Power Struggles in the Ming Dynasty: Fan Shuzhi on the People of the Ming

This book is a popular introduction to Ming history, written by the eminent historian Fan Shuzhi especially for general readers. Centered on people and told through their stories, it describes the fortunes and sorrows of emperors, powerful ministers, favorites, eunuchs, gentlemen, and villains under the Ming dynasty’s autocratic rule, revealing some of its many facets. By weaving together the lives of these individuals, it also connects major historical events from different periods of the dynasty and presents nearly three hundred years of change, decline, and renewal.

Among those described are emperors of supreme rank, such as Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di; ministers who wielded power in their time, such as Hu Weiyong and Zhang Juzheng; favorites such as Jiang Bin and Qian Ning; powerful eunuchs such as Liu Jin and Wei Zhongxian; upright gentlemen such as Hai Rui and Yang Lian; and petty villains such as Jiao Fang and Ruan Dacheng. Though they lived in different eras and came from different backgrounds, with different characters and fortunes, each of their lives reflects a destiny closely bound to autocratic rule. Through their personal fates and the historical events surrounding them, we can understand why the Ming rose and fell and glimpse the hidden patterns of history.