stands on a huge rock and proclaims to his friends, "I, Emperor Zhu, will reward each of you with a large piece of rice cake when I ascend the throne one day!" Around the same time, his parents died of starvation at home.
Sino-Tibetan relations during the Ming dynasty
David M. Robinson contends that various edicts and laws issued by the Hongwu Emperor, founder of the Ming dynasty, seem to reject the Mongol influence in China with the banning of Mongolian marriage and burial practices, clothing, speech and even music. However, Robinson highlights how this rhetoric contradicts the Hongwu Emperor's continuation of Yuan institutions such as the hereditary garrison system and occupations. He initiated campaigns to conquer areas not previously controlled by native Chinese dynasties, including territories in Yunnan, Liaodong (Manchuria), and Mongolia. He continued to recruit Mongols into the military and maintained the Yuan-era tradition of bringing Korean concubines and eunuchs into the imperial palace. Robinson claims that the Ming dynasty "was in many ways a true successor" to the Yuan, as the Ming emperors sought to legitimize their rule through the Yuan legacy, especially since the rival Northern Yuan Dynasty continued to exist. The Yongle Emperor was far more explicit in invoking a comparison between his rule and that of Kublai Khan, as reflected in his very active foreign policy, projection of Ming Chinese power abroad and expansionist military campaigns. Following the 1449 Tumu Crisis, the Ming government actively discouraged further immigration of Mongol peoples (favoring occasional relocation policies for those who already lived in China). Mongols continued to serve as Ming military officers even after Mongol involvement in the failed 1461 Rebellion of Cao Qin, yet their numbers began to decline as hereditary officers in general were gradually replaced by men of more humble origins.
Ming poetry
Following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, and upon its establishment, the Ming dynasty for much or most of its existence represents an era of orderly government and social stability. During the Ming dynasty the arts flourished, including painting, music, literature, dramatic theater, and poetry. Eventually, the Ming capital Beijing fell in 1644, together with most of the rest of the country; however, regimes loyal to the Ming throne — collectively called the Southern Ming — survived until 1662, the year finalizing the replacement of the Ming dynasty by the Qing dynasty, by the Manchu conquest of China.
Hongwu Tongbao
The Hongwu Tongbao ( Japanese: Kōbu Tsūhō) was the first cash coin to bear the reign name of a reigning Ming dynasty Emperor bearing the reign title of the Hongwu Emperor. Hongwu Tongbao cash coins officially replaced the earlier Dazhong Tongbao (大中通寶) coins, however the production of the latter did not cease after the Hongwu Tongbao was introduced. The government of the Ming dynasty placed a greater reliance on copper cash coins than the Yuan dynasty ever did, but despite this reliance a nationwide copper shortage caused the production of Hongwu Tongbao cash coins to cease several times eventually leading to their discontinuation in 1393 when they were completely phased out in favour of paper money. In the year 1393 there were a total of 325 furnaces in operation in all provincial mints of China which had an annual output of 189,000 strings of cash coins (or 1,890,000 cash coins annually) which was merely 3% of the average annual production during the Northern Song dynasty.
Da Ming Baochao
The Da Ming Baochao () was a series of banknotes issued during the Ming dynasty in China. They were first issued in 1375 under the Hongwu Emperor. According to the Ch'uan Pu T'ung Chih an estimated sixty different Ming dynasty notes issued, however the actual number may have been higher. Although initially the Da Ming Baochao paper money was successful, the fact that it was a fiat currency and that the government largely stopped accepting these notes caused the people to lose faith in them as a valid currency causing the price of silver relative to paper money to increase to the point that by the mid 1400s 1000 "guàn" of paper money was needed to pay for only an ounce of silver. The negative experiences with inflation that the Ming dynasty had witnessed signaled the Manchus to not repeat this mistake until the first Chinese banknotes after almost 400 years were issued again in response to the Taiping Rebellion under the Qing dynasty's Xianfeng Emperor during the mid-19th century.
Emperor Ming of Southern Qi
While Xiao Zhaowen, now 14, carried the title of emperor, actual authority was in the hands of Xiao Luan, and Xiao Luan had himself initially created the Duke of Xuancheng, and then the Prince of Xuancheng. In Xiao Zhaowen's name, Xiao Luan soon carried out the executions of a large number of princes who were sons of Emperors Gao and Wu, whom he viewed as threats against himself:Initially, Xiao Zhaowen's younger brother Xiao Zhaoxiu (蕭昭秀), the Prince of Linhai, was to be killed as well, but was spared at the last minute. In place of these imperial princes from Emperors Gao and Wu's lines, Xiao Luan, because his own sons were young, installed his nephews Xiao Yaoguang (蕭遙光), Xiao Yaoxin (蕭遙欣), and Xiao Yaochang (蕭遙昌) in important posts. Less than three months after Xiao Zhaowen became emperor, Xiao Luan issued an edict in the name of Xiao Zhangmao's wife Empress Dowager Wang Baoming, stating that Xiao Zhaowen was not sufficiently intelligent and healthy to be emperor, giving the throne to Xiao Luan, who then took the throne as Emperor Ming.
