#emperor yongle

[nickysfacts]

Another classic example of Giraffe diplomacy, works every time!

🇰🇪🦒🇨🇳

[tiny-librarian]

Royal Birthdays for today, May 2nd:

Yongle Emperor, Emperor of China, 1360

Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, 1402

Eleanor of Viseu, Queen of Portugal, 1458

Catherine II, Empress and Autocrat of All the Russias, 1729

Alberto, Prince of Naples and Sicily, 1792

Helen of Greece and Denmark, Queen Mother of Romania,1896

Faisal II, King of Iraq, 1935

Moshoeshoe II, King of Lesotho, 1938

Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, German Princess, 1975

Charlotte of Wales, British Princess, 2015

[chinesehanfu]

[Hanfu · 漢服]Chinese immortal Hanfu <电母/Mother of Lightning> Based On Yuan Dynasty Taoist Temple Mural<永乐宫/Yongle Palace>

【Historical Artifacts Reference 】:▶ China Yuan Dynasty Taoist Temple 永乐宫/Yongle Palace Mural<电母/Mother of Lightning>

⚡【电母/Mother of Lightning】⚡

电母/Dianmu (Chinese: 電母; pinyin: Diànmǔ; lit. 'Mother of Lightning'), also known as Leizi, is the Chinese goddess of lightning, who is said to have used flashing mirrors to send bolts of lightning across the sky.

She is married to Leigong/雷公, the god of thunder. She is one of the gods who work together to produce the phenomena of thunder. Other companions are Yun Tong (Yún Tóng, 云童, lit. the "Cloud Youth/Kid"), who whips up clouds, and Yu Shi/雨师 ("Rain Master") who causes downpours by dipping his sword into a pot. Roaring winds rush forth from a type of goatskin bag manipulated by Fengbo/风伯 ("Earl of Wind/Wind Uncle"), who was later transformed into Feng Po Po ("Old Lady Wind").

Legend

Dianmu was once a human, who lived with her mother. One day, she was dumping rice husks, because they were too hard for her mother to eat. When the short-tempered thunder god Leigong saw her dumping the husks out, he thought she was wasting food, so he killed her. When the Jade Emperor found out, he was infuriated at Leigong's careless murder. The Jade Emperor revived Dianmu, making her a goddess. Dianmu was made to marry Leigong, who took on the responsibility of caring for her. Dianmu's job is now to work with Lei Gong. She uses mirrors to shine light on the Earth, so Leigong can see who he hits and makes sure they aren't innocent. This is why lightning comes before thunder.

In other depictions

Dianmu also appears in Wu Cheng'en's late 16th-century novel, the Journey to the West; she appears during the events of the Slow Cart Kingdom (車遲國, Chechi), where three 'Animal Strength/Power Immortals', "Tiger Strength", "Deer/Elk Strength" and "Goat/Antelope Strength", three demons who disguised themselves as Taoist magicians to deceive the King of the Kingdom of Chechi, by means of having ended a seemingly-endless drought through the means of a legitimate magic tablet that can control the weather by summoning gods in control of various aspects of the weather, including Dianmu, accompanied by Yún Tóng (云童, lit. the "Cloud Youth"). Once Sun Wukong interrupts the summons, Dianmu and her fellow weather deities help the Buddhists instead of the demons in their rain-making competition.

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📸Photography post-production :@小何力

👗Hanfu & 👑Crown：@雁鸿Aimee

💄 Makeup：百丽 （临溪摄影）

👭Model：@清音音音音

🔗 Weibo:https://weibo.com/1615560544/O267AzTqM

————————

[its-not-a-pen]

eunuch rating system: part 2 electric boogaloo! part 1 based on the original post by @welcometothejianghu wherein i continue to rate REAL historical chinese eunuchs! this is a non-exhaustive list and there's honestly no metric to it. i just pick the guys i like.

Han Dynasty (yes, again. the Han was like 400 years long lol) Cao Teng was a pretty normal guy whose biggest claim to fame is his extremely infamous grandson, Cao Cao. Because of this, Cao Teng is the only enunch in chinese history to get a royal title; Emperor Gao of Wei, which was granted posthumerously through Cao Cao’s grandson Cao Rui.

