The Emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Quiz

Answer: Zhu

The founder of the Ming Dynasty was Zhu Yuanchuang. Zhu was the family name. When he became emperor, he gave himself the era name Hongwu (meaning Vastly Martial). The surname Zhu is also a homophone of the word Zhu (meaning "pig"). It is pronounced the same but spelled differently in Chinese.

Note:
The Yang surname belonged to the Sui emperors (581-618).
The Li surname belonged to the Tang emperors (618-907)
The Zhao surname belonged to the Song emperors (960-1279)

Answer: False

The Hongwu Emperor, birth name Zhu Yuanchuang, was born of peasant stock. Most of his family was killed in a plague, and Zhu was forced to become a Buddhist monk. He eventually left and wandered around for several years until he joined a group of rebels. He rose through the ranks, becoming their leader, and was soon powerful enough to overthrow their Mongol overlords. In just under twenty years he went from being a homeless beggar to emperor of China.

Hongwu reigned for 30 years from 1368 to 1398. He was an excellent ruler but wasn't at all benevolent. He killed thousands of his own followers, including consorts and ministers. He fathered over 40 children.

Answer: Uncle and nephew

The Jiawen Emperor was the son of Prince Biao, the eldest son of the Hongwu Emperor. When Prince Biao died of illness Hongwu was devastated because he was his favourite son. Hongwu had many other sons to consider as heir, but he passed the throne to Jiawen, who was 21 years old at the time. However, Jiawen was no match for his uncle, the Prince of Yan, and a quick coup-d'tat later, Jiawen was presumed dead in a palace fire, and the Prince of Yan became the Yongle Emperor.

The Jiawen Emperor reigned for only 4 years from 1398 to 1402. There were stories that Jiawen had escaped from the palace and went westwards into hiding. It was this reason that Yongle had sent the Admiral Zheng He on his travels - to find Jiawen, but no one knew of Jiawen's whereabouts.

Answer: Sent an army to invade Japan

Yongle implemented many polices, but invading Japan was not one of them. He constructed the Forbidden City and moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, because when he was the Prince of Yan, his base of power was in Beijing. He also sent Admiral Zheng He on his famous Treasure Voyages. On all seven major expeditions from 1405 to 1433 Zheng He sailed West, going as far as East Africa.

The Yongle Emperor reigned for 22 years from 1402 to 1424. He died aged 64.

Answer: Died during torture

History reports that the Xuande Emperor had no wish to execute his uncle, but his uncle was too disrespectful towards him. When his uncle was put under fire torture, he succumbed to the pain and died. The Xuande Emperor reigned for 10 years from 1425 to 1435. He died aged 35.

Answer: Zhengtong was put under house arrest

Zhengtong was put under house arrest for 7 years by his brother, the Jingtai Emperor. When Jingtai's heir died Jingtai fell ill, and Zhengtong took this opportunity to overthrow him and reinstall himself back as emperor.

Zhengtong first reigned for 14 years from 1435 to 1449. In his second reign, he changed his era name to Taishun and reigned for another 7 years from 1457 to 1464. He died aged 37.

Answer: Lady Wan

Lady Wan Zhen'er was seventeen years older than Chenghua. During his younger years she was more of a mother figure to him, but Chenghua soon saw her in a different light, and she became his consort. History has portrayed Lady Wan as a scheming power-hungry woman. The Chenghua Emperor reigned for 23 years from 1464 to 1487. He died aged 39.

Answer: True

Hongzhi is credited as having just one spouse during his reign. The only Chinese emperor to do so. Maybe if all the other emperors followed his example, there wouldn't be as many palace intrigues and injustices throughout history. Hongzhi reigned for 18 years from 1487 to 1505. He died aged 34. Unlike other emperors he only had one son to succeed him.

Answer: False

While Zhengde did fall off his boat while drunk, he nevertheless did not drown. He died a year later from an illness. Zhengde was one of the most decadent of the Ming emperors, preferring to indulge himself in women and entertainment than handling state affairs.

He started a precedent that subsequent Ming emperors followed, and it was the beginning of the slow decline of the dynasty. Zhengde reigned for 16 years from 1505 to 1521. He died aged 29. He had no sons to succeed him.

Answer: He led an army against the Jin

Jiaqing had no taste for governing, much preferring to live outside the palace and indulging himself in the finer things in life. He was believed to be quite intelligent, and played off ministers against each other, creating a period of relative peace during his 45 years on the throne.

He bought off ambitious neighbours so there was no need for Jiaqing to send out armies. However, his refusal to attend court gave unprecedented powers to the court eunuchs, which will prove to be the Ming's eventual downfall.

The Jiaqing Emperor reigned from 1521 to 1567. He died aged 59.

Answer: A dispute over the succession

Wanli wanted to designate one son as heir, but most of his ministers and his empress wanted to designate another. This battle of wits lasted 15 years, and Wanli eventually gave in. To spite them, he refused to attend court, which lead to a near breakdown of government. This hastened the Ming's demise. The Wanli Emperor reigned from 1572 to 1620. He died aged 56.

Answer: One month

The unfortunate Taichang Emperor ruled for only one month. When his father, the Wanli Emperor, died on 18 August 1620 Taichang was crowned emperor on the 28 August.

The official story was that an already ill Taichang had severe diarrhoea when he took some laxative on 10 September. To counter the laxative, he took a 'red pill' on 25 September. That same afternoon on 25 September, Taichang felt better but took another red pill, and he was found dead on 26 September. The emperor's mysterious death was known as one of the three Ming Mysteries. He died aged 38.

Note: A red pill was a Chinese medicinal pill that was very popular during the Ming Dynasty. Not only did they believe that the pill was beneficial to health, it also helped to prolong life as well, which was ironic in Taichang's case.

Answer: Carpentry

Tianqi's father, the Taichang emperor, died having only being emperor for one month, thus passing on the throne to an unexperienced 15 year old son. Tianqi was said to be illiterate and had no interest in state matters, preferring to spend most of his time doing carpentry, leaving the governing of the empire to powerful court eunuchs.

He reigned for 7 years from 1620 to 1627, passing the throne to his sole surviving brother, Chongzhen, who would be the last Ming emperor. Tianqi died aged only 21.

Answer: He hanged himself

Chongzhen inherited a broken and corrupt empire. A series of inept emperors before him had already laid the foundation for the Ming s collapse. Whether Chongzhen could've saved the empire no one knows, but he made several bad decisions, for example the execution of the loyal general Yuan Chonghuan. Yuan was the sole reason the Manchus could not invade China. When a rebel leader named Li Zhicheng stormed the capital with his army, the end was nigh for Chongzhen. He fled to a hill behind the Forbidden City and hanged himself.

Even though Chongzhen's sons fled south and founded the Southern Ming Court, they were ineffectual and lasted only 18 years when the last Ming claimant was found and killed in 1662. Chongzhen reigned from 1627 to 1644. He died aged 33. His death ended 276 years of Ming rule.

Answer: He chopped her arm off

Chongzhen's intent was to kill his daughter so that she would not be captured by the rebels and suffer a terrible fate. However, she blocked the blade with her arm and it was completely cut off. She fainted from the blood loss and Chongzhen thought she had died. However, the princess did not die - she was obviously helped by someone - and woke up five days later. She eventually married her sweetheart Zhou Shixian, but unfortunately she died of illness in 1645.

Princess Changping is more famous in popular culture mainly because of the many fictional stories detailing her continued life well into Emperor Kangxi's reign. It is said that she became a one-armed nun, and tried to overthrow the Qing Dynasty.