Hongwu Emperor of China

Hongwu Emperor
Birth and death:	Sep. 21, 1328 – Jun. 24, 1398
Family name:	Zhū (朱)
Birth name (小名):	Chongba¹ (重八)
Given name (大名):	Xingzong (興宗), later Yuánzhāng² (元璋)
Courtesy name (字):	Guorui (國瑞)
Dates of reign:	Jan. 23 1368³ – Jun. 24, 1398
Dynasty:	Ming (明)
Era name:	Hóngwǔ (洪武)
Era dates	Jan. 23 1368–Feb. 5, 1399 4
Temple name:	Tàizǔ (太祖)
Posthumous name: (short)	Emperor Gao (高皇帝)
Posthumous name: (full)	Emperor Kaitian Xingdao Zhaoji Liji Dasheng Zhishen Renwen Yiwu Junde Chenggong Gao 開天行道肇紀立極大聖至神仁文 義武俊德成功高皇帝
General note: Dates given here are in the Julian calendar. They are not in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
———
1. Name given by his parents at birth and used only inside the family. This birth name, which means "double eight," was allegedly given to him because the combined age of his parents when he was born was 88 years.
2. Was known as Zhu Xingzong when he became an adult, a name that was changed to Zhu Yuanzhang in 1352 when he started to become famous among the rebelled leaders.
3. Was already in control of Nanjing since 1356, was made Duke of Wu (吳國公) by the rebelled leader Han Lin'er (韓林兒) in 1361, and started autonomous rule as self-proclaimed Prince of Wu (吳王) on February 4, 1364. Was proclaimed emperor on January 23, 1368, establishing the Ming Dynasty that same day.
4. The era was officially re-established on July 30, 1402 when Emperor Jianwen was overthrown, with retroactivity for the 4 years of the Jianwen era, so that 1402 was considered the 35th year of Hongwu. The Honwgu era then ended on January 22, 1403, the next day being the start of the Yongle era.

The Hongwu Emperor (September 21, 1328 – June 24, 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, was the founder and first emperor (1368–98) of the Míng Dynasty of China. His era name, Hongwu, means "Vast Military," and he is also known as Emperor Tai Zu.

Due to the anti-Mongol sentiments that developed in the early 14th century, many Chinese perceived the Yuan Dynasty as being foreign and illegitimate. It was during this era that Zhu Yuanzhang led a peasant revolution that was instrumental in expelling the Yuan Dynasty and forcing the Mongols to retreat to the Mongolian steppes. Consequently, he claimed the title Son of Heaven for himself and established the Ming Dynasty in 1368.

Early Life

Zhu Yuanzhang is said to be from present day Anhui Province. According to legend, he worked as a cowhand in his youth until he joined a Buddhist monastery after being fired for roasting and eating one of his master's livestock. It is more likely that he was forced to enter the monastery for food after a plague took the lives of his parents and brothers.

He learned to read at the monastery, but his studies were interrupted when the monastery ran out of money. He left the monastery for the country at large and spent a period of time as a beggar in order to not starve to death. Later, he joined a gang of rebels, where because of his natural talent for leadership he soon found himself in command. He later came into contact with well-educated Confucian scholars and gentry, from whom he received an education in state affairs. He acquired additional training from the Red Turban Movement, a dissident religious sect combining cultural and religious traditions of Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and other religions.

Abandoning his Buddhist upbringing, he positioned himself as a defender of Confucianism and neo-Confucian conventions, rather than simply as a popular rebel. Thus, despite his humble origins, he emerged as a national leader against the collapsing Yuan Dynasty, which was partially caused by his charisma, which attracted talented followers from all over China. One such follower was Zhu Sheng（朱升）, who is credited with the mantra "Build high walls, stock up rations, and don't be too quick to call yourself a king." The rebel leader followed this advice and decided to subdue the smaller, weaker rebel groups in Southern China before turning against the Mongols, his main enemy.

He had many able officers at his side in order to gain victory against the Mongols or other Chinese rebel groups, including Jiao Yu, an artillery officer who compiled a military treatise outlining the various gunpowder weapons used in battle. Jiao Yu's contemporary Liu Ji was also a key advisor to Zhu Yuanzhang, and assisted Jiao in the compilation and editing of the military-technology treatise of the Huolongjing. Along with capable and loyal advisors, the decisive event that cemented Zhu's authority amongst the rebel groups was the enormous Battle of Lake Poyang, one of the largest naval battles in world history.

In 1368, he proclaimed himself the Ming emperor in Nanjing and adopted "Hongwu" as the title of his reign. He used the motto 'Exiling the Mongols and Restoring Hua (华)' as a call to rouse the Han Chinese into supporting him, and after capturing Dadu, China was unified again under the Ming.

Beginning of Reign

After defeating rival national leaders, Zhu proclaimed himself emperor in 1368. The capital was established at Nanjing, and "Hongwu" was adopted as the title of his reign.

