Friday, September 5, 2008

Zhengde Emperor

The Zhengde Emperor was emperor of China between 1505-1521. Born Zhu Houzhao, he was the Hongzhi Emperor's eldest son.

Early years


Zhengde was created crown prince at a very early age and because his father did not take up any other concubines, Zhengde did not have to contend with other princes for the throne. Zhengde was thoroughly educated in Confucian literature and he excelled in his studies. Many of Emperor Hongzhi's ministers expected that Zhengde would become a benevolent and brilliant emperor like his father, but this was not to be.

Reign as Emperor


Zhengde ascended the throne at the age of 14. Unlike his father, Zhengde was not interested in ruling and disregarded all state affairs. His actions have been considered reckless, foolish or pointless. There are many instances where he showed a lack of responsibility.

He took up a luxurious and prodigal lifestyle and indulged himself in women. It was said that he liked to frequent brothels and even created palaces called "Pao Fang" outside the Forbidden City in Beijing initially to house exotic animals such as tigers and leopards for his amusements and then later used to house beautiful women for his personal enjoyment. On one occasion he was badly mauled while hunting tigers, and could not appear in court audiences for a month. There was even rumor of a plot that Liu Jin had intended to murder the emperor and place his own grandnephew on the throne. Liu Jin's plot was ultimately discovered, and he was executed in 1510 however the rise of corrupt enunchs continued throughout Zhengde's reign.

In time Zhengde became notorious for his childish behaviour as well as abusing his power as emperor. One strange and somewhat comical event was when he created a staged commercial district inside his palace and ordered all his ministers, eunuchs, soldiers and servants of the palace to dress up and acted the role that he dictated ex. merchants or street vendors whilst Zhengde would walk through the scene pretending to be a commoner. Any unwilling participants especially the ministers would be punished or removed from their post.

Then in 1518 Zhengde declared himself General Zhu and personally led an expedition to the north claiming his intention to pacify the Mongol tribes but in the end did not accomplish much. Then again in 1519, Zhengde Emperor led another expedition to Jiangxi province to the south in hopes to quell a local prince's revolt only to discover that the revolt has already been put down. Frustrated at not being able to lead his troops to victory, Zhengde ordered the release of the prince just so he could experience the chance to capture his prisoner for himself. In January of 1521, Zhengde had the rebel Prince of Ning executed in Tongzhou, an event that was recorded even by the embassy to China.

Dark Affliction


Prior to the death of the emperor in early 1521, rumours about a mysterious group of creatures collectively called Dark Afflictions circulated the capital. Their attacks caused much unrest, because they randomly attacked people at night, causing wounds with their claws. The Minister for War asked the emperor to write an imperial edict proclaiming local security troops would arrest all those who frightened other people. The threat brought a sudden end to the spread of the stories.

Death of emperor


Emperor Zhengde died in 1521 at the age of 30. One day in the fall of 1520 it was said that Zhengde was drunk while boating on a lake. He fell off his boat and almost drowned himself. He died after contracting illnesses from the waters.

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