Cao Teng was a good judge of character who promoted a bunch of famous people, one of whom was a guy who had even tried to impeach him previously. After 30 years of service, he retired, got married, and adopted a son. 

i decided to put him on the list because the common perception of the eunuch is a "mutilated" man living a lonely, unfulfilled life. What is often left out is they are highly motivated people who excel at their jobs, exert a lot of influence, and are able to have families and leave a legacy.

the majority of eunuchs came from poor families, and serving at the palace gave them an opportunity to obtain wealth, status and an education they would otherwise never have access to. it does require an unimaginably painful sacrifice, but that shouldn't be the only thing that defines them.

Cao Teng's hard work benefited his entire clan and lifted them out of poverty. But there was a complex interplay between him being a venerable ancestor, and someone marked by the stigma of castration. I imagine there was something bittersweet here for Cao Teng, knowing that he had done so much for his family, but they would rather he didn't exist.

Cao Cao was able to become a prime minister because of the wealth, connections, and education earned by his grandfather. At the same time, he appeared to resent him. The source of his ancestory was a sore spot which was repeatedly brought up by his political enemies to discredit him, something he never commented directly on or attempted to defend.

ming dynasty

MAKE SOME FUCKING NOISE FOR THE COOLEST PERSON IN THE MING DYNASTY!!!! actually scratch that, MAKE SOME FUCKING NOISE FOR THE COOLEST PERSON IN CHINESE HISTORY, PERIOD.

Zheng He was born Ma He to muslims living in Yunan, which was ruled by Mongols at the time. He was captured by the Ming army between the age of 10-14, castrated, and given to the young Yongle Emperor as a servant. Incredibly enough, he was like "no hard feelings mate" and went on to work in EVERY SINGLE JOB. and kick absolute ass in ALL OF THEM. he started out as a soldier on the northern frontier (the toughest place to serve, that was where all the border conflicts were) and fought in several campaigns with the future emperor, distinguishing himself and earning the emperor's trust.

I originally had him drawn in a more stereotypically "heroic" pose, by all accounts he was a tough guy who "walked like a tiger", and while the main purpose of the Ming voyages were diplomatic, he didn't shy away from violence. (he fought PIRATES. like a fucking shonen protagonist). in the end i decided to go with a picture that showcases less celebrated but equally important leadership qualities like curiosity, patience and discipline. I also want to point out that he wasn't the only eunuch on the trip, around half of the commanding officers were also eunuchs. He wasn't an exception to the rule but rather the face of a largely ignored majority; complicated people who were making the most of a difficult job.

Notes: the giraffe he brought back didn't have a name (at least not on record), but the Ming thought it was a qilin (kinda like a chinese unicorn) and i thought that would be an adorable name for a giraffe.

Ming Dynasty

i feel like we've had too much nuance, so lets finish this list off with a properly corrupt and scheming enunch! Wei Zhongxian castrated himself at age 21 to escape his gambling debts, and it unleashed his potiential like Rock Lee removing his leg weights. once inside the palace, he started out as a minor kitchen hand but managed to hustle his way to being the right hand of the emperor, who was an indifferent ruler that prefered woodworking to running a country. for this reason, I decided to make him a ventriloquist dummy.

Wei Zhongxian then proceeded to go on an extravagant and over-compensating ego trip. actually, it was more like a 40-year-long, olympic worthy, ego-long jump. things came to a terrible end when he tried to stage a coup (it failed and he decided not to hang around the capital, and go hang on some rafters instead). by then, decades of corruption had weakened the Ming, the emperor's only son got exploded in horrible incident that also wiped out most of the Ming Dynasty munitions--and what's this? here comes the Qing Dynasty with a steel chair!!!! notes: I decided to make Wei Zhongxian's design a human version of my cat, because he is also an incredibly devious but rather low-wisdom individial.

[yorickish]

I do think they should do the Chinese emperor thing where they have a post-reign special name like the Yongle emperor or the Kangxi emperor for US presidents. like there's not so many that it would be impossible and US political history nerds (freaks) would have so much fun with it. uhh I should have some examples but the kind of thing I'm thinking of is like andrew jackson as the Hickory President cause of the ol hickory thing. but there are better ones out there for sure

[fatehbaz]

On the night of April 30, 1541, the Ming Ancestral Temple in Beijing was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. [...] 