Prince of Fu of Ming dynasty
Prince of Fu (), was a first-rank princely peerage used during Ming dynasty, this peerage title was created by Wanli Emperor. The first Prince of Fu was Zhu Changxun, 3rd son of Wanli Emperor. This peerage had 2 cadet commandery princely peerages, all of these second-rank peerages had not inherited. The first Southern Ming emperor, Zhu Yousong (Hongguang Emperor) was the last title holder of this peerage.
Hongwu Emperor
The "History of Ming", compiled during the early Qing dynasty, describes how the Hongwu Emperor met with an alleged merchant of "Fu lin" (拂菻; the Byzantine Empire) named "Nieh-ku-lun" (捏古倫). In September 1371, he had the man sent back to his native country with a letter announcing the founding of the Ming dynasty to his ruler (i.e. John V Palaiologos). It is speculated that the merchant was actually a former bishop of Khanbaliq (Beijing) called Nicolaus de Bentra, sent by Pope John XXII to replace Archbishop John of Montecorvino in 1333. The "History of Ming" goes on to explain that contacts between China and "Fu lin" ceased after this point, and diplomats of the great western sea (the Mediterranean Sea) did not appear in China again until the 16th century, with the Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci.
History of the Ming dynasty
Outside of metropolitan areas, Ming China was divided into thirteen provinces for administrative purposes. These provinces were divided along traditional and to a degree also natural lines. These include Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou. These provinces were vast areas, each being at least as large as England. The longest Ming reign was that of the Wanli Emperor, who ruled for forty eight years. (1572–1620). The shortest was his son's reign, the Taichang Emperor, who ruled for only one month (in 1620).
Jiajing Emperor
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 – and was succeeded by his son, the Longqing Emperor. 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 later in the century.
Longqing Emperor
The Longqing Emperor's reign, which was not unlike that of any previous Ming emperor, saw a heavy reliance on court eunuchs. One particular eunuch, Meng Cong, who was introduced by the Longqing Emperor's chancellor Gao Gong, came to dominate the inner court towards the end of the emperor's reign. Meng Cong gained favours by introducing Nu Er Huahua, a female dancer of ethnic Turkish origin, to the Longqing Emperor, whose beauty was said to have captured the ruler's full attention. Despite initial hopeful beginnings, the Longqing Emperor quickly abandoned his duties as a ruler and set about pursuing personal enjoyment. The emperor also made contradictory decisions by re-employing Daoist priests that he himself had banned at the start of his reign.
Emperor Ming of Jin
In fall 325, Emperor Ming grew ill. He entrusted his four-year-old son, Crown Prince Yan, to a group of high-level officials, including Sima Yang (司馬羕) the Prince of Xiyang, Wang Dao, Bian Kun (卞壼), Chi Jian, Yu Liang, Lu Ye (陸瞱), and Wen Jiao, perhaps intending that they lead by group with a balance of power. He died soon thereafter—only 26 years old. The balance of power that he left was soon broken, however, as Empress Dowager Yu became the regent, and her brother Yu Liang became the most powerful of the officials, eventually offending Su Jun and Zu Yue into a rebellion that damaged Jin for years.
History of the Great Wall of China
In 221BC, the state of Qin completed its conquest over the other Warring States and united China under Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. These conquests, combined with the Legalist reforms started by Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, transformed China from a loose confederation of feudal states to an authoritarian empire. With the transformation, Qin became able to command a far greater assembly of labourers to be used in public works than the prior feudal kingdoms. Also, once unification was achieved, Qin found itself in possession of a large professional army with no more internal enemies to fight and thus had to find a new use for them. Soon after the conquests, in the year 215 BC, the emperor sent the famed general Meng Tian to the Ordos region to drive out the Xiongnu nomads settled there, who had risen from beyond the fallen marginal states along the northern frontier. Qin's campaign against the Xiongnu was preemptive in nature, since there was no pressing nomadic menace to be faced at the time; its aim was to annexe the ambiguous territories of the Ordos and to clearly define the Qin's northern borders. Once the Xiongnu were chased away, Meng Tian introduced 30,000 settler families to colonize the newly conquered territories.
Military conquests of the Ming dynasty
Early in his reign, Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Ming emperor, laid down instructions to later generations that included advice to the Chief Military Commission on those countries that posed a threat to the Ming polity, and those that did not. He stated that those to the north were dangerous, while those to the south did not constitute a threat, and were not to be subject to attack. Yet, either despite this, or as a result of it, it was the polities to the south that suffered the greatest effects of Ming expansion over the following century.
