The Discredited Emperor Chenghua

The Discredited Emperor Chenghua: Restoring the Historical Truth Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen (1447-1487), the eighth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was named Chenghua. The "History of the Ming Dynasty" compiled by the Qing Dynasty portrayed him as a fatuous emperor who was addicted to women and favored eunuchs. In fact, it was a deliberate smear campaign - the root cause was that in the third year of Chenghua, he launched the "Chenghua Liting" to carry out a devastating blow to the Jianzhou Jurchens commanded by Dong Shan, the ancestor of Nurhachi, the ancestor of the Qing Dynasty. When compiling history, the Qing Dynasty deliberately downplayed this achievement and amplified the negative content. The real Chenghua Emperor had outstanding political achievements: militarily, in addition to Chenghua Liting delaying the rise of the Jurchens for nearly a hundred years, he also defeated the Mongolian Tatar tribe and quelled many civil strife; politically, in order to vindicate Yu Qian and restore the title of Jingtai Emperor, he reemployed virtuous ministers and eliminated redundant officials; in terms of people's livelihood, he established Yunyang Mansion to resettle millions of refugees and sympathize with the people. He was also controversial: in his later years, he was greedy for pleasure and set up a Western factory to favor Wang Zhi. He was overrun with officials and undermined the administration of officials. In some areas, people's livelihood was miserable. "The Cambridge History of the Ming Dynasty in China" commented that he had military ambitions. He took over the mess left by his father and worked hard for many years before he could follow up and promote ZTE. To evaluate Emperor Chenghua, one should go beyond the slander and excessive beautification of the Qing Dynasty and look at his complex and real life objectively.