Hongxi

Hongxi ( Chinese  洪熙 , name at birth: 朱 高 熾 Zhu Gaozhi , temple name : 仁宗 Renzong ; * August 16, 1378 ; † May 29, 1425 ) was the fourth Chinese emperor of the Ming dynasty . He ruled little longer than 1424.

Emperor Hongxi was the eldest son of Emperor Yongle and was tutored by well-known Confucian scholars. From his father he inherited his political talent, but not his warlike nature. During Yongle's northern campaigns, he often served as regent in Beijing or Nanjing , which would later make him an excellent organizer.

When he succeeded his father on the throne in 1424, he wanted to end the sea expeditions of Zheng He in view of the enormous costs. He reinstated disgraced Confucians and appointed his closest advisors to senior officials. He appointed scholars from the Hanlin Academy as imperial grand secretaries, who in turn were commissioned to restore the civil structures of government institutions, which had been very military-oriented since Yongle. Hongxi paid close attention to the finances and bureaucracy of the empire. He prohibited government confiscations of lumber, gold, and silver, introduced tax cuts for impoverished farmers, and set up commissions to investigate tax evasion. During the famine of 1424 he defied the council of ministers and provided the hungry with food. In 1425 he announced that the imperial capital was to be relocated from Beijing to Nanjing again, but he died less than a month later, probably of a heart attack , which is why these relocation plans were never realized. His brief reign was shaped by reforms and liberal politics. Hongxi's son, the famous Xuande , was to continue his politics and take the throne at the age of 26.

literature

• Frederick W. Mote: Imperial China 900–1800. Harvard, Cambridge 2003, ISBN 0-674-44515-5
• Ann Paludan: Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors. Thames & Hudson, London 1998, ISBN 0-500-05090-2
• Denis Twitchett , Frederick W. Mote: The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 7. The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644. Part 1. University Press, Cambridge 1988, ISBN 0-521-24332-7

predecessor	Office	successor
Yongle	Emperor of China 1424–1425	Xuande