#245 - Ming 31: Event Horizon

The History of China

Chris Stewart

History

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2022

⏱️ 38 minutes

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Summary

Being the most powerful person in the empire must be nothing but the good life, right? Well... not so much. And especially with the truly dysfunctional Ming system facing the newly-adult Wanli Emperor, it's a system that promises all the perks, but delivers only drudgery, frustration, and disappointment. Not even 5,000 concubines can make up for that... Time Period Covered: 1582-1600 CE Major Historical Figures: The Wanli Emperor (Zhu Yizhun) [r. 1572-1620] Empress Xiaoduan (Wang Xijie) [1564-1620] Noble Consort Wang [1565-1611] Prince Zhu Changluo, "First Imperial Son" [1582-1620] Noble Consort Zheng [1565-1630] Prince Zhu Changxun, "Third Imperial Son" [1586-1641] Grand Secretary Zhang Zhuzheng [d. 1582] Major Sources Cited: Duhalde, Marcelo. “Life inside the Forbidden City: how women were selected for service” in South China Morning Post (July 12, 2018). Huang, Ray. 1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline. Huang, Ray. “The L’ung-ch’ing and Wan’li Reigns, 1567-1620” in The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part I. Toshima, Yoriko [Su Chung]. Court Dishes in China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an AirWave Media Podcast.
0:04.6	Hello and welcome to the history of China.
0:14.8	Episode 245 Event Horizon
0:23.9	The palace compound was magnificent, but also oppressively monotonous.
0:28.9	Even with those balustrades, incense burners, sculptured birds, and bronze lamps on
0:32.8	stone bases, the forbidden city comprised by and large, the same architecture and routines
0:37.8	over and over again.
0:40.9	On fixed dates, the platoons and battalions of attendance changed from fur-lined robes
0:45.4	with ear-coverings into silk, and then into lightweight gauze for the summer.
0:51.3	Flowers were taken out from winter storage, leaves were raked and ditches dredged, all
0:56.3	according to a pre-arranged schedule.
0:59.6	Yet palace life remained timeless and seasonless, lacking either thrillous surprise or the excitement
1:05.4	of anticipation.
1:07.8	As emperor, one could not venture outside the palace compound.
1:11.8	He could not even think of dropping in to visit his courtiers at home.
1:17.4	No ritualistic proceeding to govern such behavior had been established in the dynasty's history.
1:23.7	From 1587, a year of no significance, by Ray Huang.
1:30.7	I must admit, I've experienced something of a forceful change of heart in the process
1:35.5	of researching this specific episode.
1:38.4	As has almost certainly been made evident over the course of the past nine or so years,
1:42.8	my personal opinion on monarchy, and especially divine monarchy, is that it is, in general,
1:48.5	a pretty bad idea that deserves all of the ridicule that the ages have piled upon
	...

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