HIS280Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Meritocracy, Zheng He, Plains Indians
Document Summary
Lecture 2: yongle takeover: the second founding of the ming. Yongle emperor = zhu di, the usurping uncle who probably killed his nephew. In order to demonstrate his legitimacy, he would threaten ppl into supporting them or coerce them using propaganda about his dead nephew. If you look back in history, it first appears as though his nephew was never actually an emperor. Zhu di deleted" everything, making it seem like he was the direct successor of the throne. Once, yongle compared himself to the honourable, virtuous duke of zhou and an official that didn"t believe him had his tongue cut off. Zhu di tries to re-make the ming in terms of: geography. Making beijing the imperial capital (forbidden city) by 1420. Nanjing was a less important, secondary capital. Grand canal (47,000 labourers paid off their labour taxes by working on its maintenance) to keep beijing in the loop: ideological manipulation & control.
