Emperor Yongle

By staff reporter HUO JIANYING

An ancient portrait of Emperor Yongle.

DURING its long history Beijing has had several names. The current one was ordained on February 4, 1403 by Emperor Yongle, named Zhu Di (1360-1424), of the Ming Dynasty. It was he who decreed that Beiping "where the dragon soars" be renamed Beijing, or Northern Capital.

Yongle and His Capital

Zhu Di was fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). At age 10 he was awarded the fiefdom of Yan, whose capital was Beiping, and made Prince of Yan. At age 20, Zhu Di left the Ming capital of Nanjing to take control of his fiefdom. At this time remnant forces of the previous Yuan Dynasty still made their presence felt along the northern frontiers, and Beiping often fell victim to marauders. Zhu Di made several expeditions against this enemy within a period of 10 years, and by 1390 had eliminated them. Constant warfare fostered Zhu Di's military skills, and also a strong military force.

In his lifetime Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang enfeoffed 25 regional princes, 24 of whom were his sons. Before his death in 1398, he willed the imperial throne to his grandson, son of the deceased crown prince. Aware of the threat posed by his enfeoffed uncles, the new emperor acted to curtail their power. Within a year, he stripped five of his weaker uncles of their fiefdoms before turning his attention to the strongest, Zhu Di.

A modern duplicate of the Yongle Encyclopedia displayed at an exhibition.

Zhu Di wasted no time in launching an insurrection against the young emperor. After a war lasting four years, he captured the capital city of Nanjing, and set the palace on fire. The young emperor is believed to have died in the conflagration. Zhu Di took the throne and named his reign Yongle -- Eternal Happiness.

In 1406 Zhu Di ordered the construction of Beijing. After 15 years and the efforts of 230,000 artisans and millions of coolies and soldiers, this gigantic project was finished. It was a tripartite structure separated by three circumferential walls named the Forbidden City, Imperial City, and Capital City. The Forbidden City appeared roughly as it does today. The front part was the emperor's official place, and behind it were the imperial family quarters. Surrounding the palace and separated from it by a 7.9-m-tall wall and a moat was the Imperial City that housed imperial temples and headquarters of departments under the central government. Beyond the Imperial City was the Capital City, girdled by a 12-m-tall wall and a moat much wider and deeper than that protecting the Forbidden City.

Zhu Di took a series of administrative measures to develop his capital. One was to bring large numbers of people into Beijing from outside. According to historical records, 130,000 households were "imported" from Shanxi and other provinces in 1403. Immigrants included professionals specializing in city construction, production of daily necessities, and commercial activities. Zhu Di also mobilized 300,000 workers to dredge the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, facilitating food supply into the capital. These measures enabled Beijing to recover quickly from years of warfare.

In 1420 Zhu Di formally moved the Ming Dynasty capital from Nanjing to Beijing. He was motivated by two major considerations: first, Beijing and its environs had since childhood been his sphere of influence, so he had established firm control of its political, economic and military affairs; second, Beijing was geographically important as its northern position facilitated keeping Mongols from the previous Yuan Dynasty out.

Today Beijing has six world cultural heritage sites, and three of them -- the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, and Thirteen Ming Tombs -- were constructed during the Reign of Yongle.

Yongle Encyclopedia

The Forbidden City -- a World Cultural Heritage site.

The Yongle Encyclopedia was an unprecedented cultural endeavor initiated by Zhu Di who, as well as being a skilled military strategist, was also something of a scholar. When gathering information on a particular topic, the emperor found searching through his magnitude of books overly time consuming. He decided to categorize and compiling various works into one encyclopedia so as to facilitate reading and reference. In 1403 he ordered the compilation of classical, historical and philosophical books, those on literature and the branches of study of astronomy, astrology, medicine, divinity, science and technology, into categorized volumes, no matter how large any one might be. Over 100 people toiled on this massive project for a year, and eventually produced a body of work named A Complete Work of Literature.

