Zhengde Emperor

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Zhengde Emperor
Birth and death: 26 October 149120 April 1521
Family name: Zhu (朱)
Given name: Houzhao (厚照)
Dates of reign: 19 June 150520 April 1521
Dynasty: Ming (明)
Era name: Zhengde (正德)
Era dates: 24 January 150627 January 1522
Temple name: Wuzong (武宗)
Posthumous name:
(short) 
Emperor Yi (毅皇帝)
Posthumous name:
(full) 
Emperor Chengtian Dadao
Yingsu Ruizhe Zhaode
Xiangong Hongwen Sixiao Yi
承天達道英肅睿哲昭德顯功弘文
思孝毅皇帝
General note: Dates given here are in the Julian calendar.
They are not in the proleptic Gregorian calendar
.

The Zhengde Emperor (October 26, 1491April 20, 1521) was emperor of China (Ming dynasty) between 1505-1521. Born Zhu Houzhao, he was the Hongzhi Emperor's eldest son.

Contents

[edit] Early years

Zhengde was created crown prince at a very early age and because his father did not take up any other concubines, Zhengde did not have to contend with other princes for the throne. (His younger brother died in infancy.) Zhengde was thoroughly educated in Confucian literature and he excelled in his studies. Many of Emperor Hongzhi's ministers expected that Zhengde would become a benevolent and brilliant emperor like his father, but this was not to be.

[edit] Reign as Emperor

Zhengde ascended the throne at the age of 14. Unlike his father, Zhengde was not interested in ruling and disregarded all state affairs. His actions have been considered reckless, foolish or pointless.[1] There are many instances where he showed a lack of responsibility.

He took up a luxurious and prodigal lifestyle and indulged himself in women. It was said that he liked to frequent brothels and even created palaces called "Pao Fang" (豹房) outside the Forbidden City in Beijing initially to house exotic animals such as tigers and leopards for his amusements and then later used to house beautiful women for his personal enjoyment. On one occasion he was badly mauled while hunting tigers, and could not appear in court audiences for a month.[1] On another occasion he burned down his palace by storing gunpowder in the courtyards during the lantern festival.[1]

For months at a time he would live outside the Forbidden City or travel around the country with heavy expenditures being paid from the empire's coffer. While being urged to return to the palace and attend to governmental matters, Zhengde would refuse to receive all his ministers and ignored all their petitions. Zhengde also sanctioned the rise of eunuchs around him. One particular Liu Jin (劉瑾) was notorious for taking advantage of the young emperor and squandered immense amount of silver and valuables. The corrupted wealth is about 36 million pounds of gold and silver.[2] There was even rumor of a plot that Liu Jin had intended to murder the emperor and place his own grandnephew on the throne. Liu Jin's plot was ultimately discovered, and he was executed in 1510 however the rise of corrupt enunchs continued throughout Zhengde's reign.

In time Zhengde became notorious for his childish behaviour as well as abusing his power as emperor. One strange and somewhat comical event was when he created a staged commercial district inside his palace and ordered all his ministers, eunuchs, soldiers and servants of the palace to dress up and acted the role that he dictated ex. merchants or street vendors whilst Zhengde would walk through the scene pretending to be a commoner. Any unwilling participants especially the ministers (who viewed it as degrading and an insult) would be punished or removed from their post.

Then in 1518 Zhengde declared himself General Zhu and personally led an expedition to the north claiming his intention to pacify the Mongol tribes but in the end did not accomplish much. Then again in 1519, Zhengde Emperor led another expedition to Jiangxi province to the south in hopes to quell a local prince's revolt only to discover that the revolt has already been put down. Frustrated at not being able to lead his troops to victory, Zhengde ordered the release of the prince just so he could experience the chance to capture his prisoner for himself. In January of 1521, Zhengde had the rebel Prince of Ning executed in Tongzhou, an event that was recorded even by the Portuguese embassy to China.

[edit] Dark Affliction

Prior to the death of the emperor in early 1521, rumours about a mysterious group of creatures collectively called Dark Afflictions (黑眚) circulated the capital. Their attacks caused much unrest, because they randomly attacked people at night, causing wounds with their claws. The Minister for War asked the emperor to write an imperial edict proclaiming local security troops would arrest all those who frightened other people. The threat brought a sudden end to the spread of the stories.[3]

[edit] Death of emperor

Emperor Zhengde died in 1521 at the age of 30. One day in the fall of 1520 it was said that Zhengde was drunk while boating on a lake. He fell off his boat and almost drowned himself.[4] He died after contracting illnesses from the Grand Canal waters.[2] He had no heir and was succeeded by his cousin.

[edit] Contact with Europe

Afonso de Albuquerque, who commissioned the first direct Europea maritime ventures to China from Portuguese Malacca.
Afonso de Albuquerque, who commissioned the first direct Europea maritime ventures to China from Portuguese Malacca.

The first direct European contacts occurred during the reign of Zhengde. In several initial missions commissioned by Afonso de Albuquerque of Portuguese Malacca, the Portuguese explorer Jorge Álvares and the Italian explorer Rafael Perestrello landed in southern China and traded with Chinese merchants of Tuen Mun and Guangzhou. Their king Manuel I of Portugal then sent Fernão Pires de Andrade and Tomé Pires to formally open relations between the main court at Beijing with Lisbon of Portugal. Although Zhengde gave the Portuguese embassy his blessing while touring Nanjing in May of 1520, he died soon after and the Portuguese—who were rumored to be troublemakers in Canton and even cannibals of kidnapped Chinese children—were rejected by Chinese authorities under the new Grand Secretary Yuan Tinghe. Although illegal trade continued after, official relations between the Portuguese and the Ming court would not improve until the 1540s, culminating in the Ming court's consent in 1557 of allowing Portugal to establish Macau as their trading base in China.

[edit] Legacy

Though bred to be a successful ruler, Zhengde thoroughly neglected his duties, beginning a dangerous trend that would plague future Ming emperors. The abandoning of official duties to pursue personal gratifications would slowly lead to the rise of powerful eunuchs that would dominate and eventually ruin the Ming dynasty.

[edit] Cultural reference

  • In the 1959 movie Kingdom and the Beauty (江山美人) emperor Zhengde disguises himself as a regular commoner among the people.[5][6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Chase, Kenneth Warren. [2003] (2003). Firearms: A Global History to 1700. Cambridge University Press. ISBN:0521822742. p 159.
  2. ^ a b Wintle, Justin. Guides, Rough. [2002] (2002). China. ISBN:1858287642. p 244-245.
  3. ^ B. J. ter Haar. Translated by Zakeri, Mohsen. [2005] (2005). Telling Stories: Witchcraft And Scapegoating in Chinese History. ISBN:9004131604.
  4. ^ Imperial China - 900-1800, F.W. Mote, Pages 658, First Harvard University Press, 2003.
  5. ^ NYtimes. "NYtimes." The Kingdom and the Beauty (1959). Retrieved on 2008-04-30.
  6. ^ Datamovie.xunlei. "Datamovie.xunlei." Kingdom and Beauty. Retrieved on 2008-04-30.
Preceded by
Hongzhi Emperor
Emperor of China
(Ming Dynasty)
1505–1521
Succeeded by
Jiajing Emperor