House of Zhu

This article is about the Ming dynasty imperial family. For the imperial family of the 10th-century dynasty, see Later Liang (Five Dynasties).
Zhu
Country Ming China
Estates Ming Palace, Forbidden City (as Emperors), Small street, Yangguan Alley, Dongzhimen 明裔延恩侯朱煜勳炳南東直門北小街羊管胡同[1] (as Marquis of Extended Grace)
Titles Emperor of China, Marquis of Extended Grace
Founded 1368
Founder Hongwu Emperor
Final ruler 1644: Chongzhen Emperor, Southern Ming: Yongli Emperor
Deposition 1644: Overthrown by the Shun dynasty, 1662: Southern Ming ends, 1683: Kingdom of Tungning surrenders and the remaining Ming princes lose their titles, 1725: A Ming descendant granted the title Marquis, 1750: the Marquis is elevated to Marquis of Extended Grace, 1929: the title is abolished by the Republic of China, 1933: all privileges of the former Marquis cancelled.
Ethnicity Han Chinese

House of Zhu, also known as House of Chu (Chinese: ; pinyin: Zhū; Wade–Giles: Chu), was the imperial family of the Ming dynasty of China. Zhu was the family name of the emperors of the Ming dynasty. The House of Zhu ruled China from 1368 until the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, followed by the rule as the Southern Ming dynasty until 1662, and the last Ming princes, the Prince of Ningjing Zhu Shugui and Prince Zhu Honghuan (朱弘桓) held out until the annexation of the Kingdom of Tungning in 1683.

Family history

Founder

Portrait of the Hongwu Emperor (r. 1368–98)

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". He founded the imperial family of Zhu.

In the middle of the 14th century, with famine, plagues and peasant revolts sweeping across China, Zhu Yuanzhang became a leader of an army that conquered China, ending the government of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, and forcing the Mongols to retreat to present-day Mongolia. With his seizure of the Yuan capital Khanbaliq (present-day Beijing), he claimed the Mandate of Heaven and established the Ming dynasty in 1368. The Ming's mission was to drive away the Mongols and restore Han Chinese rule in China.

Under the Hongwu Emperor's rule, the Mongol bureaucrats who dominated the government in the Yuan dynasty were replaced by Han Chinese officials. The Hongwu Emperor revamped the traditional Confucian examination system. Mongol-related things, including garments and names, were discontinued from use and boycotted. There were also attacks on palaces and administrative buildings previously used by the Mongol rulers.[2]

Rise of the Ming dynasty

Portrait of the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–24)

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,[3] 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.[4]

After his coronation, the Yongle Emperor decided to move China's capital from Nanjing (lit. "Southern Capital") to Beijing (lit. "Northern Capital"). According to a popular legend, the capital was moved when the emperor's advisers brought the emperor to the hills surrounding Nanjing and pointed out the emperor's palace showing the vulnerability of the palace to artillery attack.

The Yongle Emperor also ordered to build a massive network of structures in Beijing in which government offices, officials, and the imperial family itself resided. After a painfully long construction time, the Forbidden City was finally completed and became the political capital of China for the next 500 years.

The Forbidden City, the official imperial household of the Ming and Qing dynasties from 1420 until 1924, when the Republican government evicted the abdicated last emperor, Puyi, from the Forbidden City.
Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620)

皇孫府[5] The Ming dynasty modified and made changes from the Tang dynasty system for regulating the Imperial family.[6][7]

The early Ming Emperors from Hongwu to Zhengde continued Yuan practices such as hereditary military institutions, demanding Korean concubines and eunuchs, having Muslim eunuchs, wearing Mongol style clothing and Mongol hats, speaking Mongolian, engaging in archery and horseback riding, patronizing Tibetan Buddhism, with the early Ming Emperors seeking to project themselves as "universal rulers" to various peoples such as Central Asian Muslims, Tibetans, and Mongols, modeled after the Mongol Khagan, however, this history of Ming universalism has been obscured and denied by historians who covered it up and presented the Ming as xenophobes seeking to expunge Mongol influence and presenting while they presented the Qing and Yuan as "universal" rulers in contrast to the Ming.[8][9] Tibetan language was also spoken by Zhengde[10]