Emperor Yongle was still not satisfied. He thought the number of books too small and their contents too simplistic, so in 1405 a supplementation project began. The emperor sent people to various parts of the country to purchase books and expanded the number of compilers from 100 to 2,169. The new version was completed in 1408. Zhu Di wrote the preface and named it the Yongle Encyclopedia. The encyclopedia encompassed 8,000 titles dating from ancient times to the early Ming Dynasty, and was composed of 22,877 volumes, including 60 volumes of tables of contents -- a total 370 million characters. All books included retained their original form and wording.

This handwritten encyclopedia was the only one of its kind. On moving his capital Zhu Di had it transported to Beijing and kept in the Forbidden City. A suggestion that the encyclopedia be printed was never taken up as this would have entailed the carving of millions of printing blocks. Eventually a fire in the palace prompted Emperor Jiajing to make a duplicate of the work. He hired over 100 copyists that finished a duplicate in six years.

The original encyclopedia lodged in the Forbidden City has been lost. It is believed to have been destroyed in the mid-17th century warfare that toppled the Ming Dynasty. The duplicate was kept in the Imperial Archives of the Imperial City, but by the late 18th century when Emperor Qianlong was ready to compile his Complete Library of Four Branches of Books, it transpired that 2,400 volumes of the encyclopedia were missing. By the mid-19th century only 64 volumes were left. After years of searching, 150 volumes have since been recovered. Most current publications of poems from the Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties are based on those appearing in the encyclopedia. The recently staged ancient kunqu drama Number One Scholar Zhang Xie was also rehearsed according to the script included in the encyclopedia.

Sino-foreign Exchanges

The Bell Tower, built in 1420, told Beijing citizens the time of day.

Emperor Yongle was an open-minded ruler interested in exchanges with foreign countries. In the early Ming Dynasty, the imperial government severely restricted trade and exchanges between China and the rest of the world. Upon ascending the throne, Zhu Di changed this policy to one that encouraged official overseas trade and that relaxed restrictions on private exchanges and trade. Three months after his enthronement, Zhu Di sent envoys on official visits to Annam (present-day Vietnam), Sumatra (in present-day Indonesia) and Malacca (in present-day Malaysia). His biggest diplomatic endeavor was manifest in Zheng He's seven sea-bound voyages.

Zheng He (1371-1435) was a close attendant of Zhu Di. Brave and resourceful, he was instrumented in helping Zhu Di gain the throne. Between 1405 and 1435, Zhu Di entrusted Zheng He to lead seven imperial voyages to over 30 countries. Zheng He's first fleet had more than 200 ships manned by over 20,000 people. Besides sailors and soldiers, the fleet also transported technicians, interpreters and doctors, as well as large amounts of gold, silver, silk, porcelain, copper ware and iron tools. Everywhere he went Zheng He visited local rulers on the imperial behalf, bringing gifts to express greetings and interest in trade. He brought back gemstones, pearls, spices and timber that he had obtained through barter. This imperial good will enabled the Ming Dynasty to maintain friendly relations with many foreign countries.

In 1417 the three Sulu (present-day Philippines) kings led an entourage of 340 on a state visit to China. After a journey of two months, it reached Beijing, and was warmly welcomed by the imperial government. After a happy 27 days in Beijing, the three kings left for their home via the Grand Canal. On their way, the Eastern King Paduka Pahala fell ill and died in Dezhou, Shandong Province. After sending envoys to express his condolences Emperor Yongle arranged an imperial funeral for the Eastern King, and personally wrote an epitaph eulogizing the king's contribution to the two countries' friendly relations.

After the funeral, the eldest son of the Eastern king returned home to succeed the throne, while the second and third sons, wife and attendants -- altogether more than 10 people -- stayed at the king's tomb in Dezhou to continue to pay their respects. The Ming government allocated them 16 hectares of land and a large number of servants. Today there is a village in Dezhou whose inhabitants are of Philippine ancestry, and the Eastern King Paduka Pahala's tomb is still in good repair, as is the memorial tablet inscribed by Emperor Yongle standing before it.

In 1424, Zhu Di died of illness at the age of 54 in present-day Duolun, Inner Mongolia on his fifth expedition against the northern tribes. He was buried in the Chang Mausoleum of the Thirteen Ming Tombs.