Imperially Commissioned Great Announcements, Free Public-Domain Edition

A penal code of the Ming dynasty, also known as the Great Pronouncements of the Ming, written by Zhu Yuanzhang himself. It consists of three parts: The Great Pronouncements, Supplement to the Great Pronouncements, and Third Collection of the Great Pronouncements.

The Great Pronouncements contains 74 articles and was promulgated in 1385; the Supplement contains 87 articles and was published in 1386; the Third Collection contains 43 articles and was issued in 1386.

Much of The Great Pronouncements concerns the execution of corrupt officials and powerful local bullies who oppressed the people. It records the names of hundreds and thousands subjected to slow slicing, decapitation, and execution of their entire families, while those executed by public beheading numbered in the tens of thousands.

As decreed by the Ming emperor Taizu, each household was to have a copy of The Great Pronouncements. It was even used as subject matter for school examinations and the imperial civil service examinations.