[T]he fires forced the Jiajing Emperor to resurrect one of the dynasty’s most expensive, difficult, and destructive projects: the logging of old-growth timber in the far southwest of China. Disaster struck again in 1556, when fires burned the Three Halls that form the central axis of the Forbidden City. The Three Halls burned yet again in 1584. [...] Yet the lightning strikes in Beijing were also a disaster for the old-growth forests of the southwest, where the logs to build the palaces had first been cut in the early 1400s. As logging supervisors soon learned, ancient trees could not be felled on a regular basis. Officials pressed ever deeper into the gorges of southern Sichuan and northern Guizhou to find them, bringing massive transformations to the environment in the process.

---

The foundations of Beijing were laid between 1406 and 1421 by the Yongle emperor, a junior son of the Ming founder, who moved the court to his personal appanage in north China. [...] Grasping the sinews of power that connected his court to far-flung regions of the empire, Yongle pulled one million laborers to Beijing to build his palaces. Because the weight of Chinese buildings is carried by their pillar-and-beam frameworks (liangzhu), monumental buildings required monumental trees (Figure 2). So Yongle also dispatched a similarly large labor force to the old-growth forests of the far southwest to cut the fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) and nanmu (Phoebe zhennan) that grew straight and tall enough to be used for imperial construction.

We cannot be certain just how many logs were cut to build Beijing, but the figure must have been astounding. In 1441, two decades after the completion of the project, 380,000 large timbers were left over from the earlier construction. By 1500, these too were gone, used for repairs or too damaged by rot to be used for construction purposes.

---

In the sixteenth century, logging officials wondered how their predecessors had been able to obtain so many giant timbers. Li Xianqing, who supervised more than 40 logging sites in the 1540s, noted that large trees could still be found, but they could only be transported out with great difficulty and at great expense. The majority had to be discarded as hollow or insect-damaged. Even when a quality log was found, it took five hundred workers to tow a log over mountain passes.

Skilled craftsmen were on hand to build “flying bridges” (fei qiao), stone-lined slip roads, and enormous capstans (tianche) to tow the logs up slopes (Figures 3 and 4). In the remote forests of the southwest, loggers faced attacks by snakes, tigers, and “barbarians” (manyi); “miasmatic vapors” (yanzhang, probably malaria); storms, forest fires, rockslides, and raging rivers (Figure 5). Labor teams had to carry their own food and often starved. At the rivers, logs were tied into massive rafts bound with bamboo for buoyancy, towed by teams of 40 men, and then launched on the three-year, three-thousand-kilometer journey to Beijing (Figure 6). Only a small fraction of the trees reached the capital in a condition where they could be used for palace building.

---

Expeditions exceeded their budgets up to fiftyfold.

One official remarked, “the labor force numbers in the thousands; the days number in the hundreds; the supply costs number in the tens of thousands each year.” Another saying held that “one thousand enter the mountains, but only five hundred leave” (rushan yiqian chu shan wubai). To make matters worse, logging mostly occurred within territory that was under only loose Ming control [...].

---

The Yongle Palaces were said to replicate the otherworldly atmosphere of the old-growth forests where their pillars originated. The presence of these timbers in Beijing linked the capital, materially and symbolically, to the southwestern landscape of cliffs and gorges where the trees had grown.

But ancient sentinel trees could not be reproduced on demand. The fifteenth-century logging project was a millennial event, removing the growth of hundreds or even thousands of years. Later officials were forced to come to terms with the transformations their predecessors had wrought in the ancient forests. Eventually builders had to switch to smaller, commercially available timber, using ornate artisanship and commercial efficiency to substitute for the austere majesty of the early Ming palaces, and the thousands of years of tree growth on which they rested.