Chinese imperial cuisine
Imperial cuisine in the Ming dynasty was mostly cooked with the flavours of southern China because of the preferences of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming dynasty. The cuisine in the Ming palace totally changed the Mongolian style of food served during the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The imperial cuisine of the Ming dynasty had one important characteristic, which was to protect health. The emperors of the Ming dynasty paid great attention to protecting health by eating healthy food. The menu of imperial cuisine changed daily and dishes were not repeated. Imperial cuisine of the Ming dynasty was mainly grain-based. Therefore, meat and bean products were not as popular as they were in the former dynasties. In the Qing dynasty, a famous dish was sweet potatoes. Maize and chili peppers were also introduced in around the mid-16th century. Other famous dishes included shark's fin soup and edible bird's nest also gained their fame during this period. Those two dishes were introduced to China by the explorer Zheng He in the early Ming dynasty. While these two dishes were becoming examples of extravagant dishes, sea cucumbers and prawns were also brought into China. Many famous cooks and chefs such as Song Wusao and Wang Eryu emerged in the Ming dynasty.
Hu Weiyong
Hu Weiyong (; ? - 1380) was the first chancellor of the Ming dynasty, from 1373 to 1380. Hu was a main member of Huaixi meritorious group. He was well known as the central character of the case which named after himself, it caused about thirty thousand of deaths. Besides, his biography topped the "Biographies of the Treacherous Courtiers", "History of Ming".
Transition from Ming to Qing
At the same time, the Ming dynasty was fighting for its survival against fiscal turmoil and peasant rebellions. On April 24, 1644, Beijing fell to a rebel army led by Li Zicheng, a former minor Ming official who became the leader of the peasant revolt, who then proclaimed the Shun dynasty. The last Ming emperor, the Chongzhen Emperor, hanged himself from a tree in the imperial garden outside the Forbidden City. When Li Zicheng moved against him, the Ming general Wu Sangui shifted his alliance to the Manchus. Li Zicheng was defeated at the Battle of Shanhai Pass by the joint forces of Wu Sangui and Manchu prince Dorgon. On June 6, the Manchus and Wu entered the capital and proclaimed the young Shunzhi Emperor as Emperor of China.
Chang Yuchun
Chang Yuchun (1330–1369), courtesy name Boren and art name Yanheng, was a Chinese military general of the Ming dynasty. He was a follower of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, and contributed heavily to the establishment of the Ming Empire. He was famous for his bravery and formidable prowess in battle, which earned him the nickname of "Chang Hundred-Thousand", because he alone was said to be as effective as a force of 100,000 troops.
Northern and Southern dynasties
The short reigns of Emperor Wu's grandsons, Xiao Zhaoye and Xiao Zhaowen (his first son predeceased him), were dominated by Xiao Luan, Emperor's Wu's first cousin. He killed them in turn and crowned himself as Emperor Ming of Southern Qi. Using the government secretaries (典簽官), he slaughtered all the descendants of Emperors Gao and Wu. Emperor Ming soon became very ill and started following Daoism, changing his whole wardrobe to red. He also passed an edict making officials try to find silver fish (銀魚). He died in 498 and was succeeded by his son Xiao Baojuan, who killed high officials and governors at whim, sparking many revolts. The final revolt in 501 started after Xiao Baojun killed his prime minister Xiao Yi, leading his brother Xiao Yan to revolt under the banner of Xiao Baojun's brother who was declared Emperor He of Southern Qi. Xiao Baojun was killed by one of his generals during the siege of his capital at Jiankang, and after a short puppet reign by Emperor He, Xiao Yan overthrew the Southern Qi and established the Liang dynasty.
Zhengyi Dao
The founding of the Ming dynasty in 1368 marked the beginning of a long decline in the power of the Zhengyi Daoism. The first Ming ruler, the Hongwu Emperor (1368–98), suppressed the use of the title of 'Celestial Master' among the Zhengyi School, and the 50th Celestial Master Zhang Guoxiang had his title stripped by the Longqing Emperor (1567–72). By the Daoguang period (1821–50) of the Qing dynasty, relations between the court and the Celestial Masters came to an end. The school's activities became localized to regions in which the school was particularly important. Despite ending association with the court, the Celestial Master himself still retained a great deal of prestige and importance among Daoists throughout China. This prestige, which arose from the belief that he was descended from Zhang Daoling, was evident when the Celestial Master traveled and attracted crowds of people wherever he went.
