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East Asia (14th – mid-15th c.)Politics and state

Zhu Yuanzhang proclaims the Ming dynasty

On 23 January 1368, at Nanjing, the former Red Turban commander Zhu Yuanzhang sacrificed to Heaven and Earth and ascended the throne as emperor of the Great Ming, taking the era name Hongwu. That September his general Xu Da entered the Yuan capital Dadu, and the Yuan emperor Toghon Temür fled to the steppe: after almost a century of Mongol rule, China passed to a native dynasty that lasted until 1644.

Date
23 January 1368exact dateDate in the Julian calendar
Place
Nanjingtoday: Nanjing, Jiangsu, China · East Asia
Participants
Zhu Yuanzhang (Hongwu Emperor), Ming dynasty, Yuan dynasty
Threads
East Asia (14th – mid-15th c.)
Also known as
Founding of the Ming dynasty; Proclamation of the Ming; Hongwu era; Fall of Dadu 1368; Great Ming; Основание империи Мин; Провозглашение Мин; Взятие Даду; Великая Мин; 大明; 洪武; 明朝建立

By the end of 1367 Zhu Yuanzhang, Prince of Wu since 1364, had destroyed his rivals in the Yangtze valley and launched two campaigns at once: one south against Fujian and Guangdong, the other north under Xu Da and Chang Yuchun. According to the History of Ming, on 23 January 1368 he sacrificed to Heaven and Earth in the southern suburb of his capital, ascended the throne, named his state the Great Ming and his era Hongwu, made his wife, Lady Ma, empress and his eldest son, Zhu Biao, heir, and appointed Li Shanchang and Xu Da chancellors.

Fujian fell in February, Guangdong in April and Guangxi by early August (Guilin fell on 8 July, the province was pacified on 3 August); in the north the Ming armies took Shandong and Henan. On 10 September they captured Tongzhou, and the Yuan emperor Toghon Temür left for Shangdu; on 14 September Xu Da entered Dadu, sealed its treasuries and archives and forbade his soldiers to plunder. The city was renamed Beiping, ‘the North Pacified’. The Yuan court survived in Mongolia — Toghon Temür died at Yingchang in 1370 — and Sichuan (1371), Yunnan (1382) and Liaodong (1387) came under Ming rule only later.

In 1368 the new emperor announced his accession to Korea, Đại Việt, Champa and Japan; Korea, Đại Việt and Champa sent tribute missions in 1369, Majapahit in 1370, and Japan, Siam and Cambodia in 1371. The Hongwu Emperor ruled for thirty years from Nanjing, rebuilding the state on registers of households and land, hereditary military households and self-governing villages, and purging his officials and generals in repeated waves.

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Connections

Causes and preconditions

  • Red Turban Rebellion28 May 1351 – 1368 · East AsiaZhu Yuanzhang rose as a Red Turban commander and founded the Ming out of the wars between the rebel leaders

Related events

  • Proclamation of the Yuan dynasty1271 · East AsiaThe Ming replaced the Yuan dynasty proclaimed by Kublai in 1271
  • Founding of Ayutthaya4 March 1351 · Southeast Asia and OceaniaAyutthaya sent sixty tribute missions to the new Ming court between 1369 and 1429, more than any other state of Southeast Asia
  • Majapahit at its height under Gajah Mada and Hayam Wurukbetween 1331 and 1336 – 1389 · Southeast Asia and OceaniaFrom 1370 Majapahit sent embassies to the court of the new Ming dynasty
  • Northern and Southern Courtsbetween 20 September 1336 and 23 January 1337 – 19 November 1392 · East AsiaThe early Ming court recognised the Southern prince Kaneyoshi in Kyushu as ‘King of Japan’ and rebuffed Ashikaga Yoshimitsu’s envoys in 1374 and 1380
  • Che Bong Nga's wars against Đại Việt1361 – February 1390 · Southeast Asia and OceaniaIn 1369 the first Ming emperor recognised Che Bong Nga as king of Champa
  • The Hongwu Emperor orders the Yellow Registers1381 · East AsiaThe registers were among the Hongwu Emperor’s measures to rebuild the state after the Yuan collapse
  • Rise and campaigns of TimurApril 1370 – between 17 February and 19 February 1405 · Central and Northern AsiaTimur’s last campaign, begun at the end of 1404, was aimed at Ming China; he died at Otrar on the way in February 1405
  • Yi Seong-gye founds the Joseon dynasty5 August 1392 · East AsiaMing claims to Goryeo’s north provoked the Liaodong expedition that Yi turned back in 1388; the new dynasty took the name Joseon with Ming approval

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The same period

14th century

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (English): Hongwu Emperor
  2. Wikipedia (English): Ming dynasty
  3. Wikipedia (English): Red Turban Rebellions
  4. Wikipedia (Russian): Хунъу
  5. Wikipedia (Russian): Империя Мин
  6. Мин ши (История Мин), гл. 2: Тай-цзу бэньцзи, 2 // Wikisource
  7. Langlois J. D., Jr. The Hung-wu Reign, 1368–1398 // The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 7, Part 1. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. — P. 107–181.