House of Zhu

The House of Zhu was the imperial family that ruled the Ming dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644. After the fall of the Ming capital in 1644, several rump regimes collectively known as the Southern Ming continued to rule parts of southern China until 1662, though their territory gradually diminished. The Ming dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Han Chinese. Following its collapse, China was conquered by the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, which ruled from 1644 to 1912. Han-led rule was not restored until the fall of the Qing and the establishment of the Republic of China as a nation-state in 1912.

The founder of the house was Zhu Yuanzhang, the leader of a major rebellion against the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. He and his descendants lifted China to long-term economic prosperity and political stability. Over time, thanks to the polygamy common among the upper classes of Chinese society, the number of male members of the house increased to one hundred thousand. Except for the emperors and heirs to the throne, they were excluded from politics for the sake of government stability. From the late 16th century onwards, economic difficulties and the resulting peasant uprisings brought about a weakening of Ming power, which was used by the Manchu-led Qing dynasty in 1644 to seize power in the Central Plains.

The founder of the house was Zhu Yuanzhang, born in 1328 to a poor Chinese peasant family in Zhongli County (鍾離, present-day Fengyang County) in Anhui, located in central China on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, during the Yuan dynasty. After losing his parents and two brothers to an epidemic in 1344, Zhu spent time in a Buddhist monastery and also resorted to begging for survival. In 1352, he joined the Red Turban Rebellion and quickly rose to a prominent position among the rebels. He defeated rival rebel leaders and Yuan armies, ultimately forcing the last Yuan emperor to flee from China proper. In 1368, Zhu declared himself emperor of the Ming dynasty in Nanjing and took "Hongwu", or "Vastly Martial", as his era name. By 1381, he had successfully conquered the entire country. In 1361, the rebel Song emperor Han Lin'er had appointed Zhu as the Duke of Wu (吳國公), and in 1364 Zhu had declared himself the King of Wu (吳王). Despite this, he did not take on the title of emperor of the Wu dynasty, but instead chose the name Ming (明)—meaning "Bright" or "Radiant"—as the name for his new dynasty, with the full name Da Ming (大明)—meaning "Great Radiance".

At the time, the name Ming held various political connotations in China. Its association with brightness and glow evoked the elements of fire, the color red, and the south, all of which symbolized opposition to the ruling Yuan dynasty. This was because in the Chinese system of five elements, the similarity between the words yuan and xuan (dark) linked it to water, the color black, and the north. The geographical location of the Mongols in the north and the Chinese in the south further solidified this association. Additionally, the Hongwu Emperor partially adopted the title of "Great King of Light" (Da Ming wang; 大明王) from Han Shantong, father of Han Lin'er and leader of the White Lotus sect. The term Ming was also used to refer to the Mingjiao, or the "Bright Religion", which was influenced by Manichaeism and played a role in the ideology of the White Lotus and the Red Turban rebellion. By claiming to embody the rebels' belief in the coming of Ming wang, the King of Light, the Hongwu Emperor justified his removal of the Han family from power. Finally, the Emperor's pragmatic adoption of Mongol government practices was reflected in the choice of the dynasty name—the use of an abstract concept as a dynasty name was a non-Chinese tradition that originated with the Jurchens (Jin dynasty, "Golden") and was later adopted by the Mongols (Yuan dynasty, "Beginning").

Under the rule of the new dynasty, China was able to recover from the damages caused by decades of warfare during the previous Yuan dynasty. The empire flourished and became a prosperous and wealthy state. By the mid-15th century, there was significant economic and cultural development, especially in the southern and coastal regions. The Ming built irrigation systems, farmers cultivated cotton, and the production of silk and cotton fabrics, glass, and porcelain expanded.

In the early 15th century, Ming China conquered Manchuria in the north and Vietnam in the south, while also reviving trade and diplomatic relations with Japan, India, and Southeast Asia. This revival was made possible by a large fleet of long-distance trading junks, which by the mid-16th century became frequent targets for Chinese and Japanese pirates who also raided coastal settlements. The second serious threat came from constant attacks by the Mongols in the north. To protect against these raids, the Great Wall of China was built and over five thousand kilometers of trenches were constructed.

In January 1556, a strong earthquake struck the northern provinces of China, resulting in the deaths of approximately 830,000 people. This disaster had a significant impact on China's economy in the second half of the 16th century, leading to numerous peasant uprisings. The Manchus took advantage of the weakened Chinese state, and occupied the northern part of the country in 1644.

After the conquest of northern China by the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, the Ming government continued to rule the southern part of the country for several decades until 1661. The remaining members of the Ming imperial family governed the southern provinces, and historians refer to this period as the Southern Ming. The last Ming ruler, the Yongli Emperor, fled to Burma in 1661 and was killed there early the following year.