Four Major Cases of the early Ming dynasty

The Four Major Cases of the early Ming dynasty (Chinese: 明初四大案; pinyin: Míngchū Sìdà'àn / Chinese: 明初四大獄; pinyin: Míngchū Sìdàyù) refer to the following mass executions and persecutions perpetrated by the Hongwu Emperor (Zhu Yuanzhang) at the start of the Ming dynasty:

• Hu Weiyong case (Chinese: 胡惟庸案; pinyin: Hú Wéiyōng àn): resulted in the executions and deaths of Hu Weiyong, Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen and 30,000 other Chinese people
• Lan Yu case (Chinese: 藍玉案; pinyin: Lán Yù àn): resulted in the execution of Lan Yu and 15,000 other Chinese people,
• the prestamped documents case (Chinese: 空印案; pinyin: Kōngyìn àn),
• the Guo Huan case (Chinese: 郭桓案; pinyin: Guō Huán àn).

As they occurred during the reign of the Hongwu Emperor, they were also called the Four Major Cases of the Hongwu era (Chinese: 洪武四大案; pinyin: Hóngwǔ Sìdà'àn / Chinese: 洪武四大獄; pinyin: Hóngwǔ Sìdàyù).^[1][2]

They are bracketed together as practices of the emperor's key idea: ruling with severe punishment. Each case, except the prestamped documents case, led to large numbers of people being involved, and consequently, tens of thousands of executions.^[3]

Traditionally, Chinese historians grouped these cases into the Hu-Lan cases (Chinese: 胡藍之獄; pinyin: Hú Lán Zhīyù / Chinese: 胡藍黨獄; pinyin: Hú Lán Dǎngyù), combining the former two cases against the meritorious officials and officers of the Hu-Lan cliques,^[4] while the targets of the rest were common officials.^[3]