The second great Ming emperor, Yongle (reigned 1402–1424),
only succeeded in gaining the throne after three years of civil war, as
a usurper at the expense of his nephew. This may have been why he
was determined to enhance his own status as emperor by bringing all
the known world within the Chinese world order, with himself at
the centre. Modelling himself on the great conquering emperors of the
past, Han Wudi and Tang Taizong, Yongle embarked upon a series of
maritime expeditions and military campaigns to extend Chinese influ-
ence throughout the Nanyang and into Central Asia.
Yongle’s attention was attracted to the Nanyang in part because
the conquests of Timur (Tamerlane), the last of the great Mongol
conquerors, had severed trade routes to the west through Central
Asia. This forced the new emperor to reassess his predecessor’s policy
towards seaborne trade. But in 1405, Timur died and the empire
he had created split apart. The Mongols and Tartars were still both
powerful forces, but their disunity provided Yongle with an oppor-
tunity to play one off against the other, and so neutralise the Mongol
threat to north China. Between 1410 and 1424, Yongle personally
led five great, ultimately futile military campaigns deep into the
grasslands. To mount these campaigns he moved the Ming capital
from Nanjing to Beijing, a mere 60 kilometres from the Great Wall,
where it has remained ever since (but for brief interludes). Thus
within his own reign did Yongle’s attention shift from the sea
to the steppes; and there the attention of his successors remained
focused.
Yongle’s first priority, however, was to project Chinese power
south. The Chinese hold on Yunnan was reinforced and extended.
Beyond lay a ring of tributary kingdoms designated as ‘pacification
superintendencies’ whose responsibility was to keep the peace along
China’s frontiers. These included the the Tai principalities of
Luchuan and Cheli (Sipsong Phan Na), the Lao kingdom of Lan
Xang, the kingdom of Lan Na in northern Thailand, and the kingdom
of Ava in Burma, all of whose rulers were designated ‘pacification
A Short History of China and Southeast Asia