History of Beijing - Ming Dynasty

Ming Dynasty

The Beijing Palace City Scroll, depicting the Forbidden City, 15th century.

In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing and his general Xu Da captured Dadu. The last Yuan court fled to the steppes. Dadu's imperial palace was razed and the city was renamed Beiping (北平 or "Northern Peace"). Nanjing, also known as Yingtian Fu became the Jingshi or the capital of the new dynasty. Two years later, the founding Hongwu Emperor, conferred Beiping to his fourth son, Zhu Di, who at the age of ten became the Prince of Yan. Zhu Di did not move to Beiping until 1380 but quickly built up his military power in defense of the northern frontier. The Hongwu Emperor was predeceased by his three eldest sons, and when he died in 1398, the throne was passed down to Zhu Yunwen, the heir of his crown prince. The new emperor sought to curtail his uncle's power in Beiping, and a bitter power struggle ensued. In 1402, after a four-year civil war, Zhu Di seized Nanjing and declared himself the Yongle Emperor. As the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he was not content to stay in Nanjing. He executed hundreds in Nanjing for remaining loyal to his predecessor, who was reportedly killed in a palace fire but was rumored to have escaped. The Yongle Emperor sent his eunuch Zheng He on the famed voyages overseas in part to investigate the rumors of the Jianwen Emperor abroad.

In 1403, the Yongle Emperor renamed his home base, Beijing, (北京, or the "Northern Capital") and elevated the city to the status of centrally-administered city, on par with Nanjing. For the first time, Beijing took on its modern name, though it was also known as Shuntian Fu (顺天府). From 1403 to 1421, Yongle prepared Beijing to be his new capital with a massive reconstruction program. Some of Beijing's most iconic historical buildings, including the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, were built for Yongle's capital. In 1421, Yongle moved the Jingshi of the Ming to Beijing, which made Beijing the main capital of the Ming dynasty. The move to the north also enabled the Ming regime to monitor more closely the threat of Mongols in the north. Most of the Great Wall in northern Beijing Municipality were built during the Ming Dynasty. The Temples of the Sun, Earth and Moon were later added by the Taoist Emperor Jiajing in 1530.

Much of the Ming city walls were torn down in the 1960s. The Zhengyang Gate (Qianmen) and its iconic archery tower is one of the few sections remaining. The Ming city wall's southeast corner tower at Dongbianmen. The Hall of Supreme Harmony of the Forbidden City Temple of Heaven Ming Dynasty Tombs

In the early Ming Dynasty, the northern part of old Dadu was depopulated and abandoned. In 1369, the city’s population had been reduced to 95,000, with only 113,000 in the surrounding region. A new northern wall was built 2.5 km to the south of the old wall, leaving the Jishuitan reservoir outside the city as part of the northern moat. A new southern wall for the city was built half a kilometer south of the southern Dadu wall. These changes completed the Inner City wall of Beijing, which had 12 gates (two to the north, four to the south and three each to the east and west). These walls withstood a major test following the Tumu Crisis of 1449 when the Zhengtong Emperor was captured by Oirat Mongols during a military campaign near Huailai. The Oirat chieftain, Esen Tayisi, then drove through the Great Wall and marched on the Ming capital with the captive emperor in hand. Defense Minister Yu Qian rejected Esen's demands for ransom despite the emperor's pleadings. Yu said the responsibility to protect the country took precedence over the emperor's life. He rejected calls by other officials to move the capital to the South and instead elevated Zhengtong's younger half-brother to the throne and assembled 220,000 troops to defend the city. Ming forces with firearms and canons ambushed the Mongol cavalry outside Deshengmen, killing Esen's brother in the barrage, and repelled another attack on Xizhimen. Esen retreated to Mongolia and three years later, returned the captive emperor with no ransom paid. In 1457, the Zhengtong Emperor reclaimed the throne and had Yu Qian executed for treason. Yu Qian's home near Dongdan was later made into a temple in his honor.

In 1550, Altan Khan led a Khalkha Mongol raid on Beijing that pillaged the northern suburbs but did not attempt to take the city. To protect the city's southern suburbs, including neighborhoods from the Liao and Jin-eras and the Temple of Heaven, the Outer City wall was built in 1553. The Outer City wall had five gates, three to the south and one each to the east and west. The Inner and Outer Ming city walls stood until in the 1960s when they were pulled down to build the Beijing Subway and the 2nd Ring Road.

Jesuit missions reached Beijing at the turn of the 16th century. In 1601, Matteo Ricci became an advisor to the Ming Court of Emperor Wanli and became the first Westerner to have access to the Forbidden City. He established the Nantang Cathedral in 1605, the oldest Catholic church in the city. Other Jesuits later became directors of Beijing's Imperial Observatory.

On the eve of the Tumu Crisis in 1448, the city had 960,000 residents with another 2.19 million living in the surrounding region. It is believed that Beijing was the largest city in the world from 1425 to 1650 and from 1710 to 1825. To feed the growing population, Ming authorities built and administered granaries, including the Jingtong storehouses near the terminus of the Grand Canal, which fed a growing population and sustained the military. The granaries helped control prices and prevent inflation, but price controls became less effective as the population grew and demand for food exceeded supply.

Until the mid-15th century, Beijing residents relied on wood for heating and cooking. The growing population led to massive logging of the forests around the city. By the mid-15th century, the forests had largely disappeared. As a substitute, residents turned to coal, which was first mined in the Western Hills during the Yuan Dynasty and expanded in the Ming. The use of coal caused many environmental problems and changed the ecological system around the city.

During the Ming Dynasty, 15 epidemic outbreaks occurred in the city of Beijing including smallpox, "pimple plague" and "vomit blood plague" - the latter two were possibly bubonic plague and pneumonic plague. In most cases, the public health system functioned well in gaining control of the outbreaks, except in 1643. That year, epidemics claimed 200,000 lives in Beijing, thus compromising the defense of the city from the attacks of the peasant rebels and contributing to the downfall of the dynasty.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, banditry was common near Beijing despite the presence of imperial government. Due to inadequate supervision and economic privation, imperial troops in the capital region to protect the throne would often turn to brigandage. Officials responsible for eradicating banditry often had ties to brigands and other marginal elements of Ming society.

During the late Ming, Beijing faced threats from both within and beyond the Great Wall. In 1629, the newly-ascendant Manchus, a semi-nomadic people from Northeast China led by Hong Taiji, launched a raid on Beijing but were defeated outside the outer city walls at Guangqumen and Zuoanmen by Ming commander Yuan Chonghuan. After retreating north, Hong Taiji through treachery deceived the Ming Emperor Chongzhen into believing that Yuan Chonghuan had actually betrayed the Ming. In 1630, Chongzhen had Yuan executed in public at Caishikou through death by a thousand cuts. Yuan was rehabilitated 150 years later by the Qing Emperor Qianlong and his tomb near Guangqumen is now a shrine.

Also in 1629, Li Zicheng launched a peasant rebellion in northwest China and, after 15 years of conquest, captured Beijing in March 1644. The Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in Jingshan. Li proclaimed himself emperor of the Shun Dynasty, but he was defeated at Shanhaiguan by Ming general Wu Sangui and the Manchu Prince Dorgon. Wu had defected to the Manchus and allowed them inside the Great Wall. They drove Li Zicheng from Beijing in late April.