Hongu had a "mirror" 宗藩昭鑒錄 宗藩昭鉴录 宗藩昭鑑錄 written for Ming Princes to educate them and stop misbehavior after having to discilpine his nephew Zhu Wenzheng's son, grandnephew Zhu Shouqian.[11][12]

Military power was delegated to princes.[13] Korean and Mongol women were among the concubines of Zhu Yuanzhang who bore his 26 sons. The sons of the founder were given their own fiefs.[14]

The Prince Liaojian was Zhu Quan.[15] Zhu Yuelian was the Prince of Shu.[16]

One of the Princes was noted for delinquent behavior. Zhu Shuang 朱樉 (Prince Min of Qin 秦愍王) while he was high on drugs, had some Tibetan boys castrated and Tibetan women seized after a war against minority Tibetan peoples and as a result was reprimanded after he died from overdose.[17][18][19][20][21][22] 征西番,將番人七八歲幼女擄到一百五十名,又將七歲,八歲,九歲,十歲男童,閹割百五十五名,未及二十日,令人馱背赴府,致命去處所傷未好,即便挪動,因傷致死著大

The Prince of Ning rebellion was led by Prince Zhu Chenhao. An accomplished military commander and archer was demoted to commoner status on a wrongful charge of treason was the Prince of Lu's grandson in 1514.[23]

At the Guozijian, law, math, calligraphy, equestrianism, and archery were emphasized by the Ming Hongwu Emperor in addition to Confucian classics and also required in the Imperial Examinations .[24]

Archery and equestrianism were frequent pastimes by Zhengde.[25] He practiced archery and horseriding with eunuchs.[26] Tibetan Buddhist monks, Muslim women and musicians were obtained and provided to Zhengde by his guard Ch'ien Ning, who acquainted him with the ambidextrous archer and military officer Chiang Pin.[27] An accomplished military commander and archer was demoted to commoner status on a wrongful charge of treason was the Prince of Lu's grandson in 1514.[28]

He was disinterested in military matters but had prowess in archery (Hongxi Emperor).[29]

Archery competitions, equestrianism and calligraphy were some of the pastimes of Wanli Emperor.[30]

Decline

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 Wanli 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 Zhang Juzheng who was as excellent as him in maintaining the stability of these official alliances;[31] these officials soon banded together in opposing political factions. Over time, the Wanli Emperor grew tired and frustrated about court affairs and frequent political quarreling amongst his ministers, and chose to stay behind the walls of the Forbidden City and out of his officials' sight.[32]

Officials aggravated the Wanli Emperor about which of his sons should succeed to the throne; he grew equally disgusted with senior advisors constantly bickering about how to manage the state.[32] There were rising factions at court and across the intellectual sphere of China stemming from the philosophical debate for or against the teaching of Wang Yangming (1472–1529), the latter of whom rejected some of the orthodox views of Neo-Confucianism.[33][34] Annoyed by all of this, the Wanli Emperor began neglecting his duties, remaining absent from court audiences to discuss politics, lost interest in studying the Confucian Classics, refused to read petitions and other state papers, and stopped filling the recurrent vacancies of vital upper level administrative posts.[32][35] Scholar-officials lost prominence in administration as eunuchs became intermediaries between the aloof emperor and his officials; any senior official who wanted to discuss state matters had to persuade powerful eunuchs with a bribe simply to have his demands or message relayed to the emperor.[32]

Fall of the Ming dynasty

An Orientalist illustration of the Chongzhen Emperor killing his daughter before hanging himself. (Drawing by a European artist for Martino Martini's De bello tartarico)
Portrait of the Chongzhen Emperor (r. 1627–44)