History of the Ming dynasty
A peasant soldier named Li Zicheng (1606–1644) mutinied with his fellow soldiers in western Shaanxi in the early 1630s after the government failed to ship much-needed supplies there. In 1634 he was captured by a Ming general and released only on the terms that he return to service. The agreement soon broke down when a local magistrate had thirty-six of his fellow rebels executed; Li's troops retaliated by killing the officials and continued to lead a rebellion based in Rongyang, central Henan province by 1635. By the 1640s, an ex-soldier and rival to Li—Zhang Xianzhong (1606–1647)—had created a firm rebel base in Chengdu, Sichuan, while Li's center of power was in Hubei with extended influence over Shaanxi and Henan.
List of premiers of China
The first recorded instance of a monarch of China appointing a chief minister was in around 1130 BC, by King Tang of the Shang dynasty. Since then, almost every monarch in China appointed a chief minister to help him or her to run the administration. This role has been known by several different names, most commonly Chancellor. With the unification of China under the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, the power in the premiers' hands was reduced because of the Emperors' intentions of setting up an absolute monarchy. In 1380, the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty ordered the death of his Chancellor, and did not appoint another in his lifetime. From then until 1911, a number of people formally shared the responsibility of chief minister to the Emperor. Even when one of them dominated government, such as in the case of Li Hongzhang, they were nevertheless formally just one of several ministers of equal status. During much of the Qing dynasty, for example, the traditional role of the Chancellor was performed collectively by the Grand Council.
Shi Kefa
When news of the Chongzhen Emperor's death reached Nanjing, there was much debate on who would be the new Ming emperor. Even though Shi Kefa was effectively the leader of the Ming loyalists in Nanjing, he was unable to make a decision on the issue. In the fifth lunar month, Fengyang's Viceroy, Ma Shiying (馬士英), and others supported the prince Zhu Yousong to take the throne, and Zhu became the Hongguang Emperor of the Southern Ming dynasty. For his effort, Ma Shiying won the appreciation of Hongguang and replaced Shi Kefa as the effective head of government.
List of Chinese cash coins by inscription
After the Mongols conquered China the Yuan dynasty largely deprecated copper coinage in favour of paper money, this trend continued under the Ming dynasty after the Chinese became independent again, during the Ming dynasty cash coins only contained the reign titles of the emperor, due to a naming taboo the term "Yuanbao" (元寶) was phased out from cash coin inscriptions as the founder of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had the word "Yuan" (元) in his name.
Ming dynasty
The Hongwu Emperor (ruled 1368–98) attempted to create a society of self-sufficient rural communities ordered in a rigid, immobile system that would guarantee and support a permanent class of soldiers for his dynasty: the empire's standing army exceeded one million troops and the navy's dockyards in Nanjing were the largest in the world. He also took great care breaking the power of the court eunuchs and unrelated magnates, enfeoffing his many sons throughout China and attempting to guide these princes through the "Huang-Ming Zuxun", a set of published dynastic instructions. This failed when his teenage successor, the Jianwen Emperor, attempted to curtail his uncles' power, prompting the Jingnan Campaign, an uprising that placed the Prince of Yan upon the throne as the Yongle Emperor in 1402. The Yongle Emperor established Yan as a secondary capital and renamed it Beijing, constructed the Forbidden City, and restored the Grand Canal and the primacy of the imperial examinations in official appointments. He rewarded his eunuch supporters and employed them as a counterweight against the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats. One, Zheng He, led seven enormous voyages of exploration into the Indian Ocean as far as Arabia and the eastern coasts of Africa.
History of Islam in China
Dadu would last until 1368 when Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty and future Hongwu Emperor, made his imperial ambitions known by sending an army toward the Yuan capital. The last Yuan emperor fled north to Shangdu and Zhu declared the founding of the Ming Dynasty after razing the Yuan palaces in Dadu to the ground. The city was renamed Beiping by the Ming in the same year.
Jianwen Emperor
Zhu Yunwen's father, Zhu Biao, was the eldest son of Zhu Yuanzhang. He was made crown prince in 1368 after Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming dynasty and became known as the Hongwu Emperor. After Zhu Biao died in 1392, the Hongwu Emperor initially considered choosing a successor from among his other sons, who wielded considerable influence in their respective princedoms throughout the Ming Empire. However, after several months of careful deliberation and discussion with his subjects, he decided to uphold the strict rules of primogeniture laid out in his imperial ancestral instructions, and designated Zhu Biao's son, Zhu Yunwen, as the new crown prince.
Zhu Shuang
Zhu Shuang (; December 3, 1356 – April 9, 1395), Prince Min of Qin (秦愍王), was an imperial prince of the Chinese Ming dynasty. He was the second son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of Ming. In May 1370, Hongwu Emperor granted the title of Prince of Qin to Zhu Shuang, with a princely estate in Xi'an.