Under Hongwu, the Mongol bureaucrats who had dominated the government for nearly a century under the Yuan Dynasty were replaced by Han Chinese. He revamped the traditional Confucian examination system, which selected state bureaucrats or civil servants on the basis of merit and knowledge of literature and philosophy, mostly the Classics. Candidates for posts in the civil service, or in the officer corps of the 80,000-man army, once again had to pass the traditional competitive examinations, as required by the Classics. The Confucian scholar gentry, marginalized under the Yuan for nearly a century, once again assumed their predominant role in the Chinese state.

The rejection of things associated with the Mongols also continued into other areas. These included Mongol dress, which was discarded, and Mongol names, which stopped being used. Indeed, attacks on Mongol-associated items and places also included the attack of palaces and administrative buildings used by the Yuan rulers.

Historians consider Hongwu to be one of the greatest Emperors of China. From the beginning, great care was taken by Hongwu to distribute land to small farmers. It seems to have been his policy to favor the poor, whom he tried to help to support themselves and their families. Public works projects, such as the construction of irrigation systems and dikes, were undertaken, in an attempt to help poor farmers. Additionally, demands on the peasantry for forced labor were reduced by Hongwu, which affected both imperial and scholar-gentry demands. As well, in 1370 an order was given that some land in Hunan and Anhui should be distributed to young farmers who had reached manhood. This order was made in part to preclude the absorption of this land by unscrupulous landlords, and as part of this decree it was announced that the title to the land would not be transferable. During the middle part of his reign an edict was published to the effect that those who brought fallow land under cultivation could keep it as their property without it ever being taxed. The people responded enthusiastically to this policy, and in 1393 cultivated land rose to 8,804,623 ching and 68 mou, a greater achievement than any other Chinese dynasty.

Having come from a peasant family, Hongwu knew only too well how much the farmers suffered from the gentry and the wealthy. Many of the latter, relying on their influence with the magistrates, not only encroached unscrupulously on the land of farmers, but even contrived through bribing lower officials to transfer the burden of taxation to the small farmers they had wronged. To prevent such abuses Hongwu instituted two very important systems: "Yellow Records" and "Fish Scale Records." These systems served to guarantee both the government's income from land taxes and the people's enjoyment of their property.

However, while the reforms were well-meaning, they did not eliminate the threat of the scholar-gentry to peasants. Rather, the expansion of the scholar-gentry and their growing prestige translated into more wealth and tax exemption for those related to government bureaucrats. The gentry gained new privileges, often allowing them to show off their wealth, and they often were money-lenders, if not also managers of gambling rings. Using their power, the scholar-gentry often expanded their estates at the expense of small farmers who were absorbed into the estates, both through outright purchase of peasants' land, and foreclosure on their mortgages during times of want. These peasants often became either tenants and workers, or left and searched for employment elsewhere.

In 1372, Hongwu ordered the general release of all innocent people who had been enslaved during the anxious days at the end of the Mongol reign. Fourteen years later he ordered his officials to buy back children in the Huinan province who had been sold as slaves by their parents because of famine.

Military

Despite having fought off the calamities of the Mongol invasion, Hongwu realized that the Mongols still posed a real threat to China. He decided that the orthodox Confucian view of the military as an inferior class to the scholar bureaucracy should be reasessed, as maintaining a strong military was essential. Hongwu kept a powerful army organized on the military system known as Wei-so, which was similar to the Fu-ping system of the Tang dynasty. According to Ming Shih Gao, the political intention of the founder of the Ming dynasty in establishing the Wei-so system was to maintain a strong army, while avoiding the formation of personal bonds between commanding officers and the soldiers.

Military training was also conducted within the soldiers' own military districts. In time of war, troops were mobilized from all over the empire on the orders of a Board of War, and commanders were chosen to lead them. As soon as the war was over, all of the troops returned to their respective districts and the commanders lost their military commands. This system largely avoided troubles of the kind which had been caused, under the Tang and Song dynasties, by military commanders who had great numbers of soldiers directly under their personal control. The Wei-so system was a great success in the early Ming because of the Tun-tien system. Hongwu, well aware of the difficulties of supplying such a number of men, adopted this method of military organization, to assure that the empire had a strong military force without heavily burdening the people for its support.

Consolidating Control

Hongwu increasingly feared rebellions and coups. He even made it a capital offence for any of his advisors to criticise him. A story goes that a Confucian scholar who was fed up with Hongwu's policies decided to go to the capital and berate the emperor. When he gained an audience with the emperor, he brought his own coffin along with him. After delivering his speech he climbed into the coffin, expecting the emperor to execute him. Instead, the Emperor was so impressed by his bravery that he spared his life.

