Ming Dynasty (Ancient China)

The time period in the cold open of A Wedding To Die For.

The **Ming Dynasty** of China takes place from 1368 to 1644. It is one of the many eras shown in Season 4.

## History

The Ming Dynasty was the second to last dynasty in China, proceeding the Qing Dynasty and the current rule of the Republic of China.

### **Note Worthy Events**

**1367** - Zhu Yuanzhang defeats the army of the Yuan Dynasty, ending its reign.

**1368** - Zhu makes himself the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He makes the capital the city of Jinling (now known as Nanjing). During this time, construction on the Great Wall begins, and over the course of it's build, it would claim many lives that would be buried under its foundation, thus many dubbing it "the longest cemetery on Earth."

**1371-1405** - Maritime trade is banned to cut down on piracy, forcing foreigners to travel by land from neighboring countries to sell their goods.

**1406** - Construction begins on the Forbidden City in Beijing, with over 1 million carpenters and 100,000 artisans working on it. The Forbidden City has 9,999 rooms, but it is now a museum.

**1407** - The Ming armies invade Vietnam, starting the fourth period of Chinese rule within the country.

**1408** - The 22,877 volume Yongle Canon, an encyclopedia about China, is completed, becoming the largest encyclopedia in the world. It has 370 million words that were all written by hand.

**1415** - Renovations on the Grand Canal, an important waterway for trade that is 1,100 miles long, is finished.

**1420** - Beijing becomes the capital of China due to the Forbidden City being completed, remaining so to this day. Just northwest of the new capital, the Thirteen Tombs for the 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty are built at Tianshou Mountain. It would cover 75 square miles.

**1428** - Le Loi drives the Ming armies from Vietnam.

**Sep. 1449-1453** - Emperor Zhengtong gets captured in the Battle of Tumu Fortress, and is held for ransom by the Mongolians. However, after four years, the Emperor was released without the ransom being paid.

**1578** - The Compendium of Materia Medica is completed after 30 years of work. It is a tomb detailing the uses of over 18,000 different Chinese medicines and 11,000 formulas to treat diseases.

**1628** - Li Zicheng gets the peasants together by promising to divide land equally and getting rid of the grain taxes, and he leads the revolt against the Ming Dynasty.

**1636** - The Qing Dynasty is established by the Jurchen, sedentary framing people. They are also known as the Manchu and would grow in power over the next decade.

**1642** - To keep Li Zicheng from taking over, the Ming Dynasty floods Kaifeng with waters from the Yellow River, killing nearly half of the 600,000 residents of Kaifeng, making it the worst war act in history.

**1644** - As Li Zicheng's rebel forces marched into Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen kills himself by hanging in the Forbidden City. Chongzhen was the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Li Zicheng becomes the new Emperor of the Shun Dynasty, which lasted less than a year, when his army marched against Wu Sangui and Manchus. The army was defeated, Li Zicheng died though the details were vague, and at the end of the year, the Shunzhi Emperor became the the first Qing Dynasty emperor to rule over China proper.