In the early 1630s, a Minister named Li Zicheng (1606–45) mutinied with his fellow soldiers in western Shaanxi.[36] Li's rebel forces retaliated the government by killing the officials, and led a rebellion based in Rongyang, central Henan province by 1635.[37] By the 1640s, an ex-soldier and rival to Li—Zhang Xianzhong (1606–47)—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.[37]

Meanwhile, after years of providing tremendous support to the Korean royal family during the Imjin War against Japanese warlord Hideyoshi, the Ming military and finance, which had not gotten fully recovered, were forced to go into the new battles. Exhausted, Unpaid and unfed, the Ming army was struggling hard between the Manchu raiders from the north and huge peasant revolts in the provinces. Eventually, the Ming army fell apart, and was defeated by Li Zicheng—who called himself the King of Shun—and took the capital without much of a fight.[38] On 26 May 1644, Beijing fell to Li Zicheng's rebel forces; during the turmoil, rather than facing capture and probable execution at the hands of the rebels, the Chongzhen Emperor arranged a feast and gathered all members of the imperial household aside from his sons. Using his sword, he killed all of them there. All people died except his second daughter, Princess Changping, whose attempt to resist the sword blow resulted in her left arm being severed by her father. The Chongzhen Emperor then went to Jingshan Hill, and hanged himself with the hair covering his face on a tree in the imperial garden outside the Forbidden City.[38]

After the Ming dynasty

Since the fall of the Ming Empire, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty started persecuting the Zhu clan, hence a number of members of the Zhu family have changed their surnames to Zhou (周),[39] Wang (王),[40] Gao (高),[41] Guang (廣),[42] Dong (東),[43] Zhang (張), Zhuang (莊),[44] and Yan (嚴).[44] Some of them changed their family names back to Zhu after the collapse of the Qing dynasty.

Several Ming princes accompanied Koxinga to Taiwan in 1661-1662, including the Prince of Ningjing Zhu Shugui and Prince Zhu Honghuan (朱弘桓), son of Zhu Yihai, where they lived in the Kingdom of Tungning. Koxinga's grandson Zheng Keshuang surrendered to the Qing dynasty in 1683 and was rewarded by the Kangxi Emperor with the title "Duke of Haicheng" (海澄公) and he and his soldiers were inducted into the Eight Banners.[45][46][47] The Qing sent the 17 Ming princes still living on Taiwan back to mainland China where they spent the rest of their lives in exile since their lives were spared from execution.[48]

In 1725, the Yongzheng Emperor bestowed the hereditary title of marquis on a descendant of the Ming imperial family, Zhu Zhiliang, who received a salary from the Qing government and whose duty was to perform rituals at the Ming tombs, and was also inducted the Chinese Plain White Banner in the Eight Banners. Later, the Qianlong Emperor bestowed the title Marquis of Extended Grace posthumously on Zhu Zhuliang in 1750, and the title passed on through twelve generations of Ming descendants until the end of the Qing dynasty.

In 1912, after the overthrow of the Qing dynasty in the Xinhai Revolution, some advocated that a Han be installed as Emperor, either the descendant of Confucius, who was the Duke Yansheng,[49][50][51][52][53] or the Ming dynasty Imperial family descendant, the Marquis of Extended Grace.[54][55]

Notable members

Ming dynasty (1368–1644 C.E.)

An overview of the Changling Tomb

Prominent princes of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 C.E.)

Southern Ming dynasty (1644–1662 C.E.)

Artists and philosophers

Shi Tao, Master Shi Planting Pines, c. 1674, ink and color on paper. National Palace Museum
The panorama painting "Departure Herald", painted during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (1521–1567 AD), shows the emperor traveling on horseback with a large escort through the countryside from Beijing's Imperial City to the Ming dynasty tombs.

