Hongwu Emperor

Hongwu Emperor
洪武帝
A Seated Portrait of Ming Emperor Taizu, c. 1377[1] by an unknown artist from the Ming dynasty. Now located in the National Palace Museum, Taipei
Emperor of the Ming dynasty
Reign23 January 1368[a] – 24 June 1398
Enthronement23 January 1368
SuccessorJianwen Emperor
Emperor of China
Reign1368–1398
PredecessorToghon Temür (Yuan dynasty)
SuccessorJianwen Emperor
BornZhu Chongba (朱重八)
21 October 1328[b]
Hao Prefecture, Henan Jiangbei (present-day Fengyang County, Anhui)[2][3][4]
Died24 June 1398(1398-06-24) (aged 69)
Ming Palace, Zhili (present-day Nanjing)
Burial30 June 1398
Ming Xiaoling, Nanjing
Consort
(m. 1352; died 1382)
Issue
Names
  • Zhu Xingzong (朱興宗)
  • Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋, later)
Era dates
  • Wu (): 31 January 1367 – 23 January 1368
  • Hongwu (洪武): 23 January 1368 – 5 February 1399 (restored, 18 July 1402 – 22 January 1403)[c]
Posthumous name
  • Emperor Qinming Qiyun Junde Chenggong Tongtian Daxiao Gao[d] (欽明啟運俊德成功統天大孝高皇帝)
  • Emperor Shengshen Wenwu Qinming Qiyun Junde Chenggong Tongtian Daxiao Gao[e] (聖神文武欽明啟運俊德成功統天大孝高皇帝)
  • Emperor Kaitian Xingdao Zhaoji Liji Dasheng Zhishen Renwen Yiwu Junde Chenggong Gao[f] (開天行道肇紀立極大聖至神仁文義武俊德成功高皇帝)
Temple name
Taizu (太祖)
HouseZhu
DynastyMing
FatherZhu Shizhen
MotherEmpress Chun
ReligionBuddhism
Signature
Hongwu Emperor
Chinese洪武帝
Literal meaningVastly Martial Emperor

Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398),[b] also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Ming (明太祖), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋; Chu Yüan-chang), courtesy name Guorui (國瑞; 国瑞), was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1368 to 1398.[8]

As famine, plague, and peasant revolt surged across China proper during the 14th century,[9] Zhu Yuanzhang rose to command the Red Turban Rebellion that conquered China proper, ending the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty and forcing the remnant Yuan court (known as Northern Yuan in historiography) to retreat to the Mongolian Plateau. Zhu claimed the Mandate of Heaven and established the Ming dynasty at the beginning of 1368[10] and occupied the Yuan capital of Khanbaliq (present-day Beijing), with his army that same year. Trusting only his family, he made his many sons feudal princes along the northern marches and the Yangtze valley.[11] Having outlived his eldest son Zhu Biao, Zhu enthroned Zhu Biao's son via a series of instructions. This ended in failure when the Jianwen Emperor's attempts to unseat his uncles led to the Jingnan Rebellion.[12]

The era of Hongwu was noted for its tolerance of minorities and religions; the Chinese historian Ma Zhou indicates that the Hongwu Emperor ordered the renovation and construction of many mosques in Xi’an and Nanjing.[13] Wang Daiyu also recorded that the emperor wrote the Hundred-word Eulogy praising Islam.[13]

The reign of the Hongwu Emperor is notable for his unprecedented political reforms. The emperor abolished the position of chancellor,[14] drastically reduced the role of court eunuchs, and adopted draconian measures to address corruption.[15] He also established the Embroidered Uniform Guard, one of the best known secret police organizations in imperial China. In the 1380s and 1390s, a series of purges were launched to eliminate his high-ranked officials and generals; tens of thousands were executed.[16] The reign of Hongwu also witnessed much cruelty. Various cruel methods of execution were introduced for punishable crimes and for those who directly criticized the emperor, and massacres were also carried out against everyone who resisted his rule.[17][18][19][20][21][excessive citations]

The emperor encouraged agriculture, reduced taxes, incentivized the cultivation of new land, and established laws protecting peasants' property. He also confiscated land held by large estates and forbade private slavery. At the same time, he banned free movement in the empire and assigned hereditary occupational categories to households.[22] Through these measures, Zhu Yuanzhang attempted to rebuild a country that had been ravaged by war, limit and control its social groups, and instill orthodox values in his subjects,[23] eventually creating a strictly regimented society of self-sufficient farming communities.[24]