---

All text above by: Ian M. Miller. “The Distant Roots of Beijing’s Palaces.” Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia no. 39. Autumn 2020. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[worldhistoryfacts]

During the early Ming Dynasty, about 75 years before Christopher Columbus sailed the Atlantic, China set out to explore the Indian Ocean, putting an admiral named Zheng He in command of a massive fleet of ships much bigger than Columbus’ to visit southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and east Africa. He brought back lavish tribute from the kingdoms he visited, some of which were living, breathing creatures.

The animal that seemed to fascinate Chinese people the most during this period was the giraffe. This is probably because it resembled a mythical creature, the qilin, that was supposed to be a good omen for China and its rulers.

The Yongle Emperor, who ruled from 1402–1424, ended up in possession of two giraffes. The first was a gift from the ruler of Bengal, whose giraffe had attracted the notice of Chinese visitors. This poor giraffe was been shipped across the ocean twice, once from East Africa, and then again from Bengal to Beijing. The second giraffe was a direct gift to Zheng He from the ruler of Malindi in East Africa.

Here are some images of one of the giraffes -- these were widely copied, often with variations in the patterns on the animals' fur.

{WHF} {Ko-Fi} {Medium}

[princess-of-the-corner]

Once upon a time, the great Chinese seafarer Zheng He returned from one of his voyages with a giraffe, causing surprise, shock, and growing confidence in the administration of the ruling Yongle Emperor for a simple reason: this previously unknown animal was identical to the mythical Qilin, and the admiral just finding one while on a voyage ordered directly by the Emperor could only mean divine approval.

In light of this, I like to imagine that there's no Qilin Miraculous, only a Giraffe one that some members of the Order insist calling the Qilin Miraculous.

Huh. Fascinating

[youzicha]

the Yongle emperor. /jɔŋgl/.

[thatshowthingstarted]

Sword (jian) and scabbard, probably made in the court workshops of the Yongle Ming Emperor. Chinese, Ming Dynasty, early 15th century.

The hilt is of gilt iron. The grip is of gibbous rectangular section, punched with small circles to imitate ray skin. Down the centre of the front is a raised spine bordered by tiny flames at either side.

The pommel is of trilobed form, bordered at the front and rear by bands of golden scrolls. The front panel of the pommel is chiselled and fretted with a dragon surrounded by interlacing flames, with triple claws on each paw. At the rear of the pommel, the central panel is decorated with a monster mask (kirtimukha), surmounted by a silvered crescent and golden disc, and with human hands, also surrounded by flames. At either side of the pommel are the Eight Buddhist Emblems of Good Augury (ba jixiang): the wheel of law (dharma), the standard, the treasure jar, the pair of fish, the endless knot, the lotus, the parasol and the conch shell of victory.

The guard is embossed in the form of a monster mask, surmounted by a silvered crescent and golden disc. The face is punched with circles, the canine teeth silvered, the eyebrows and whiskers chiselled and gilt. The horns are in the form of crab claws. At either side of the mouth is a paw in the form of a human hand. The head is surrounded by scrolling curls of mane. The rear of the guard is rendered as the underside of the jaw, with a set of silvered teeth, and a narrow beard running into a throat of alternate silvered and gilt bands.

The blade is associated but is probably a later replacement of Tibetan manufacture. It is formed of pattern-welded steel, of diamond section, straight and double edged. The pattern welding produces a mirrored pattern of addorsed crescents at either side of the medial ridge. The tang is of rectangular section, tapering towards the pommel, with a large expanded peg-hole towards the end. The edges have been ground and sharpened.

The scabbard is of wood covered in green stained leather and bound with gilt iron. At the throat is a V-shaped cut out at the front for seating the blade, and a scalloped cut-out in the leather to accommodate the guard. The throat retains traces of the scarlet silk with which it was lined. The iron binding comprises a long, facetted strip running all the way round either edge.

There are eight transverse bands at the rear, the uppermost and fourth of which are wider than the others, and extend round the front of the scabbard forming suspension loops. The edging strip has four main facets, with an additional narow facet at either side. It is decorated with scrollwork in gold running down each facet, and matching that on the pommel. At either end is a set of three golden lotus leaves.

The front panel is divided stylistically into upper and lower sections. The upper section is decorated quite plainly; a series of five beaded transverse bands divide it into six sections, and there are three vertical bands of fretted four-petalled rosettes in each section.