Modern era

Portrait of Zhu Rongji

See also

Notes

  1. Reginald F. Johnston (30 June 2011). Twilight in the Forbidden City. Cambridge University Press. pp. 351–. ISBN 978-1-108-02965-0.
  2. Stearns, Peter N., et al. World Civilizations: The Global Experience. AP Edition DBQ Update. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2006. 508.
  3. Robinson (2000), 527.
  4. Atwell (2002), 84.
  5. Charles O. Hucker (January 1985). 中国古代官名辞典. Stanford University Press. pp. 262–. ISBN 978-0-8047-1193-7. soft hyphen character in |title= at position 3 (help)
  6. Richard G. Wang (23 August 2012). The Ming Prince and Daoism: Institutional Patronage of an Elite. OUP USA. pp. 19–. ISBN 978-0-19-976768-7.
  7. John W. Dardess (2010). Governing China, 150-1850. Hackett Publishing. pp. 97–. ISBN 1-60384-311-6.
  8. http://www.history.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/readings/robinson_culture_courtiers_ch.8.pdf
  9. https://www.sav.sk/journals/uploads/040214374_Slobodn%C3%ADk.pdf p 166.
  10. http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp110_wuzong_emperor.pdf
  11. Frederick W. Mote; Denis Twitchett (26 February 1988). The Cambridge History of China: Volume 7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644. Cambridge University Press. pp. 132–. ISBN 978-0-521-24332-2.
  12. https://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1428JKwdpCs.pdf p. 52.
  13. Frederick W. Mote; Denis Twitchett (26 February 1988). The Cambridge History of China: Volume 7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644. Cambridge University Press. pp. 132–. ISBN 978-0-521-24332-2.
  14. https://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1428JKwdpCs.pdf
  15. http://www.history.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/readings/robinson_culture_courtiers_ch.8.pdf pp. 396-399.
  16. https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/MING_Protection_From_Seizurel24_07_2014.pdf
  17. https://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1428JKwdpCs.pdf p, 74-75, 82
  18. http://www.academia.edu/18786949/1.10_%E8%B7%8B_%E6%98%8E%E7%A7%A6%E5%BA%9C%E6%89%BF%E5%A5%89%E6%AD%A3%E5%BA%B7%E5%85%AC%E5%A2%93%E5%BF%97%E9%93%AD_A_Sogdian_Descendant_Study_of_the_Epitaph_of_Kang_Jing_The_Man_Worked_at_Ming_Prince_Qin_s_Mansion_Collected_Studies_on_Ming_History_%E6%98%8E%E5%8F%B2%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6%E8%AE%BA%E4%B8%9B_9_2011_283-297
  19. http://3g.e3ol.com/culture-view.asp?id=25072&page=3&s=3.
  20. http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_54b208e60102wvsu.html http://bbs.tiexue.net/post2_9994668_1.html http://bbs.tiexue.net/post2_9688519_1.html http://tieba.baidu.com/p/1677002974?see_lz=1 http://easyhut.blogspot.com/2015/09/blog-post_17.html
  21. http://203.195.158.104:8086/Index/show/book_id/925.
  22. http://www.tmallze.com/html/no05_171797.html
  23. Frederick W. Mote; Denis Twitchett (26 February 1988). The Cambridge History of China: Volume 7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644. Cambridge University Press. pp. 425–. ISBN 978-0-521-24332-2.
  24. Frederick W. Mote; Denis Twitchett (26 February 1988). The Cambridge History of China: Volume 7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644. Cambridge University Press. pp. 122–. ISBN 978-0-521-24332-2.
  25. Frederick W. Mote; Denis Twitchett (26 February 1988). The Cambridge History of China: Volume 7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644. Cambridge University Press. pp. 403–. ISBN 978-0-521-24332-2.