Chongzhen Emperor
In the early 17th century, persistent drought and famine driven by the Little Ice Age accelerated the collapse of the Ming dynasty. Two major popular uprisings swelled up, led by Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, both poor men from famine-hit Shaanxi who took up arms in the 1620s. At the same time, Ming armies were occupied in the defence of the northern border against the Manchu ruler Huangtaiji, whose father, Nurhaci, had united the Manchu tribes into a cohesive force. In 1636, after years of campaigns against Ming fortifications north of the Great Wall, Huangtaiji declared himself emperor of the Qing dynasty.
Ming dynasty
In 1640, masses of Chinese peasants who were starving, unable to pay their taxes, and no longer in fear of the frequently defeated Chinese army, began to form into huge bands of rebels. The Chinese military, caught between fruitless efforts to defeat the Manchu raiders from the north and huge peasant revolts in the provinces, essentially fell apart. Unpaid and unfed, the army was defeated by Li Zicheng – now self-styled as the Prince of Shun – and deserted the capital without much of a fight. On 25 April 1644, Beijing fell to a rebel army led by Li Zicheng when the city gates were opened by rebel allies from within. During the turmoil, the last Ming emperor hanged himself on a tree in the imperial garden outside the Forbidden City.
Qin Liangyu
The Ming Empire was overthrown in 1644 by rebel forces led by Li Zicheng, and its former territories were conquered by the Later Jin dynasty (later renamed to Qing dynasty). Some Ming loyalists formed a remnant state, the Southern Ming dynasty, in southern China to resist the Qing dynasty. Its nominal ruler, the Longwu Emperor, also granted Qin Liangyu a marquis title.
Shah Rukh
During Shāhrukh's rule, relations between the Timurid state and Ming China under the rule of the Yongle Emperor and his descendants normalized. This was contrasted by the preceding era of Timur and the Hongwu Emperor (the first emperor of Ming China) who almost started a war with each other (which was averted only due to the death of Timur). Chinese embassies, led by Chen Cheng, visited Samarqand and Herat several times in 1414-1420,
while a large embassy sent by Shāhrukh (and immortalized by its diarist, Ghiyāth al-dīn Naqqāsh) traveled to China in 1419-1422.
Emperor Ming of Northern Zhou
Emperor Ming of Northern Zhou ((北)周明帝) (534–560), personal name Yuwen Yu (宇文毓), nickname Tongwantu (統萬突), was an emperor of the Xianbei dynasty Northern Zhou, although at the start of his reign he used the alternative title "Heavenly Prince" ("Tian Wang"). He was made emperor after his younger brother Emperor Xiaomin was deposed and killed by the regent Yuwen Hu. Emperor Ming himself assumed some, but not all, powers from Yuwen Hu, and was generally considered able. Because of this, Yuwen Hu became apprehensive, and in 560, he poisoned Emperor Ming to death. While near death, however, Emperor Ming appointed his brother Yuwen Yong (Emperor Wu) as his successor, believing Yuwen Yong to be intelligent and capable, and in 572, Yuwen Yong was finally able to kill Yuwen Hu and assume full imperial powers.
City Wall of Nanjing
The first Ming emperor was proclaimed in 1368 and a great deal of preparation was done prior to this to have an imperial city and all the imperial trappings ready. The name of the city was changed again to Yingtianfu (responding to heaven). A "new city" was built to the east of the old one to be used as a new palace or "forbidden" city. This city was laid out in much the same pattern as Beijing; indeed Nanjing’s was the pattern for Beijing’s Forbidden City.
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang (, ; 18 February 25910 September 210) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and was the first emperor of a unified China. He was born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), a prince of the state of Qin. He became Zheng, the King of Qin () when he was thirteen, then China's first emperor when he was 38 after the Qin had conquered all of the other Warring States and unified all of China in 221 BC. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( "wáng") borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor () of the Qin dynasty from 220 to 210 BC. His self-invented title "emperor" ( ""), as indicated by his use of the word "First", would continue to be borne by Chinese rulers for the next two millennia.
Chinese emperors family tree (late)
Those who became emperor are listed in bold, with their years of reign. In China, Ming emperors are best known by their temple names, which are given second below, after the personal name. (The Jianwen Emperor was not awarded a temple name: his posthumous name, Huidi (惠帝), is used instead.) The names given in bold are era names, the form by which Ming emperors are most commonly known in English, but which technically refer to the timespan of an emperor's reign rather than to the emperor himself. (Xingzong and Ruizong are temple names: they never actually ruled, but Xingzong was posthumously granted an emperor's title and Ruizong was raised posthumously to the status of emperor by his son, the Jiajing Emperor, in the Great Rites Controversy.) The imperial family's original family name was Zhu (朱), but the Hongwu Emperor opted for the dynastic name Ming (明) (as were all but one imperial Chinese dynasties), meaning "brilliant". The numbers here indicate the seniority in birth of an emperor's sons as the Ming Dynasty was the only Chinese dynasty to have the eldest surviving son succeed the throne in continuous fashion (though not for the Yongle and Jingtai Emperors, both of whom usurped the throne; the Jiajing – see above, and Chongzhen Emperors – succeeded sonless brother), not unlike the Salic Law practised in some contemporary European monarchies (except that the eldest son by a non-principal consort was duly considered). After the fall of the dynasty in 1644 and the Chongzhen Emperor's suicide, a series of Ming princes based in the south of China claimed the imperial title, their court being known as the Southern Ming dynasty. These claimants are given with their era names, and the timespans of their purported reigns in brackets. Their purported periods of rule are given in brackets. In 1662, Koxinga regained control of Taiwan from the Dutch colonial regime, and established a state for those who wished restore the Ming dynasty to power. This state lasted until 1683, when it submitted to the Qing dynasty.