At the throat is a cusped section with a beaded border, below which is a band of flames. The ornate lower section has six smaller segments, divided vertically and horizontally by fretted 'vajras', each with a 'yinyang' symbol in the central knop. The half-'vajras' at either side emanate from the heads of lions, and the vertical bands of decoration at either side are formed by rows of flames.

Above and in the middle of these divisions are two square panels, each containing a cusped lozenge shaped central medallion, the corners decorated with interlacing flames. The uppermost of these two panels contains two dragons intertwined amid flames, with the heads at top right and bottom left; the lower has two similar dragons, with thicker bodies, and with their heads confronted at the left and right.

The chape section is decorated with a large panel of interlacing flames, within a beaded border. At the rear of the scabbard, the upper band is decorated with alternating gold and silver scrollwork, and terminates in a rosette at the front. The next two narrow bands are decorated with silver scrollwork only. The fourth is decorated at the rear like the top one, but is extended accross the front in a broad band; it is chiselled with four medallions decorated with gilt characters on silver grounds, and surrounded by interlacing gilt flames. The three lower bands are decorated in gold scrollwork.

The rear chape panel has a small, flat piece of rather coarse, scrolling interlace at the bottom, and narrow bands of petalled rosettes at either side.

A four character Tibetan inscription on the lower suspension loop reads 'khi'u ga ral gri' (honourific sharp sword).

China, 15th century (About 1420),

Leather, Ferrous, Gold, Silver, Semi-precious stone, Silk, Wood,

Dimensions:

Blade Length: 30 inches

Overall (sword) Length: 35 inches

Courtesy: Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, United Kingdom

Sword (jian) and scabbard, probably made in the court workshops of the Yongle Ming Emperor. Chinese, Ming Dynasty, early 15th century.

[womblegrinch]

A monumental Imperial silk brocade thangka of Mahakala, Yongle period

134 x 87 inches, 340 x 221 cm. Estimate: US$800,000-1,200,000.

Failed to sell Sotheby's, New York, 21 March 2024.

The textile was produced in the Imperial workshops of the Yongle Emperor (1360-1424) during his reign (1403-1424) as a gift to a high-ranking Tibetan lama and depicts Mahakala Panjarnatha.

If you want to look at a big image just copy the following into a new window:

http://sothebys-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com/media-desk/92/a6/b53249fa445296fb14d3fde38e37/n11418-cxsj2-t1-02.jpg

I posted another artwork depicting Mahakala back in 2019. You'll find it by clicking any of the tags below. Again, you can look at a big image.

[theempressesofchinablog]

Empress Xiaogongzhang of the Ming Dynasty (1428-1435)

Lady Sun was born in 1399 in Zouping and was known as the local beauty. She was brought into the palace by the then Crown Princess Zhang who had heard about Lady Sun’s beauty. She was educated by Empress Xu, wife of the Yongle Emperor, and was selected to be a concubine for Zhu Zhanji, the grandson-heir, in 1417. 

When Zhu Zhanji ascended the throne in 1425, Lady Sun was named Noble Consort Sun, the second highest ranking position of the harem. The emperor had always favored Lady Sun over Empress Hu and this would lead to Empress Hu’s downfall. In 1427 Lady Sun would give birth to a son, Zhu Qizhen, who was named the crown prince. The emperor began looking for ways to depose Empress Hu, who was known to be sickly and had no sons, and install Lady Sun as Empress. Lady Sun would attempt to dissuade the emperor from doing this but eventually relented and in 1428 she was named Empress. 

When the Xuande Emperor passed away in 1435 he was succeeded by Zhu Qizhen, who became the Zhengtong Emperor. As the Zhengtong Emperor was only eight years old he needed a regent. The now Empress Dowager Sun and the Grand Empress Dowager Zhang would fight over who would head the regency and the Grand Empress Dowager would win over Lady Sun. Lady Sun was sidelined and even censured by the imperial historians for trying to influence government affairs. 