Hongwu also noted the destructive role of court eunuchs, castrated servants of the emperor, under the previous dynasties and drastically reduced their numbers, forbidding them to handle documents, insisting that they remained illiterate, and executing those who commented on state affairs. Hongwu had a strong aversion to the imperial eunuchs, epitomized by a tablet in his palace stipulating: "Eunuchs must have nothing to do with the administration." However, this aversion to eunuchs' being in the employ of an emperor was not popular with Hongwu's successors, and eunuchs soon returned to the emperors' courts after Hongwu. In addition to Hongwu's aversion to eunuchs, he never consented to any of his imperial relatives becoming court officials. This policy was fairly well-maintained by later emperors, and no serious trouble was caused by the empresses or their relatives.

Hongwu attempted to, and largely succeeded in, consolidating control over all aspects of government, so that no other group could gain enough power to overthrow him. He also buttressed the country's defenses against the Mongols. As emperor, Hongwu increasingly concentrated power in his own hands. He abolished the prime minister's post, which had been head of the main central administrative body under past dynasties, by suppressing a plot for which he had blamed his chief minister. Many argue that the Hongwu emperor, because of his wish to concentrate absolute authority in his own hands, removed the only insurance against incompetent emperors^{[citation needed]}. However Hongwu's actions were not entirely one-sided since he did create a new post, called "Grand Secretary," to take the place of the abolished prime minister. Ray Huang argued that Grand-Secretaries, outwardly powerless, could exercise considerable positive influence from behind the throne^{[citation needed]}. Because of their prestige and the public trust which they enjoyed, they could act as intermediaries between the emperor and the ministerial officials, and thus provide a stabilising force in the court.

Legal Code

The legal code drawn up in the time of the Hongwu emperor was considered one of the great achievements of the era. The Ming Shih mentions that as early as 1364 the monarchy had started to draft a code of laws. This code was known as Ta-Ming Lu. The emperor devoted great personal care to the whole project, and in his instruction to the ministers told them that the code of laws should be comprehensive and intelligible, so as not to leave any loophole for lower officials to misinterpret the law through twisting its language. The Ming code laid much emphasis on family relations. The code was a great improvement on the code of the earlier Tang dynasty in regards to the treatment of slaves. Under the Tang code, slaves were treated as a species of domestic animal; if they were killed by a free citizen the law imposed no sanction on the killer. Under the Ming dynasty, however, the law protected both slaves and free citizens.

Confucianism

Backed by the Confucian scholar-gentry, Hongwu accepted the Confucian viewpoint that merchants were solely parasitic. Hongwu felt that agriculture should be the country's source of wealth and that trade was ignoble. Perhaps this view was the result of his having been a peasant himself. As a result, the Ming economic system emphasized agriculture, unlike the economic system of the Song Dynasty, which had preceded the Mongols and had relied on traders and merchant for revenues. Also as a result of this aversion to trade, Hongwu supported the creation of self-supporting agricultural communities.

However Hongwu's prejudice against the merchants did not diminish the numbers of traders. On the contrary, commerce increased significantly under Hongwu due to the growth of industry throughout the empire. This growth in trade was due in part to poor soil conditions and the overpopulation of certain areas, which forced many people to leave their homes and seek their fortunes in trade. A book entitled Tu Pien Hsin Shu^{[citation needed]}, written during the Ming dynasty, gives a very detailed description about the activities of merchants at that time.

Growth of Dynasty and Death

Although Hongwu's rule saw the introduction of paper currency, capitalist development was stifled from the beginning. Not understanding inflation, Hongwu gave out so much paper money as rewards that by 1425 the state was forced to reintroduce copper coins because the paper currency had sunk to only 1/70 of its original value.

During Hongwu's reign, the early Ming Dynasty was characterised by rapid and dramatic population growth, largely due to the increased food supply due to Hongwu's agricultural reforms and New World foods such as corn and sweet potatoes, which entered China through the world trading system . By the end of the dynasty, the population had risen by perhaps as much as 50%. This was stimulated by major improvements in agricultural technology, promoted by the pro-agrarian state which came to power in the midst of a pro-Confucian peasant's rebellion. Under his tutelage, living standards greatly improved.

Hongwu died after a reign of 30 years.

He had 24 sons, all of whom became princes. They include:

• Zhu Biao (1355–1392), Hongwu's first child, and the father of his successor Jianwen
• Zhu Di (1360–1424), Hongwu's fourth son, and third emperor after usurpation of the throne from Jianwen
• Zhu Quan (1378–1448), 17th son

Names

Hongwu also is known as Hung-Wu. That name is also applied to the period of years from 1368 to 1398 when Zhu Yuanzhang ruled. Other names for him include, his temple name Ming Tàizǔ (明太祖) "Great Ancestor of the Ming," and the "Beggar King," in allusion to his early poverty.

See also

• Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, in Nanjing

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Stearns, Peter N., et al. World Civilizations: The Global Experience. AP Edition DBQ Update. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2006.

Preceded by: Emperor Huizong

Emperor of China (Ming Dynasty) 1368–1398

Succeeded by: Jianwen Emperor

zh-classical:明太祖

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