History of the Ming dynasty
The Mongol-led Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) ruled before the establishment of the Ming dynasty. Alongside institutionalized ethnic discrimination against Han Chinese that stirred resentment and rebellion, other explanations for the Yuan's demise included overtaxing areas hard-hit by crop failure, inflation, and massive flooding of the Yellow River as a result of the abandonment of irrigation projects. Consequently, agriculture and the economy were in shambles and rebellion broke out among the hundreds of thousands of peasants called upon to work on repairing the dikes of the Yellow River.
A number of Han Chinese groups revolted, including the Red Turbans in 1351. The Red Turbans were affiliated with the Buddhist secret society of the White Lotus, which propagated Manichean beliefs in the struggle of good against evil and worship of the Maitreya Buddha. Zhu Yuanzhang was a penniless peasant and Buddhist monk who joined the Red Turbans in 1352, but soon gained a reputation after marrying the foster daughter of a rebel commander. In 1356 Zhu's rebel force captured the city of Nanjing, which he would later establish as the capital of the Ming dynasty. Zhu enlisted the aid of many able advisors, including the artillery specialists Jiao Yu and Liu Bowen.
Emperor Ming of Jin
Emperor Ming of Jin (; 299 – 18 October 325), personal name Sima Shao (司馬紹), courtesy name Daoji (道畿), was an emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (265-420). During his brief reign (323-325), he led the weakened Jin out of domination by the warlord Wang Dun, but at his early death, the empire was left to his young son Emperor Cheng, and the fragile balance of power that he created was soon broken, leading to the Su Jun Disturbance and weakening the Jin state even further.
Ming dynasty
The Hongwu Emperor specified his grandson Zhu Yunwen as his successor, and he assumed the throne as the Jianwen Emperor (1398–1402) after Hongwu's death in 1398. The most powerful of Hongwu's sons, Zhu Di, then the militarily mighty disagreed with this, and soon a political showdown erupted between him and his nephew Jianwen. After Jianwen arrested many of Zhu Di's associates, Zhu Di plotted a rebellion that sparked a three-year civil war. Under the pretext of rescuing the young Jianwen from corrupting officials, Zhu Di personally led forces in the revolt; the palace in Nanjing was burned to the ground, along with Jianwen himself, his wife, mother, and courtiers. Zhu Di assumed the throne as the Yongle Emperor (1402–1424); his reign is universally viewed by scholars as a "second founding" of the Ming dynasty since he reversed many of his father's policies.
History of the Ming dynasty
Although Jorge Álvares was the first to land on Lintin Island in the Pearl River Delta in May 1513, it was Rafael Perestrello—a cousin of the famed Christopher Columbus—who became the first known European explorer to land on the southern coast of mainland China and trade in Guangzhou in 1516, commanding a Portuguese vessel with a crew from a Malaysian junk that had sailed from Malacca. However, Chinese records maintain that a Roman embassy, perhaps only a group of Roman merchants, arrived at the Han capital city Luoyang by way of Jiaozhi (northern Vietnam) in 166 AD, during the reigns of emperor Marcus Aurelius ("r". 161–180 AD) and Emperor Huan of Han ("r". 146–168 AD). Although it could be coincidental, Antonine Roman golden medallions dated to the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and his predecessor Antoninus Pius have been discovered at Oc Eo, Vietnam (among other Roman artefacts in the Mekong Delta), a site that is one of the suggested locations for the port city of "Cattigara" along the "Magnus Sinus" (i.e. Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea) in Ptolemy's "Geography". A much earlier Republican-era Roman glass bowl has been unearthed from a Western Han tomb of Guangzhou, along the South China Sea.