  1. ^ Goodrich, Luther Carrington; Fang Chaoying, eds. (1976). Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368–1644. Vol. 1. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 258–259. ISBN 978-0-231-03801-0.
  2. ^ Tsai, Shih-shan Henry (2001). Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle (illustrated ed.). University of Washington Press. p. 28. ISBN 0295981091.
  3. ^ Becker, Jasper (1998). Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine (illustrated, reprint ed.). Macmillan. p. 131. ISBN 0805056688.
  4. ^ Becker, Jasper (2007). Dragon Rising: An Inside Look at China Today. National Geographic Books. p. 167. ISBN 978-1426202100.
  5. ^ Teng Ssu-yü (1976). "Chu Yüan-chang". In Goodrich, Luther Carrington; Fang Chaoying (eds.). Dictionary of Ming biography, 1368–1644. Vol. I: A–L. Association for Asian Studies and Columbia University Press. pp. 381–392. ISBN 0231038011. OL 10195404M.
  6. ^ Mote, Frederick W. (1988). "The Rise of the Ming Dynasty, 1330–1367". In Frederick W. Mote; Denis Twitchett (eds.). The Cambridge History of China, Volume 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part 1. The Cambridge History of China. Cambridge University Press. pp. 11–57. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521243322.003. ISBN 978-1-139-05475-1.
  7. ^ "Hung-wu | emperor of Ming dynasty". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 5 May 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  8. ^ "Zhu Yuanzhang – Founder Emperor of Ming Dynasty | ChinaFetching". Chinese Culture. Archived from the original on 8 May 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  9. ^ Dardess, John W. (1972). Parsons, James Bunyan; Simonovskaia, Larisa Vasil'evna; Wen-Chih, Li (eds.). "The Late Ming Rebellions: Peasants and Problems of Interpretation". The Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 3 (1): 103–117. doi:10.2307/202464. hdl:1808/13251. ISSN 0022-1953. JSTOR 202464.
  10. ^ "An introduction to the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) (article)". Khan Academy. Archived from the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  11. ^ Chan Hok-lam. "Legitimating Usurpation: Historical Revisions under the Ming Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424) Archived 15 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine". The Legitimation of New Orders: Case Studies in World History. Chinese University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-9629962395. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  12. ^ The Legitimation of New Orders: Case Studies in World History. Chinese University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-9629962395. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  13. ^ a b Hagras, Hamada (2019). "The Ming Court as Patron of the Chinese Islamic Architecture: The Case Study of the Daxuexi Mosque in Xi'an" (PDF). Shedet. 6 (6): 134–158. doi:10.36816/SHEDET.006.08.
  14. ^ Pines, Yuri; Shelach, Gideon; Falkenhausen, Lothar von; Yates, Robin D. S. (2013). Birth of an Empire. Univ of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-28974-1.
  15. ^ Fang, Qiang; Oklahoma, Xiaobing Li, University of Central (2018). Corruption and Anticorruption in Modern China. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4985-7432-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Mote, Frederick W.; Twitchett, Denis, eds. (1988). The Cambridge History of China, Volume 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part 1. Cambridge University Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-1139054751.
  17. ^ 劉辰. 國初事迹
  18. ^ 李默. 孤樹裒談
  19. ^ 楊一凡(1988). 明大誥研究. Jiangsu Renmin Press.
  20. ^ 鞍山老人万里寻祖20年探出"小云南". News.eastday.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  21. ^ 元末明初的士人活動 – 歷史學科中心. Archived from the original on 30 December 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  22. ^ Farmer, Edward L. (1995). Zhu Yuanzhang and Early Ming Legislation. Brill. pp. 106–107. ISBN 978-90-04-10391-7.
  23. ^ Farmer (1995), p. 36
  24. ^ Zhang Wenxian. "The Yellow Register Archives of Imperial Ming China Archived 26 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine". Libraries & the Cultural Record, Vol. 43, No. 2 (2008), pp. 148–175. Univ. of Texas Press. Retrieved 9 October 2012.


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