page_title: Ming dynasty
section_title: Rise to power
hierarchical_section_title: Ming dynasty / History / Reign of the Yongle Emperor / Rise to power
caption_attribution_description: English: Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, 220 x 150 cm. Located at the National Palace Museum, Taibei. Chengzu is commonly called the Yongle Emperor. This picture shows him sitting in the 'Dragon' chair. Česky: Císař Jung-le z dynastie Ming, sedící na „dračím“ trůnu. Jungle vládl Číně v letech 1402–1425). Závěsný svitek, tuš a barva na hedvábí, 220 x 150 cm. Neznámý autor dynastie Ming (1368–1644), raného období. Dnes v Národním palácovém muzeu, Tchaj-pej, Tchaj-wan. 中文: 明成祖坐像 - 立軸 - 絹本設色 纵220厘米 横150厘米 中国台北故宫博物院藏.成祖坐在龍椅子.
context_page_description: The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China ruled by Han Chinese. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng, numerous rump regimes ruled by remnants of the Ming imperial family—collectively called the Southern Ming—survived until 1662.
  The Hongwu Emperor attempted to create a society of self-sufficient rural communities ordered in a rigid, immobile system that would guarantee and support a permanent class of soldiers for his dynasty: the empire's standing army exceeded one million troops and the navy's dockyards in Nanjing were the largest in the world. He also took great care breaking the power of the court eunuchs and unrelated magnates, enfeoffing his many sons throughout China and attempting to guide these princes through the Huang-Ming Zuxun, a set of published dynastic instructions.
context_section_description: The Hongwu Emperor specified his grandson Zhu Yunwen as his successor, and he assumed the throne as the Jianwen Emperor (1398–1402) after Hongwu's death in 1398. The most powerful of Hongwu's sons, Zhu Di, then the militarily mighty disagreed with this, and soon a political showdown erupted between him and his nephew Jianwen. After Jianwen arrested many of Zhu Di's associates, Zhu Di plotted a rebellion that sparked a three-year civil war. Under the pretext of rescuing the young Jianwen from corrupting officials, Zhu Di personally led forces in the revolt; the palace in Nanjing was burned to the ground, along with Jianwen himself, his wife, mother, and courtiers. Zhu Di assumed the throne as the Yongle Emperor (1402–1424); his reign is universally viewed by scholars as a "second founding" of the Ming dynasty since he reversed many of his father's policies.
caption: Portrait of the Yongle Emperor (ruled in 1402–24)
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