Princes of the Ming dynasty
During the Hongwu era at the founding of the dynasty, the emperor enfeoffed his many sons and gave them control over large garrisons of as many as 20,000 men. In the succeeding Jianwen era, an attempt by the emperor to demote or disarm his many powerful uncles (known in Chinese as , "The Weakening of the Marcher Lords") prompted the Jingnan Campaign of the Prince of Yan which ended with the apparent death of the young emperor in a palace fire and Yan's ascension as the Yongle Emperor. Despite justifying his campaign as an effort to uphold the traditions of the Hongwu Emperor and to free his nephew from the ill counsel of the court advisors, the Yongle Emperor completed the work of removing the imperial clan from the militarized borders with Mongolia, Manchuria, and Annam. For example, he granted the territory of the Prince of Ning whose capture and support had been essential for Yan's victory and with whom he had promised to divide the empire to allied Mongols and placed the prince himself in an ungarrisoned sinecure in Nanchang.
Army of the Ming dynasty
The army of the Ming dynasty was the primary military apparatus of China. It was founded in 1368 during the Red Turban Rebellion by the Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang. The system of soldiery was largely hereditary and soldiers were meant to be self sufficient. They were grouped into guards ("wei") and battalions ("suo"), otherwise known as the wei-suo system. The guard battalion system went into decline around 1450 and was discarded in favor of mercenaries a century later.
Hung Ga
Because the character "hung" (洪) was used in the reign name of the emperor who overthrew the Mongol Yuan Dynasty to establish the Han Chinese Ming Dynasty, opponents of the Manchu Qing Dynasty made frequent use of the character in their imagery.
Hung Hei-Gun is itself an assumed name intended to honor that first Ming Emperor.
Anti-Qing rebels named the most far reaching of the secret societies they formed the "Hung Mun" (洪門).
Hongwu Emperor
Historians consider the Hongwu Emperor to have been one of the most significant emperors of China. As historian Ebrey puts it, "Seldom has the course of Chinese history been influenced by a single personality as much as it was by the founder of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang." His rise to power was fast despite his having a poor and humble origin. In 11 years, he went from being a penniless monk to the most powerful warlord in China. Five years later, he became emperor of China. Simon Leys described him this way: 'an adventurer from peasant stock, poorly educated, a man of action, a bold and shrewd tactician, a visionary mind, in many respects a creative genius; naturally coarse, cynical, and ruthless, he eventually showed symptoms of paranoia, bordering on psychopathy.'
Emperor Ming of Han
In 75, Emperor Ming died. His will ordered that no temple be built for him, and that he only be worshipped as part of the worship of his mother Empress Dowager Yin. (This became a systematic reform that the rest of the Eastern Han Dynasty emperors largely followed; they did not have separate temples built for themselves, but instead were worshipped along with Emperor Guangwu. This was a major saving compared to the Western Han system of building a separate temple for each emperor.) His son Crown Prince Da succeeded to the throne as Emperor Zhang.
Economic history of China before 1912
Following the unrest in the late Yuan dynasty, the peasant Zhu Yuanzhang led a rebellion against Mongol rule. He founded the Ming dynasty, whose reign is considered one of China's Golden Ages. Private industries replaced those managed by the state. Vibrant foreign trade allowed contact to become established between East and West. Cash crops were more frequently grown, specialised industries were founded, and the economic growth caused by privatisation of state industries resulted in one of the most prosperous periods in Chinese history, exceeding that of the earlier Song dynasty.
Basalawarmi
Before the Yuan Dynasty's fall in 1368, Basalawarmi had been the Yuan Viceroy of Yunnan and Guizhou, in southwestern China. He held the title of Prince of Liang, a hereditary title passed down from one of his forebears, a son of Kublai Khan. Following the Ming Dynasty's overthrow of the Yuan, Basalawarmi, from his capital city of Kunming, led one of the last pockets of Mongol resistance to Ming rule in China. He was able to withhold the advance of other forces of his time due to the relatively remote location of his domain. Meanwhile, Emperor Taizu of Ming, the first emperor of the Ming dynasty, decided to approach Basalawarmi with a peaceful method, believing that conquering a remote region with force would be a costly action.
Legalism (Chinese philosophy)
Li Shanchang (1314–1390), a founding Prime Minister of the Ming dynasty, studied Chinese Legalism. It is said that Li was the Emperor Hongwu's closest comrade during the war, and greatest contributor to his ultimate victory and thus establishment of the Ming Dynasty. Deeply trusted by the Emperor, Hongwu consulted Li on institutional matters. Li planned the organization of the "six ministries" and shared in the drafting of a new law code. He established salt and tea monopolies based on Yuan institutions, eliminated corruption, restored minted currency, opened iron foundries, and instituted fish taxes. It is said that revenues were sufficient, yet the people were not oppressed. Most of his other activities seem to have supported Hongwu Emperor's firm control of his regime. Mainly responsible for ferreting out disloyalty and factionalism among military officers, he used a reward and punishment system reminiscent of the Han Feizi, and may have had a kind of secret police in his service. At times he had charge of all civil and military officials in Nanking.
