Difference between revisions of "Zhengde Emperor"

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Revision as of 18:28, 31 January 2015

The Zhengde Emperor was the tenth emperor of China's Ming Dynasty.

While previous emperors were obligated to a strict schedule of rituals and audiences every day, Zhengde was the first to manage to break free, absenting himself from the palace, and from the city, for extended periods, beginning in 1517, during which time government and administration carried on without him. The Confucian scholar-bureaucracy resisted this, insisting on the importance of the daily rituals and meetings, but Zhengde simply pushed them aside, in favor of eunuchs who were more amenable to his intentions.

Zhengde died in 1521 without a direct heir; he was succeeded by a nephew, who took the throne as the Jiajing Emperor. This marked the first time in the Ming Dynasty that an emperor was not directly succeeded by his son.

Preceded by
Hongzhi Emperor
Emperor of Ming
1506-1521
Succeeded by
Jiajing Emperor

References

  • Ray Huang, 1587: A Year of No Significance, Yale University Press (1981), 8.