The Jianwen Emperor plays shell-games with his dad's spirit tablet, decides Confucius has had it too good for too long, gets gross in his pursuit for immortality, and tries breath-play with his concubines... oh yes, and fire. So, so much fire.

Time Period Covered:

ca. 1524-1547 CE

Major Historical Figures:

The Jiajing Emperor (Zhu Houcong) [r. 1521-1567]

Empress Dowager Zhang [r. 1505-1541]

Empress Chen [r. 1522-1528]

Empress Zhang [r. 1529-1534]

Empress Fang [r. 1534-1547]

Confucius [551-479 BCE]

Minister Xia Yan

Minister Huo Tao

Major Sources Cited:

Works Cited:

Geiss, James. “The Chia-ching reign, 1522-1566,” in The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 7: the Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part I.

Huang, Weibo. “The palace rebellion of ‘Renyin’ and the Jiajing Emperor’s belief in alchemy” in Xiang Chao.

McMahon, Keith. Celestial Women: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Song to Qing.

Zhang, Tingyu. History of Ming, Vol. 114, Historical Biography 2, Empresses and Concubines 2.

Zhang, Yongchang. “The ‘Renyin’ palace rebellion: palace women sacrifice themselves” in Quanzhou Wenxue.

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