Zhu Quan
Zhu Quan (; 27 May 1378 – 12 October 1448), Prince of Ning () was a Chinese historian, military commander, musician, and playwright. He was the 17th son of the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty. During his life, he served as a military commander, feudal lord, historian, and playwright. He is also remembered as a great tea connoisseur, a zither player, and composer. Other names. In addition to Prince of Ning, Zhu Quan was also known as the Strange Scholar of the Great Ming (, "Da Ming Qi Shi"). As part of his Taoist attempts to avoid death, he adopted the  aliases the Emaciated Immortal (, "Qúxiān"), the "Master who Encompasses Emptiness" (, "Hánxūzi"), "Taoist of the Mysterious Continent" or " Taoist of the Mysterious Island" (, "Xuánzhōu Dàoren"), and "Perfected Gentleman of the Marvelous Way of the Unfathomable Emptiness of the Southern Pole" (, "Nánjí Chōngxū Miàodào Zhēnjūn"). Biography. Zhu Quan was initially a military commander in service to his father, the Hongwu Emperor who founded the Ming dynasty. He was granted the frontier fief of Ning with his capital at Daning in present-day Chifeng, Inner Mongolia in 1391. He was famous for his mastery of art and war and played an important role  during the unrest surrounding the ascension of his teenage nephew, Jianwen Emperor, in 1399. Under the advice of his Confucian advisors, the Jianwen Emperor summoned his uncle to an audience in the imperial capital Nanjing. Wary of the emperor's intentions, as other uncles were demoted or executed the same year, Zhu Quan refused and lost three of his divisions for insubordination. Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, was preparing for his own uprising against the emperor and considered it a major point to neutralize Zhu Quan, a talented leader of well-trained troops located behind his lines. Taking advantage  of Wu Gao's attack on Yongping near modern Shanhaiguan, the Prince of Yan after crushing Wu Gao's force rode hastily to Daning and feigned defeat and distress. After several days, his forces were in position and successfully captured Zhu Quan as he was seeing his brother off. The official history of the Ming records Daning's evacuation, with Zhu Quan's harem and courtiers removed to Songtingguan and the prince himself kept in the Yan capital at Beiping, but passes over Zhu Di's setting of the entire city to the torch and the destruction of Zhu Quan 's extensive library. From that point, Zhu Quan assisted his brother in his uprising, with the "History of Ming" recording that the Prince of Yan offered to split the entire empire between them. After his elevation as the Yongle Emperor in 1402, however, he swiftly reneged and refused to appoint his brother to lordship over Suzhou or Qiantang, instead giving him a choice only of backwater appointments. He settled upon Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi. After a scare where he was accused of practicing "wugu" sorcery, Zhu Quan essentially retired from any interference with the realm, devoting his time instead  to cultural pursuits. Meeting daily with local or visiting scholars, he pursued immortality. He treasured and revised his "Secret Book of Origins" (, "Yuánshǐ Mìshū"), a text which survived the fire of Daning and sharply attacked Buddhism as a foreign "mourning cult" at odds with Chinese culture and proper governance. His encyclopedia of Taoism, the "Most Pure and Precious Books on the Way of August Heaven" (, "Tiānhuáng Zhìdào Tàiqīngyù Cè"), was so esteemed it joined the Taoist canon. His brother ordered him to complete the "Comprehensive Mirror of Extensive Essays" ("Tongjian Bolun") and was also credited with writing "Family Advice" ("Jia  Xun"), "Ceremonial Customs of the Country of Ning" ("Ningguo Yifan"), "The Secret History of the Han and Tang" (, "Hàn-Táng Mìshǐ"), "History Breaks Off" ("Shi Duan"), a "Book of Essays" (, "Wén Pǔ"), a "Book of Poetry" (, "Shī Pǔ"), and several other annotated anthologies. His most successful was his "Tea Manual" (, "Chá Pǔ"). In addition, he personally funded the publication of many rare books and composed several operas. Zhu Quan is an important figure in the history of the Chinese zither, or "guqin", for his compilation of the important "Manual of the Mysterious and Marvellous" (, "Shénqí Mì Pǔ") in 1425. This  is the earliest known large scale collection of qin scores to have survived to the present day. Family. Consort: Sons: Daughters: Descendants. Zhu Quan is also the ancestor of the famous Chinese painter Zhu Da.