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Yongle Emperor

emperor of Ming dynasty China from 1402 to 1424

36 dated entries naming Yongle Emperor, drawn from 22 separate years between 1360 CE and 1429 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Zhu Di in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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14th century

  • 1360May 2 – Yongle Emperor of China (died 1424)source
  • 1399August 6 – Prince of Yan (Zhu Di) of China starts a rebellion, the Jingnan campaign in Beijing against his nephew, the Emperor Zhu Yunwen, after two of Zhu Di's officials are arrested for "subversive activity".source
  • 1400April 25 – Jingnan campaign: In the Shandong province of Ming dynasty China, Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, defeats the Imperial forces of General Li Jinglong in the two-day Battle of Baigou River, by taking advantage of the chaos that results when a gust of wind breaks the staff of General Li's flag of battle. The Yan forces capture 100,000 of the Imperial soldiers as prisoners and Li and the others retreat to Jinan.source
  • 1400October 29 – Jingnan campaign: In China, Prince Zhu Di of Yan expands his conquests with the capture of Cangzhou in Heibei province.source
  • 1400December 25 – In China, the Jingnan campaign of Prince Zhu Di of Yan suffers a serious reversal at the Battle of Dongchang as Imperial General Sheng Yong, replacement of Li Jinglong, encircles the Yan forces. Yan Army General Zhang Yu is killed, but Zhu Di is able to escape to the northern capital at Beijing and regroups his forces for a second attack to take place in February.source