  26. Frederick W. Mote; Denis Twitchett (26 February 1988). The Cambridge History of China: Volume 7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644. Cambridge University Press. pp. 404–. ISBN 978-0-521-24332-2.
  27. Frederick W. Mote; Denis Twitchett (26 February 1988). The Cambridge History of China: Volume 7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644. Cambridge University Press. pp. 414–. ISBN 978-0-521-24332-2.
  28. Frederick W. Mote; Denis Twitchett (26 February 1988). The Cambridge History of China: Volume 7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644. Cambridge University Press. pp. 425–. ISBN 978-0-521-24332-2.
  29. Frederick W. Mote; Denis Twitchett (26 February 1988). The Cambridge History of China: Volume 7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644. Cambridge University Press. pp. 277–. ISBN 978-0-521-24332-2.
  30. Frederick W. Mote; Denis Twitchett (26 February 1988). The Cambridge History of China: Volume 7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644. Cambridge University Press. pp. 514–. ISBN 978-0-521-24332-2.
  31. Hucker (1958), 31.
  32. 1 2 3 4 Spence (1999), 16.
  33. Ebrey (2006), 281–3.
  34. Ebrey (1999), 203–6, 213.
  35. Ebrey Cambridge (194), 195.
  36. Spence (1999), 21–2.
  37. 1 2 Spence (1999), 22.
  38. 1 2 Spence (1999), 25.
  39. Unforgettable Youth-hood (in Chinese), http://www.my285.com/zj/zgmr/yhen/027.htm
  40. Zhen Zhou Local Geography, Xin Zhen: "Zhu to Wang"—Zhu's Descendants (in Chinese), http://hi.baidu.com/%D6%A3%D6%DD%CA%D0%B5%D8%C3%FB%D6%BE/blog/item/9b414c127610a2085aaf5391.html
  41. Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants were founded in Qi Xian (in Chinese), http://ha.people.com.cn/news/378/2007/03/23/165161.htm
  42. Yan Zhou Government, Guang Jia Street (in Chinese), http://yzdm.gov.cn/onews.asp?id=1536
  43. Royal Family Zhu Changed Family Name to 'Dong', went to Guang Dong, and Settled in Zhuang He (in Chinese), http://cathay.ce.cn/history/200909/01/t20090901_19913862.shtml
  44. 1 2 http://www.zhuweb.cn, About the Connections Among Zhu, Zhuang, and Yan, (in Chinese), http://www.zhuweb.cn/zhu/web/zsgj/20060829033152315.htm
  45. Herbert Baxter Adams (1925). Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science: Extra volumes. p. 57.
  46. Pao Chao Hsieh (23 October 2013). Government of China 1644- Cb: Govt of China. Routledge. pp. 57–. ISBN 978-1-136-90274-1.
  47. Pao C. Hsieh (May 1967). The Government of China, 1644-1911. Psychology Press. pp. 57–. ISBN 978-0-7146-1026-9.
  48. Manthorpe 2008, p. 108.
  49. Eiko Woodhouse (2 August 2004). The Chinese Hsinhai Revolution: G. E. Morrison and Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1897-1920. Routledge. pp. 113–. ISBN 978-1-134-35242-5.
  50. Jonathan D. Spence (28 October 1982). The Gate of Heavenly Peace: The Chinese and Their Revolution. Penguin Publishing Group. pp. 84–. ISBN 978-1-101-17372-5.
  51. Shêng Hu; Danian Liu (1983). The 1911 Revolution: A Retrospective After 70 Years. New World Press. p. 55.
  52. The National Review, China. 1913. p. 200.
  53. Monumenta Serica. H. Vetch. 1967. p. 67.
  54. Percy Horace Braund Kent (1912). The Passing of the Manchus. E. Arnold. pp. 382–.
  55. M.A. Aldrich (1 March 2008). The Search for a Vanishing Beijing: A Guide to China's Capital Through the Ages. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 176–. ISBN 978-962-209-777-3.
  56. Hay 2001, pp. 1, 84
  57. Zhou Nan Middle School, Profile of Zhu Jia Chun, http://www.zhounan.com/ZNGK/zhujianfan.htm
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