Zhu Biao
Zhu Biao (; 10 October 1355 17 May 1392) was the Hongwu Emperor's first son and crown prince of the Ming dynasty. His early death created a crisis in the dynasty's first succession that was resolved by the successful usurpation of his brother Zhu Di as the Yongle Emperor, an act with far-reaching consequences for the future of China.
Qing dynasty
The dynasty was founded by the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan in Manchuria. In the late sixteenth century, Nurhaci, originally a Ming Jianzhou Guard vassal, began organizing "Banners", military-social units that included Manchu, Han, and Mongol elements. Nurhaci formed the Manchu clans into a unified entity. By 1636, his son Hong Taiji began driving Ming forces out of Liaodong and declared a new dynasty, the Qing. In 1644, peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng conquered the Ming capital, Beijing. Rather than serve them, Ming general Wu Sangui made an alliance with the Manchus and opened the Shanhai Pass to the Banner Armies led by the regent Prince Dorgon, who defeated the rebels and seized the capital. Resistance from the Southern Ming and the Revolt of the Three Feudatories led by Wu Sangui delayed the Qing conquest of China proper by nearly four decades. The conquest was only completed in 1683 under the Kangxi Emperor reign (1661–1722). The Ten Great Campaigns of the Qianlong Emperor from the 1750s to the 1790s extended Qing control into Inner Asia. The early Qing rulers maintained their Manchu customs, and while their title was Emperor, they used "Bogd khaan" when dealing with the Mongols and they were patrons of Tibetan Buddhism. They governed using Confucian styles and institutions of bureaucratic government and retained the imperial examinations to recruit Han Chinese to work under or in parallel with Manchus. They also adapted the ideals of the tributary system in dealing with neighboring territories.
Stories about Ming Dynasty
It was first posting on the internet forum Tianya Club by Dangnian Mingyue on March 10, 2006. The post started with the first emperor of Ming dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang, and then posted the continuing in the short period after. When he was posting the standard history novel online, he received a tons of positive statements with a numerous clicking and reading. Some fans advised him to gather his posts into a book to publish, Dangnian Mingyue accepted.
Hu Dahai
Although Hu was illiterate, he was renowned for his humility and willingness to accept suggestions from his subordinates. He recommended several well-known scholars and officials from Zhejiang to the service of Zhu Yuanzhang (who later established the Ming dynasty and became its first emperor), including Liu Bowen, Song Lian, Ye Chen, and Zhang Yi. Hu's troops were highly disciplined, and Hu once described them, "My fighting men do not know writing, they only know three duties: do not kill, do not violate women and girls, and do not burn down huts or farmhouses."
Emperor Ming of Jin
Sima Shao was born in 299, as the oldest son of his father Sima Rui, then the Prince of Langye, by his lowly-born concubine Lady Xun, who then in 300 gave birth to another son, Sima Pou (司馬裒). Sima Rui's wife, Princess Yu Mengmu (虞孟母), who was herself childless, became very jealous of Lady Xun and mistreated her greatly. Lady Xun, not able to bear the abuse, complained bitterly, and was thrown out of the household. Sima Shao was therefore raised by Princess Yu, with whom he apparently had a cordial relationship. During his youth, he was considered intelligent and quick-thinking, although eventually his brother Sima Pou became more favored by their father.
Eight Tigers
The first Ming emperor, Hongwu (1328-1398), was worried about the power of eunuchs. He erected a tablet that said, "Eunuchs must have nothing to do with administration", and he worked to disempower them. He warned, "Anyone using eunuchs as his eyes and ears will be blind and deaf". Despite these measures, many of emperors who followed Hongwu were more willing to leave ruling to the eunuchs, and the Ming Dynasty became the peak of eunuch influence. By the end of the 15th century, there were 10,000 eunuchs working in the palace.
History of the Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (January 23, 1368 – April 25, 1644), officially the Great Ming or Empire of the Great Ming, founded by the peasant rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang, known as the Hongwu Emperor, was an imperial dynasty of China. It was the successor to the Yuan dynasty and the predecessor of the short-lived Shun dynasty, which was in turn succeeded by the Qing dynasty. At its height, the Ming dynasty had a population of 160 million people, while some assert the population could actually have been as large as 200 million.
Datong Prince's Palace
The Datong Prince's Palace is a former Ming Dynasty palace in Datong, China. The palace was built in the 14th century for prince Zhu Gui, prince of Dai, the thirteenth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). The palace was similar in construction to the Forbidden City in Beijing, but was constructed 25 years earlier. After prince Zhu Gui, ten other princes followed. The palace was gutted during the social breakdown at the end of the Ming dynasty in 1644, when the peasant rebellion under Li Zicheng reached Datong. At the start of the 21st century, rebuilding started in order to return the historic center of Datong.