Emperor of China

Most Worthy Emperor and Most Distinguished First Grand Secretary, thank you for granting me the opportunity to speak again and allowing me to present a memorial on a topic of my choosing. I humbly come before you and the members of the Grand Secretariat today: to speak of matters not only dear to me, but to the entirety of the Ming Empire. Over the past few meetings, we have been talking about corruption, what it takes to be a good, effective leader, and the many issues endangering the empire…

form of governing would determine the outcome of the two different theories. Legalism and Confucianism sought to excel through poised leadership, and influential efforts. Although, one may argue that Legalism, rather than Confucianism, rules over China today (Duan) The equation of the two theories has displayed an ability to produce a powerful, enduring rule over any society. This powerful correlation is largely responsible for the centralized, bureaucratic state, which plays such a central…

Zhu Yuanzhang: Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-1398) was a peasant who became the leader of a nonconformity against the Yuan rulers (1279-1368) called the Red Turbans. Then became the first emperor of the Ming Empire. During his youth, he was extremely poor. Several of his brothers were sent or sold away, and then his family was killed by a flood. He was poverty stricken. He went to a Buddhist monastery where he learned to read and write when he was 24 years old. He established a capital in…

Over, the course of this class we have watched how Chinese art has changed throughout history. We first witnessed the bronze ritual vessels of the Shang and Zhou Dynasty. Then we examined the different Hu’s of the Han Dynasty. We also watched the progression of Buddhist sculptures in the 3rd and 4th century. With the course ending we see the collapse of the Tang Dynasty in the 10th century, and the emergence of Chinese Landscape painting. The past couple weeks, we were introduced to a variety of…

remainder of the book. Baby Squirrel is also very good at climbing trees, which he does numerous times throughout the story. In China, squirrels (Sōngshǔ; 松鼠) can be found in much of Mainland China and Taiwan. If you go to China, you are likely to see them either in the wild or in city parks. In total, China has about 24 recognized species of squirrels, 2 of which are unique to China. Pallas squirrels, or red-bellied…

by Confucius followers regarding marriage. Chinese women could not have multiple husbands and some could not remarry after their husband’s death but men were allowed to have several wives. Emperors kept up to thousands of concubines for their own pleasures. However, Wu Zetian changed traditions by forcing Emperor Li Zhi to…

controversial woman emperor that was able to reign china for many years. Empress Wu Killed many I mean many people in her circle, but She still was a Buddhist in everyone’s eyes which surprises me.The once reigning Emperor of China became a Buddhist because of her more than slight obsession of power and becoming the emperor of China. The buddhist religion was her weapon to get the Chinese people to believe that she was the next emperor of china chosen by god and once she was able to be emperor,…

In 1520, Wu Shi built the Hall of Zhu’e to celebrate his father’s eightieth birthday. This hall not only functioned as a tea-tasting space, but also an art gallery for present family’s painting collection and a museum for displaying the Yixing stoneware teapots. After the death of Wu Shi in 1545, the ownership of this hall has been transferred to the decedents of Wu Jing, who was the brother of Wu Lun. Fortunately, the good taste of tea within the Wu family remained. Almost a century after Wu…

Early Chinese civilization after death rituals and beliefs were very different than our rituals today. The Chinese believed that “Divining a tomb site is aimed at discovering the excellence of the land….When the land is excellent, the spirits will be comfortable and the descendants will flourish,” as said by Master Cheng. So as you can infer the burial sites were extravagant and filled with “grave goods”. In the next few pages we will be exploring the ancient Chinese burial rituals and after…

Tang Yin (1470-1523), also known as Tang Bohu or Tang Ziwei, was a famous artist of the middle Ming dynasty. Interestingly, his names are not only associated with the historical figure of a recognized painter and poet, but also with numerous fictions that feature him as the protagonist, ranging from Ming dynasty novels to modern television shows. Within the Tang Yin scholarship, studies are therefore sometimes divided into the ones on his biography and oeuvre and those on the fictional or…