Zhu Yuanzhang - First Emperor of the Ming Dynasty 21 October 1328 - 24 June 1398,

Zhu Yuanzhang - 
First Emperor of the Ming Dynasty
21 October 1328 - 24 June 1398,

Deeper Aspects of Chinese Culture
Zhu Yuanzhang, also known as Emperor Hongwu (ruled 1368–1398), was the founder of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). He was born a peasant, becamea monk,then a rebel leader, and finally became the first emperor of a new dynasty.







Born: 21 October 1328, Fengyang County, Chuzhou, China

Died: 24 June 1398, Nanjing, China

Peasant
Zhu Yuanzhang grew up as a peasant. He was born in 1328. It is said that he was the youngest of seven or eight brothers. Due to poverty, several of his brothers were given away.

During the final 30 years of the Yuan era (1279–1368), there were a lot of famines and natural disasters.

In 1344, when he was 16, the Yellow River flooded his home. Then his family died of disease.

Monk
He took shelter in a Buddhist monastery that also ran out of money, and he was forced to leave and beg for food. But he returned to the monastery when he was 24, and he learned to read and write there. Then the monastery where he took refuge was destroyed by Yuan troops.

Rebel Leader
Zhu Yuanzhang first joined a local rebel group. Then they joined a larger Red Turban army that had Zoroastrian and Buddhist beliefs. Zoroastrianism was a Western religion that had spread through Central Asia before Islam spread.

He then became the leader of the large Red Turban rebel army before he was 30.

In 1356, Zhu’s army conquered Nanjing. This was an important city that was strategically located so that he could control part of the Yangtze River and the region south of it. He made Nanjing his capital.

Over the next 10 years, he defeated all the other powerful rival armies. In 1368, he attacked the Yuan empire capital of Dadu (Beijing) and gained control of it. The Yuan court fled northwards, but the Yunnan area remained under Yuan rule until 1380.

Emperor Hongwu (Ruled 1368–98)
During his 30-year reign, Zhu Yuanzhang instituted major policy initiatives. Some of his policies became permanent Ming policies, and he reversed some of his own policies when he was old.

Foreign Policy

To suppress the merchants and prevent pirate attacks, Zhu decreed a maritime embargo policy during his reign.

Policies Towards Eunuchs

He wanted to make sure that eunuchs had no ruling power because eunuchs had become involved in internal politics and were responsible for a lot of the court’s decadence.

To limit their power and ensure the centralization of authority, eunuchs were not allowed to engage in official affairs and had to be illiterate.

New Government Structure

Emperor Hongwu staffed his bureaucracy with officials who passed the Neo-Confucian imperial examinations. These officials were dependent on the court for their position so that they might prove to be more loyal. They were generally very intelligent and well educated.

Secret Policy (Personal Policy)

After Zhu Yuanzhang emerged as the rebel general, he became more and more suspicious. He set up a private guard military institution, which was known as the Embroidered Uniform Guard. It served as Zhu’s secret police to help him spy on his subjects.

Issued Paper Currency

Emperor Hongwu also issued paper currency. But he was ill grounded in economy and it is said that he handed out too much paper money during his lifetime causing inflation.

Pro-Peasant Policy

Hongwu grew up as a peasant, and maybe he championed their plight since he knew firsthand that they were often reduced to slavery and starvation by the rich and the officials.

He instituted public work projects and he tried to distribute land to the peasants. During the middle part of his reign, Hongwu made an edict that those who brought fallow land under cultivation could keep it as their property without being taxed.

By the end of his reign, cultivated land had increased substantially. The peasants prospered because they sold their produce to the growing cities. During his reign, the population increased quickly.

Anti-Merchant Policy

Emperor Hongwu grew up as a peasant and he knew only too well that peasants were often reduced to slavery and exploitation by the rich and officials.

He tried to weaken the merchant class and to force them to pay high taxes, and he even relocated a number of them. In 1371, Emperor Hongwu issued a sea ban policy.

The End of His Reign

It is said that in 1380, a thunderbolt hit his palace, and he stopped the killings and massacres for some time because he was afraid that Heaven would punish him.

He reigned for 30 years and died when he was 70. When he died, his physicians and concubines were put to death on his instructions.






10 Facts About the Ming Dynasty

Ming Dynasty Map

The Ming Empire (1368–1644) undertook colossal building projects, such as the Great Wall, was top in technology, and made epic explorations, but succumbed to huge natural disasters, internal rebellion, then invasion.

These 10 facts will help you understand the Ming Empire better.

1) The Ming Empire was founded by a poor peasant.
Mausoleum of Zhu Yuanzhang in NanjingYou can see the mausoleum of Zhu Yuanzhang in Nanjing: Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum.
Zhu Yuanzhang (1328–1398) was a poor peasant who grew up during the final decades of the Yuan Dynasty era (1279–1368), when severe natural disasters killed his own family and tens of millions of other people. 

The people believed these disasters meant that the Yuan Dynasty had lost the Mandate of Heaven according to ancient political doctrine, and this encouraged them to attack the ruling Mongols.

Big armies formed, and Zhu Yuanzhang led a powerful army south of the Yangtze River and captured the important city of Nanjing in 1358 that he made his capital city. 

Over the next 10 years, his army defeated the armies of rivals, and he finally captured the Yuan capital of Beijing in 1368 and declared himself the Ming Emperor Hongwu.

