The Chinese Ming Dynasty lasted for 276 years (1368 – 1644 AD), and has been described as “one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history.” This dynasty became a global superpower, undertaking major sea expeditions before Christopher Columbus, and producing books before the invention of the printing press in Britain. While this dynasty was praised for its stability and innovation there was a darker more thick underbelly.
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The cruelty of the Ming emperors knew no bounds, and was specifically targeted towards the imperial concubines. Some Ming emperors had upwards of 9,000 concubines, many of whom had been kidnapped from their homes and were forbidden to leave their gilded prison except when they were called to the emperor's bed. Since the barbaric practice of foot-binding was prominent at this time, the hobbled women could not run away or even walk into the emperor's bed chambers, but instead had to be carried naked to the expectant man.
The Obsessive Founder
The founder of the Ming Dynasty was The Hongwu Emperor, and he is considered to be one of the most influential and important Chinese Emperors. Starting out as a penniless monk wandering China, he grew to be one of the most powerful warlords in Asia. In 1368 he commanded the army that expelled the Mongol invaders who had ruled China for a century.
After establishing his dynasty, he adopted the name “ming,” the Mandarin word for brilliant. However, his ruthlessness went beyond the battlefield. Behind closed doors he kept concubines confined and subjected them to torture. His pride and jealousy drove him to control every aspect of their lives. In order to continue to control them even after his death, he started the tradition whereby concubines would be killed, forced to commit suicide, or were buried alive alongside the dead emperor. Both Yongle and the Hongxi Emperor, two of The Hongwu Emperor's successors, continued this thick tradition. Fortunately the Zhengtong Emperor abolished the practice in his will in 1464, so the concubines of the other emperors only had to fear loss of favor instead of the loss of their lives.
Mass Slaughter in the Forbidden City
The Yongle Emperor is famous for creating a second capital for China, besides Nanjing, and named it Beijing as it is still called today. Here he built “The Forbidden City,” the imperial Chinese Palace at Beijing, which lasted from 1420- 1912. His reign provided a mix of military, economic, and educational reforms in his dictatorial style of government. However, his acts of cruelty were numerous and well documented. In 1421, shortly after Yongle unveiled the Forbidden City on New Years Day, there were rumors that one of the emperor's favorite concubines had committed suicide because she had an affair with a palace eunuch due to the emperor's impotence.
Humiliated, the emperor set to work silencing all that knew of the situation as well as everyone involved. He told the rest of the palace that the concubine in question had been poisoned, he then rounded up 2,800 women from this harem and had them all executed by slicing. In this mass execution girls as young as 12 years old were put to death. While there is no mention of this massacre in the official record, a written account exists from another one of his concubines, Lady Cui, who had been away from the palace at the time. Shortly afterwards, Lady Cui as well as 15 of the emperor's remaining concubines were hung from white silk nooses in the halls of the Forbidden City on the day of Yongle's funeral.
Alternative Obsessions
The tenth Ming ruler, Zhengde, who ascended in 1505, grew tired of concubines and was obsessed with the life of an ordinary citizen. He would slip out at night, in disguise, and frequent local brothels. However, this did not stop him from collecting so many concubines that, it is said, many starved to death as there was not enough food to feed them or room to house them. Many historians claim that it was Zhengde's rule that led to the downfall of the Ming Dynasty. His successor Jiajing was obsessed with finding an elixir to provide him with eternal life and he believed the key ingredient in this elixir to be the menstrual blood of virgins. During his reign, he ordered that thousands of girls should be rounded up and taken to the Forbidden City to be “harvested.” To ensure that their bodies were pure, their diets were restricted to mulberries and dew. Many died from starvation due to this cruel diet. But in 1542, a group of 16 concubines fought back. Their attempt to bring down the violent Emperor became known as the Renyin Plot.