In 1449, tragedy would strike when the Zhengtong Emperor was captured by the Mongols in battle. Lady Sun and her daughter-in-law, Empress Qian, would pay the ransom in full but the Mongols rejected it and decided to hold the emperor hostage. Officials from the court decided to make the emperor’s younger half brother, Zhu Qiyu, the Jingtai Emperor. In the beginning, Zhu Qiyu would refuse the throne but after Lady Sun urged him to accept he would ascend the throne. 

The Mongols would quickly release Zhu Qizhen after this, knowing that two emperors would cause chaos among the Ming. The Jingtai Emperor was quick to place the former Emperor under house arrest, where he would stay for the next six years. Lady Sun and her brothers would head a coup that put her son back on the throne as the Tianshun Emperor. 

Lady Sun would pass away from illness on 26 September 1462.  

Titles:

Lady Sun (from 1399)

Concubine of the Imperial Grandson-heir (from 1417)

Noble Consort Sun (from 1425)

Empress (from 1428)

Empress Dowager (from 1435)

Empress Dowager Shangsheng (from 1449)

Empress Dowager Shengliechishou (from 1457)

Empress Xiaogongzhang (posthumous from 1462)

[tiny-librarian]

Royal Birthdays for today, May 2nd:

Yongle Emperor, Emperor of China, 1360

Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, 1402

Eleanor of Viseu, Queen of Portugal, 1458

Catherine II, Empress and Autocrat of All the Russias, 1729

Alberto, Prince of Naples and Sicily, 1792

Helen of Greece and Denmark, Queen Mother of Romania,1896

Faisal II, King of Iraq, 1935

Moshoeshoe II, King of Lesotho, 1938

Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, German Princess, 1975

Charlotte of Wales, British Princess, 2015

[chinesehanfu]

[Hanfu · 漢服]Chinese immortal Hanfu <灵芝玉女/Goddess holding Ling Zhi> Based On Yuan Dynasty Taoist Temple Mural<永乐宫/Yongle Palace>

【Historical Artifact Reference】:

▶ China Yongle Temple(永乐宫) Murals showing<灵芝玉女 / Goddess holding Lingzhi>

🍄The significance of Lingzhi in China🍄

In Chinese art, the lingzhi symbolizes great health and longevity, as depicted in the imperial Forbidden City and Summer Palace.It was a talisman for luck in the traditional culture of China, and the goddess of healing Guanyin is sometimes depicted holding a lingzhi mushroom

The Old Chinese name for lingzhi 靈芝 was first recorded during the Han dynasty (206 BC – 9 AD). In the Chinese language, língzhī (靈芝) is a compound. It comprises líng (靈); "spirit, spiritual; soul; miraculous; sacred; divine; mysterious; efficacious; effective)" as, for example, in the name of the Lingyan Temple in Jinan, and zhī (芝); "(traditional) plant of longevity; fungus; seed; branch; mushroom; excrescence"). Fabrizio Pregadio notes, "The term zhi, which has no equivalent in Western languages, refers to a variety of supermundane substances often described as plants, fungi, or 'excrescences'."Zhi occurs in other Chinese plant names, such as zhīmá (芝麻; "sesame" or "seed"), and was anciently used a phonetic loan character for zhǐ (芷; "Angelica iris"). Chinese differentiates Ganoderma species into chìzhī (赤芝; "red mushroom") G. lingzhi, and zǐzhī (紫芝; "purple mushroom") Ganoderma sinense.

In the chronicles of Shiji (1st century CE from Sima Qian), the initial use of nearby separately related words with Chinese: 芝 and Chinese: 靈 are attested to in the poems of Emperor Wu of Han. Later, in the 1st century CE through the poetry of Ban Gu, occurred the first combination of the characters 靈芝 together into a single word.

_______________

📸Photography post-production :@小何力

👗Hanfu & 👑Crown：@雁鸿Aimee

👭Model：@清音音音音

💄 Makeup：百丽 （临溪摄影）

🔗Weibo:https://weibo.com/1615560544/O267AzTqM

_______________

[spiritunwilling]

Oh shit the yongle emperor might not be cannon fodder after all

[romanceyourdemons]

still fucked the fuck up that huo qubing visited lake baikal. this somehow feels stranger than the yongle emperor owning a giraffe like i understand giraffes in the fifteenth century but what was lake baikal doing there in 119 bce