2) Emperor Hongwu cemented the empire.
map of Ming DynastyThe map of Ming Dynasty. Ming Dynasty ruled for almost 300 years.
During Emperor Hongwu's 30-year reign from 1368–1398, he instituted major policy initiatives that made the empire successful. 

These included staffing his government with well-educated officials who passed the Imperial Examinations, supporting and protecting peasants, and distributing land to them

He built a huge standing army of a million men for defense and to conquer remaining Mongol strongholds. By the end of his rule, he had driven the Mongols out of the region and conquered Manchuria.

3) Emperor Hongwu executed an estimated 100,000.
To stifle any opposition, Emperor Hongwu made it a crime for his officials to say anything against him, and there were massacres of suspected opponents, their clans, and even of entire neighborhoods where someone spoke against him. 

He often used torture to kill and terrify people. He killed thousands of concubines. Once, he had all his thousands of concubines stabbed to death, and while he was dying in 1398, he ordered his physicians and concubines put to death.

4) Emperor Yongle commanded successfully and ordered epic construction.

Forbidden CityEmperor Yongle built the Forbidden City to be the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty.










Emperor Yongle (1360–1424) ruled from 1402 to 1424, and during his 22 year reign, he had some amazing accomplishments. 

He was successful as a military commander and first came to power by defeating the army of the emperor who had succeeded Yuanzhang. 

Then he personally led his armies into Mongolia in victorious campaigns. He also conquered Annam (northern Vietnam).

He is best known for for building the Forbidden City to be his new palace in Beijing. 

He rebuilt the Grand Canal, the world's longest, to reach Beijing. It helped the whole eastern coast to prosper. A million laborers and craftsmen built it over 14 years. The Ming Great Wall was the strongest in history, and represents much of what we see remaining today.

5) Yongle sent forth epic world exploration missions.
Decades before Europeans sailed into the Indian Ocean, starting in 1405, Yongle sent his commander Zheng He with large fleets to explore and trade and for diplomacy.

All together, Zheng He made 7 voyages from 1405 to 1433. His larger ships may have stretched 120 meters in length, and if this is so, these may have been the largest wooden sailing ships ever built. 

Some fleets were manned by a crew of about 27,000 men each! Several voyages reached East Africa, and others primarily visited Asian countries.

6) The Ming Empire led the world in technology.

Jingdezhen porcelain The blue and white colored pieces such as these were prized around the world.











At its beginning, the Ming Empire led the world in the manufacture and use of gunpowder-based weaponry, shipbuilding, navigation, and exploration. 

They produced the best porcelain and various other products. But technological development stagnated in the last 200 years.

Li Shizhen was the Ming Empire's foremost pharmacist.
7) The Ming Empire population tripled!
The peasants prospered, and the population grew quickly, from perhaps about 60 million at the beginning to a peak of about 180 million near the end. 

New food crops such as corn and potatoes along with the canals, protection from invasion, and new infrastructure helped the peasants prosper.

Europeans began trading operations in the early 1500s, and by the late 1500s, the merchants prospered greatly. 

The fortunes of the empire became heavily reliant on trade and the government allowed free foreign trade. In the Western world and Japan, their manufactured products such as porcelain and silk were in high demand.

8) About 50 million died amid catastrophes in the last decades.
As with the fall of the Yuan and Qing Empires, catastrophic natural disasters in the last decades weakened the government and military. 

The people saw the disasters as signs that the Ming had lost the "Mandate of Heaven." This was an ancient political concept and were encouraged to rebel. 

In 1556, perhaps the deadliest earthquake in history struck Shaanxi and killed about 800,000 people. Other big earthquakes followed.

The Little Ice Age brought severe cold and severe droughts in the last decades of the empire. In the 1640s, the worst drought in five centuries struck north China. There were also epidemics and floods. Altogether, through war and natural disasters, 30% of the population or 50 million died between 1600 and 1644.

9) The Ming Dynasty was crippled by corruption, misrule and a monetary crisis.

Starting from the 1590s, court eunuchs grew in political power. Engaged in decadence and intrigue, good policies weren't implemented to address the mounting disasters, economic crises, and attacks by the Japanese and Manchus.

Due to war in Europe and decisions of the emperors of Spain and Japan to stem the flow of silver to the Ming, trade plummeted and the price of silver, the main currency for taxation, rose dramatically.

 The people couldn't afford to pay their taxes. There was a monetary crisis. The government couldn't help the suffering population, pay their troops, or stop the rebellions.

10) The empire fell mainly by the rebellion of peasants and troops.
Shanhaiguan PassThe Great Wall's Shanhai Pass protected Beijing for centuries until a Ming general let the Manchus through.

Many peasants were starving and unable to pay their taxes, and they lost their fear of the Ming court. 

They began to form large rebel bands. Many Ming troops were not paid, and they joined and led these new armies. A peasant soldier named Li Zicheng (1606–1645) mutinied with his fellow soldiers, and then his army was let into Beijing through an open gate.


But the rebel troops didn't enjoy this victory. A Ming general switched sides, allowed the Manchus to enter through the Shanhai Pass of the Great Wall, and then the Manchu and Ming armies captured Beijing, which was the start of the Qing Empire in 1644.

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