Upon leading a victorious rebellion against the
foreign Mongul rulers of the Yuan Dynasty, a
peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang seized control of
China and founded the Ming Dynasty in 1368.
As emperor, he founded his capital at Nanjing
and adopted the name Hongwu as his reign title.
Hongwu, literally meaning “vast military,” reflects
the increased prestige of the army during the
Ming Dynasty. Due to the very realistic threat
still posed by the Mongols, Hongwu realized that
a strong military was essential to Chinese
prosperity. Thus, the orthodox Confucian view
that the military was an inferior class to be ruled
over by an elite class of scholars was
reconsidered. During the Ming Dynasty, China
proper was reunited after centuries of foreign
incursion and occupation. Ming troops
controlled Manchuria, and the Korean Joseon
Dynasty respected the authority of the Ming
rulers, at least nominally.
Like the founders of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-
220 A.D.), Hongwu was extremely suspicious of
the educated courtiers that advised him and,
fearful that they might attempt to overthrow him,
he successfully consolidated control of all aspect
of government. The strict authoritarian control
Hongwu wielded over the affairs of the country
was due in part to the centralized system of
government he inherited from the Monguls and
largely kept intact. However, Hongwu replaced
the Mongul bureaucrats who had ruled the
country for nearly a century with native Chinese
administrators. He also reinstituted the
Confucian examination system that tested
would-be civic officials on their knowledge of
literature and philosophy. Unlike the Song
Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.), which received most of
its taxes from mercantile commerce, the Ming
economy was based primarily on agriculture,
reflecting both the peasant roots of its founder
as well as the Confucian belief that trade was
ignoble and parasitic.
Culturally, the greatest innovation of the Ming
Dynasty was the introduction of the novel.
Developed from the folk tales of traditional
storytellers, these works were transcribed in the
everyday vernacular language of the people.
Advances in printmaking and the increasing
population of urban dwellers largely contributed
to the success of these books. Architecturally,
the most famous monument of the Ming Dynasty
is surely the complex of temples and palaces
known as the Forbidden City that was
constructed in Beijing after the third ruler of the
Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle, moved the
capital there. Today, the Forbidded Palace
remains one of the hallmarks of traditional
Chinese architecture and is one of the most
popular tourist destinations in the vast nation.
Seated with legs slightly apart and arms bent
at the elbows with the hands emerging from the
voluminous sleeves of this priest robe, the god
sits on a throne decorated in swirl and feather
motif in red and black pigment. The crown, robe
and face are in gilt, rubbed-off on the lower
portion of the robe which bears traces of black
and red pigment. The collar of the robe is
incised in a cloud pattern covering the edge of
an incised lapel which crosses over the bodice.
Tightened with a red belt, the outer robe reveals
the decorative border of an inner robe which
drapes to the floor exposing the tips of upward
curved shoes. A puffed, pleated cap with a black
border rests on top of the head, just above the
pendulant earlobes--a physiognomic character
that attests to one's benign being, as in the
Buddha. The full face and delicately molded
eyes, nose, and mouth also convey the
characteristics of a divine figure. Throughout
China, local gods and Taoist deities were
worshipped in the private and public domains. It
was custom to make offerings to these figures to
ensure the well-being of the household and
smooth handling of affairs. Since the
introduction of Buddhism and invention of
Confucianism, the images of divine figures
synthesized, borrowing elements from all
religious and philosophical beliefs, as evidenced
in this Ming representation.
