Why is the empire established by Zhu Yuanzhang called the Ming Dynasty? Interested readers and history encyclopedia editors, let’s take a look together!
Since the uprising, Zhu Yuanzhang successively eliminated Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng and others. On the fourth day of the first lunar month in the first year of Hongwu (1368 AD), Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne in Nanjing and proclaimed himself emperor, with the country name Daming and the year name Hongwu. We know that when Han Linger, the King of Xiaoming, was still alive, Zhu Yuanzhang referred to him as the King of Wu. Therefore, perhaps the empire established by Zhu Yuanzhang should be called the “Wu” dynasty, but why is it called the “Great Ming” dynasty?
I think there are two main reasons why the empire established by Zhu Yuanzhang is called the Ming Dynasty.
Firstly, Zhu Yuanzhang believed in the “reincarnation of the Ming king”. We know that Zhu Yuanzhang was born into poverty and worked as a monk and begged for food to make a living. Later, he joined Guo Zixing’s Red Turban Army in Haozhou City and participated in the uprising. At that time, Guo Zixing’s Red Turban Army believed in the reincarnation of King Ming, and Han Linger was also known as the “Little Ming King”. Zhu Yuanzhang himself also believed in this belief. Therefore, from this perspective, Zhu Yuanzhang led a group of heroes to establish the “Ming Dynasty” and overthrow the Baoyuan, which also inherited the theory of the reincarnation of the Ming king in the Ming religion.
Secondly, according to the Five Elements theory, Mingjiao belongs to the category of “fire”. Since ancient times, we have had a theory of the Five Elements, which states that there can be mutual growth and mutual restraint among the five elements, such as metal restraining wood, wood restraining soil, soil restraining water, water restraining fire, and fire restraining metal. The Five Elements theory has had a great influence and has been applied to various fields, including the establishment of dynasties. When it comes to the establishment of a new dynasty, scholars and officials must teach the theory of the Five Elements. According to the principle of mutual generation and restraint of the Five Elements, the establishment of a dynasty means that the Five Elements of the next dynasty must overcome those of the previous dynasty.
For example, in the Tang Dynasty, we call it the Eastern Land Great Tang, and among the Five Elements, it belongs to the earth. Later on, the Song Dynasty belonged to wood, and it was said that wood could overcome soil, so the Song Dynasty replaced the Tang Dynasty.
Later, the Jin Dynasty became powerful beyond the Great Wall, belonging to the Jin Dynasty in the Five Elements, and the Dao was that the Jin Dynasty could overcome wood, so it repeatedly invaded the Song Dynasty and eventually destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty.
Later, Genghis Khan overthrew the Southern Song Dynasty and established the Yuan Dynasty. According to the theory of hardware, it belonged to the Jin Dynasty. At that time, the official and military uniforms in the court were all white, which was actually the true color of Jin. The first character of the Qian hexagram’s words “Yuan, Heng, Li, Zhen” is “Yuan”, which belongs to the metal category. So, the Yuan Dynasty belonged to the Jin Dynasty, and there was a Taoist named Jin who could overcome wood, so the Yuan Dynasty was able to overthrow the Song Dynasty and unify the country.
‘Ming’ means the sun and moon shining in the sky, bringing light to the world, while fire can illuminate the world and bring light. Therefore, ‘Ming’ is fire. At that time, the followers of the Ming Dynasty (Red Turban Army) were all dressed in red clothes. Zhu was red, and red was red, belonging to fire. There is a saying that fire can overcome gold, so from the perspective of the Five Elements theory, choosing “Ming Dynasty” is beneficial for overthrowing the tyrannical Yuan Dynasty and unifying China.
Zhu Yuanzhang’s subordinates were roughly divided into two categories: one was the rough men and warriors, the generals of the Red Turban Army, who basically believed in the theory of “Ming Wang reincarnation”, and the other was the intellectuals such as Liu Bowen and Song Lian, who basically followed the Five Elements theory. If Zhu Yuanzhang were to choose “Ming Dynasty”, both types of people would fully support it, and ultimately choose “Ming Dynasty”. It is said that Liu Bowen suggested, “Isn’t Han Linger called Xiao Ming Wang? Let’s call him Ming, and you are Ming Wang. Suppress him