15th century

  • 1401February 16 – Jingnan campaign: After a month's recovery from defeat in battle in China, Prince Zhu Di mobilizes his troops at Beijing and marches south to fight the Ming dynasty Emperor Huizong.source
  • 1401March 22 – Jingnan campaign: Prince Zhu Di of Yan leads his troops across the Jia River into the Heibei province. China's Ming dynasty Emperor Huizong directs that Zhu Di is not to be killed.source
  • 1402April 2 – Jingnan campaign: In China, the Yan Army, led by Prince Zhu Di reaches Suishui, west of Huaibei, in what is now the Anhui province.source
  • 1402June 3 – Jingnan campaign: After crossing the Huai River into what is now Jiangsu province, and taking Yangzhou (May 18) and Luhe (May 19), the Yan Army of Zhu Di crosses the Yangtze River at Guazhou and is within striking distance of the Imperial Chinese capital at Nanjing by June 8, forcing Emperor Zhu Yun Wen to prepare terms of surrender that include granting the Yan Kingdom areas north of the Yangtze. Zhu Di refuses.source
  • 1402June 13 – Jingnan campaign: The Army of Yan arrives at the walls of Nanjing, capital of Imperial China and surrounds the city. The defenders on the north side open the Jinchuan Gate and let the invaders in. China's Emperor Zhu Yun Wen then orders for the palace to be set on fire with himself and his followers burned to death inside before the Yan King Zhu Di arrives. Zhu Di orders the execution of 29 palace officials.source
  • 1402June 14 – Zhu Di, King of the Yan State at Beijing, becomes the new Ming Dynasty Emperor of China at Nanjing, uniting north and south China.source
  • 1402July 17 – The Ming dynasty prince Zhu Di of Yan is formally crowned as the Emperor Cheng Zu of Ming at Nanjing, marking the end of the Jingnan campaign.source
  • 1403In China, the Emperor Cheng Zu moves the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, commissions the Yongle Encyclopedia, one of the world's earliest and largest known general encyclopedias, and orders his coastal provinces to build a vast fleet of ships, with construction centered at Longjiang near Nanjing; the inland provinces are to provide wood and float it down the Yangtze River.source
  • 1403January 23 – The Yongle Era in China begins with the first day of the Chinese New Year, six months after King Zhu Di of the Yan State arrived at Nanjing, deposed the southern Chinese Emperor Zhu Yun Wen, and proclaimed himself as the Emperor Cheng Zu.source
  • 1404March 1 – Under the Emperor Cheng Zu, China continues to build its fleet, ordering the construction of 50 new seagoing ships from the Capital Guards in Nanjing.source
  • 1406May 11 – Ming conquest of Đại Ngu: China's Emperor Chengzu sends two battalions to invade the Kingdom of Dai Ngu (now Vietnam) under the command of the Duke Zhu Neng.source
  • 1407April 10 – After several invitations by the Emperor Cheng Zu of China, the lama Deshin Shekpa, the fifth Karmapa of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism, finally visits the Emperor at Nanjing, the Ming dynasty. In his 22-day visit, the Karmapa thrills the Ming court with alleged miracles that are recorded in a gigantic scroll, translated into five different languages. In a show of mystical prowess, Deshin Shekpa adds legitimacy to a questionable succession to the throne by Cheng Zu, who had killed his nephew the Jianwen Emperor in the culmination of a civil war. For his services to the Ming court, including his handling of the ceremonial rites of Cheng Zu's deceased parents, Deshin Shekpa is awarded the title Great Treasure Prince of Dharma (大寶法王).source
  • 1408August 20 – Abdul Majid Hassan, the Sultan of Brunei, sets off on a voyage to China at the invitation of the Emperor Cheng Zu and arrives in the capital, Nanjing, by September, becoming the first foreign monarch to make a peaceful visit to the Chinese Empire. While visiting, the Sultan becomes ill and dies on October 19.source
  • 1410May 19 – During his campaign against the Eastern Mongols, China's Emperor Cheng Zu stops with his troops at Minluanshu and orders the carving of an inscription on rocks at the north bank of the Kerulen river, declaring "In the eighth year of the Yongle geng yin, fourth month ding you, sixteenth day ren zi, the Emperor of the Great Ming passed here with six armies during the punitive expedition against the barbarian robbers."source
  • 1411Under the reign of Emperor Cheng Zu of Ming China, work begins to reinstate the ancient Grand Canal of China, which fell into disuse and dilapidation during the previous Yuan dynasty. Between 1411 and 1415, a total of 165,000 laborers dredge the canal bed in Shandong, build new channels, embankments, and canal locks. Four large reservoirs in Shandong are also dug, in order to regulate water levels, instead of resorting to pumping water from local tables. A large dam is also constructed, to divert water from the Wen River southwest into the Grand Canal.source
  • 1411July 6 – Ming dynasty Chinese Admiral Zheng He returns to Nanjing after his third voyage, and presents the ruler Vira Alakesvara, captured during the Ming–Kotte War, to China's Emperor Cheng Zu.source
  • 1412December 18 – China's Emperor Cheng Zu orders the fourth of the Ming treasure voyages, to be led by Admiral Zheng He.source
  • 1414April 6 – China's Emperor Cheng Zu departs from Beijing to lead a military campaign against the Oirat Mongols.source
  • 1415The Grand Canal of China is reinstated by this year after it had fallen out of use; restoration began in 1411, and was a response by the Emperor Cheng Zu of the Ming Dynasty to improve the grain shipment system of tribute traveling from south to north, towards his new capital at Beijing. With this action, the food supply crisis is solved by the end of the year.source
  • 1416November 14 – China's Emperor Cheng Zu and his fleet return to Nanjing from his fourth expedition for treasure after having been away since 1413.source
  • 1419March 19 – (26 Muharram 822 AH) Sultan al-Malik al-Nāsir of Yemen presents a set of Yemeni gifts for the Chinese envoy to Aden to take back to China's Emperor Cheng Zu, after having received gifts from the Chinese in January.source
  • 1419November 24 – The Timurid ruler of Persia, Mirza Shahrukh (r. 1404–1447), sends a large embassy to the court of Emperor Cheng Zu of China. The group arrives in China on 29 August 1420. One of the Persian envoys, Ghiyāth al-dīn Naqqāsh, keeps a diary of his travels throughout China, which soon becomes widely known throughout Iranian and the Turkic Middle East, thanks to its inclusion into historical works by Hafiz-i Abru, and Abdur Razzaq. Naqqash writes about China's wealthy economy and huge urban markets, its efficient courier system as compared to that in Persia, the hospitality of his hosts at the courier stations in providing comfortable lodging and food, and the fine luxurious goods and craftsmanship of the Chinese.source
  • 1420October 22 – Ghiyāth al-dīn Naqqāsh, an envoy of the embassy sent by the Timurid ruler of Persia, Shah Rukh (r. 1404–1447), to the Ming dynasty of China during the reign of the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424), records his sight and travel over a large floating pontoon bridge at Lanzhou (constructed in 1372) as he crosses the Yellow River on this day. He writes that it was: "...composed of twenty three boats, of great excellence and strength attached together by a long chain of iron as thick as a man's thigh, and this was moored on each side to an iron post as thick as a man's waist extending a distance of ten cubits on the land and planted firmly in the ground, the boats being fastened to this chain by means of big hooks. There were placed big wooden planks over the boats so firmly and evenly that all the animals were made to pass over it without difficulty."source
  • 1420October 28 – Beijing ("Northern Capital") is officially designated the capital of Ming dynasty China by the Yongle Emperor, replacing Nanjing, during the same year that the Forbidden City, the seat of government, is completed and construction begins on the Temple of Heaven in the new capital city.source
  • 1423August – China's Emperor Cheng Zu launches his fourth campaign against the Northern Yuan.source
  • 1424April 1 – China's Emperor Zhu Di, angry over the refusal of the Mongolian vassal Arughtai to pay tribute, departs from Beijing with an army of almost one million troops on a campaign in Inner Mongolia.source
  • 1424August 12 – Emperor Cheng Zu of China (born 1360)source
  • 1424August 12 – China's Yongle era Emperor, Zhu Di, dies at the age of 64 while leading an expedition of almost one million soldiers in an attempt to capture the Mongol leader Arughtai. The Emperor suffers a fatal stroke at at Yumuchuan in what is now Inner Mongolia, while Arughtai has escaped.source
  • 1424September 7 – Prince Zhu Gaochi of China becomes the Hongxi Emperor (Emperor Renzong) of the Ming dynasty, beginning the Hongxi era, after the August 12 death of his father, the Emperor Zhu Di.source
  • 1425January 8 – The interment of Ming dynasty China's Yongle Emperor, who died on August 12, takes place at the Chang Mausoleum in Beijing's Ming tombs.source
  • 1429A series of seven customs offices and barriers are installed along the Grand Canal of China, during the reign of the Ming Dynasty's Yongle Emperor.source

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