The Empire in Decline: Zhu Yuanzhang's Triumphs and Failures

In 1368, forty-year-old Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the various peasant rebel armies, declared himself emperor in Yingtian Prefecture, and founded the last great empire ruled by the Han people. He also became the only true “peasant emperor” in Chinese history. As the Qing scholar Zhao Yi put it: “The founder of the Ming possessed within himself the qualities of a sage, a hero, and a bandit.” His ability to win people's hearts, his favorable treatment of intellectuals, his excellent grasp of the big picture, and his decisiveness all displayed a “sage-like” character unlike that of the powerful warlords at the end of the Yuan dynasty, helping him ascend to the throne. Once Zhu Yuanzhang had crushed his rivals and become emperor, however, he bared his fangs. Through brutal, terrifying purges, he overturned eight centuries of traditional political institutions and brought autocratic rule to its extreme: he abolished the office of chancellor, wantonly slaughtered meritorious officials, established the Embroidered Uniform Guard, held civil officials in contempt, enforced a strict lijia system that compelled people to relocate, interfered with their freedom to choose an occupation, and severely restricted foreign trade, among other measures. More importantly, Zhu Yuanzhang injected into the minds of the people a poison distilled from the storehouses of thought accumulated over the centuries. It numbed the nerves of all China into a vegetative state, fundamentally stifling each person's individuality, initiative, and creativity, and taming them into obedient subjects whose sole purpose was to produce grain. Both Zhu Yuanzhang's success and his failure were inseparable from the cultural soil of China. This book offers a detailed analysis of Zhu Yuanzhang against the broader backdrop of Chinese culture, seeking to present readers with a multifaceted portrait of him.