The History Book

124 HONGWU FOUNDS THE MING DYNASTY

grand secretariat emerged—an

advisory board through which

the emperor responded to the six

ministries and other government

agencies—the Ming retained

a more autocratic and highly

centralized structure than that of

previous Chinese dynasties. This

was reflected in the protocol of the

Ming court, too: under the Song

dynasty (960–1279), the emperor’s

advisers had stood before him to

discuss matters of state, but under

the Ming they were required to

kowtow—kneel and knock their

heads to the floor—before him, a

reverential acknowledgment of his

absolute power and superiority.

Curbing the military

In the later years of the Yuan

dynasty, the state had been torn

apart by competing power bases

outside the central court, and in a

bid to avoid this scenario, Hongwu

diluted the strength of the army.

Although he adopted the Yuan

military system—establishing

garrisons in key cities, particularly

along the northern frontier, where

the threat of nomad incursions

was ever-present, and creating a

hereditary caste of soldiers that

supported itself on land granted

by the government—he also

ensured that military units were

periodically rotated through the

capital for training, and that a

group of centrally selected officers

shared authority in the army with

the garrison commanders, thus

preventing the rise of influential

warlords with a strong local base.

Perfecting the civil service

Hongwu also had a deep mistrust

of the elite scholar class that had

been at the heart of government for

centuries. However, he was aware

that they played a vital role in the

efficient running of the state, and

The Forbidden City—the imperial palace

in Beijing—adhered to hierarchic Confucian

ideology: the higher one’s social status, the

further one could enter into the city.

1 Meridian Gate The grand entrance

had five gates. The central one was

always reserved for the emperor.

2 The Golden Water Bridge

Crossing points like the bridges were

arranged in odd numbers. Only the

emperor could use the central passage,

with the next highest rank able to use

the neighbouring paths.

3 Outer Court This area was reserved

for state affairs and ceremonial purposes.

4 Inner Court Only the emperor and

his family could enter the Inner Court.

5 The Palace of Heavenly Purity

To fool assassins, the palace had nine

bedrooms: the emperor slept in a

different one each night.

5

1

4

3

2

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125

so he promoted education and

trained scholars specifically for the

bureaucracy. In 1373, he suspended

the traditional examinations used

to recruit civil servants and ordered

the establishment of local county

and prefectural schools. From

these, the best candidates would

be called for further study at a

national university in the capital,

where eventually 10,000 students

from the original intake were

enrolled. The civil service

examinations were restored in

1385, when the emperor considered

the well-trained graduates of the

university ready to take them, and

were so competitive that soldiers

were stationed outside the cubicles

where the examinees sat to avoid

any collaboration or illicit use of

reference materials.

The pool of potential recruits

into the administration was thus

widened, but civil servants still

received a very conservative

education based on the Four Books

and Five Classics of Confucianism

and a selection of neo-Confucian

works that expounded the virtues

of loyalty to the emperor and

adherence to Chinese tradition.

Innovation was discouraged and

bureaucrats became set in their

ways. Those who were perceived

as having stepped outside their

brief were publicly flogged,

sometimes to death.

This maltreatment of public

servants was a sign of the cruel

side of Hongwu’s personality. He

was also violently paranoid, and

vicious in his suppression of

dissent. In 1382, he established

a secret police, the Embroidered

Brocade Guard, whose 16,000

officers stamped out all signs of

resistance. The Guard’s reach and

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD

The voyages of Zheng He

A Muslim of Mongol descent,

Zheng He was captured by the

Ming as a boy, castrated, and sent

into the army, where he acquired

military and diplomatic skills and

distinguished himself as a junior

officer. He went on to become an

influential eunuch in the imperial

court, and in 1405, Yongle chose

him to lead a grandly conceived

maritime expedition around the

rim of the Indian Ocean, as both

fleet admiral and diplomatic

agent. Over the next 28 years,

Zheng He commanded one of the

largest naval forces in history:

the first mission had 63 vessels,

including 440 ft (1,340 m) long

“treasure ships” carrying more

than 27,000 crew.

Although these voyages

were dramatic in their conduct

and scope—the last three sailed

as far south as Mombasa on the

east coast of Africa—they were

not in any real sense commercial

or exploratory ventures. Their

intention was strictly diplomatic,

designed to enhance China’s

prestige abroad and to extract

declarations of loyalty and

exotic tributory gifts for Yongle.

This silk scroll records one of the

most celebrated tribute gifts from

Zheng He’s voyages: a giraffe

brought back from Africa in 1414.

influence was wide, and as a result,

until the very last years of its rule,

the Ming dynasty experienced no

significant rebellions by either the

military or the aristocracy.

International diplomacy

The dynasty’s self-confidence

appeared to grow even further

under Hongwu’s successor, Yongle

(reigned 1402–24), who moved the

capital from Nanjing to Beijing,

and embarked on an ambitious

program of reconstruction and

public works, including measures

to improve the navigability of the

Grand Canal. He also built the

extravagant Forbidden City, which

housed an imperial palace complex

containing more than 9,000 rooms.

Yongle’s initially aggressive

foreign policy led to four campaigns

against Mongolia and an attack

on Annam (Vietnam) in 1417 that

resulted in its incorporation into

the Ming Empire. He also sought

recognition from the rulers of

faraway states: between 1405 and

1433, he launched six large-scale

maritime expeditions to Southeast

Asia, East Africa, and Arabia. Led

by the great fleet admiral Zheng

He, their purpose was to confirm ❯❯

Some people in the

morning are esteemed

[by the Hongwu emperor],

and in the evening they

are executed.

Memorial of the official

Hsieh Chin, 1388

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