-
1328
Zhu Chongba was born.
He was born to to Zhu Shizhen. He and his family were poor peasants. His hometown was Huazhou which is about 100 miles northwest of Nanjing near China’s east coast. -
1344
Zhu Chongba became an orphan.
Zhu Chongba became an orphan and decided to become a monk to avoid starvation. He became a monk at Huangjue monastery. He often begged for scraps on the streets. -
1352
Zhu Chongba joined the rebel forces.
He quickly became second in command to Guo Zixing who became jealous of him because he was a good leader. Chongba later changed his name to Zhu Yuanzhang. -
1352
Chongba married Princess Ma.
He married Princess Ma, Guo's adopted daughter. Ma later helped subdue the problems between her father and husband. -
1356
Zhu Yuanzhang becomes Emperor
Zhu Yuanzhang leads the rebel forces after Guo Zixing dies. The rebel forces capture Nanjing and Zhu Yuanzhang proclaims himself Emperor and becomes the Hongwu Emperor. -
May 2, 1360
Zhu Di was born.
Yongle (known as Zhu Di) was born as the fourth son of Emperor Hongwu and Empress Ma. He was born in the Chinese Republic shortly before his father founded the Ming Dynasty in 1368. -
1368
The Ming Dynasty begun.
Emperor Hongwu founded the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty was the period of native Chinese ruling. It succeeded the Yuan (Mongel) Dynasty. The arose following a series of natural disasters that hit China during the early and middle 1300's, adding to the misery of a people under the harsh rule of the Mongol Yuan dynasty. The Forbidden City was built during the Ming Dynasty. -
1380
Zhu Di was sent to Beiping.
Emperor Hongwu had assigned territories to the members of the royal family and stationed them across the empire. Zhu Di was assigned to Beiping (today Beijing) and he rebuilt the defenses of the northern boundary of China. It is said that he lived there for about two decades. -
1392
Crown Prince Zhu Biao was sent away.
Emperor Hongwu sent his eldest son away to Xi'an and Luoyang. Biao was to see if either of the cities would make good capital cities. Baio died shortly after this. -
1398
Emperor Hongwu Died
He died at the age of 69. He had been ruling for 30 years when he died. Emperor Hongwu had had trouble choosing his successor. He had first chosen his first son Zhu Biao, but when Zhu Biao died he traditionally chose Zhu Biao’s son, Zhu Yunwen. -
1398
Emperor Jianwen started ruling.
Emperor Jianwen (known as Zhu Yunwen) started ruling after his grandfather had died. Emperor Hongwu had chosen him because after his eldest son died, it was tradition for his son to succeed. Immediately after he gained power he began to plan to reduce the power of each territorial prince. -
1398
The Prince of Zhou was arrested.
The Prince of Zhou was arrested in Kaifeng accused of treason. He was stripped of royal status and exiled to Yunnan -
1399
Princes lose royal status.
The Princes of Qi, Xiang and Dai lost their royal status. The Princes of Qi and Dai were placed under house arrest in Nanjing and Datong. The Prince Xiang committed suicide. -
Aug 8, 1399
Jingnan Rebellion
This was a war between the Jianwen emperor and his uncle Zhu Di (Yongle). Di wanted power over Nanjing and was angered that his nephew ruled instead of him. Zhu Di's base of power to launch the military campaign against Jianwen was in Beiping (today's Beijing). -
1402
Jingnan Rebellion ends.
The war against Emperor Jianwen and Zhu Di (Yongle) ends when Di captures the imperial capital, Nanjing. Emperor Jianwen's body was never found. It is thought that he either burned in his palace or escaped. -
1403
Zhu Di turns into Emperor Yongle.
Zhu Di takes power after winning the Jingnan war against his nephew, Emperor Jianwen. -
1406
The Forbidden City is begun.
The Forbidden city starts getting built in Beiping (Beijing) after Emperor Yongle makes plans to move the capitol from Nanjing to Beijing. -
1420
Yongle moves the capital.
Emperor Yongle moves the Imperial Capital from Nanjing to Beiping (Beijing) after building the Forbidden city. Yongle moves the capitol to Beiping because he had lived there for years and his base of power was there. His father had also had plans to move the capitol from Nanjing to other cities but he never accomplished it so Yongle did it. -
1420
The Forbidden City is complete.
After fourteen years of construction the Forbidden City is completed. Forbidden City served as the home of emperors and their households as well as the political and ritual center of China during the Ming and Qing dynasties. -
Aug 12, 1424
Emperor Yongle died.
Emperor Yongle dies when he returns from a campaign at age 64. He is succeeded by one of his sons and since then the Forbidden City served as a home to dozens of emperors. -
The Forbidden City is set on fire.
Peasant uprising leader Li Zicheng who overthrew the Ming dynasty set fire to the palace when retreating. The fire almost burned the entire palace to ruins. Since then, it took several emperors over 100 years to rebuild it. -
The Qing Dynasty.
The Qing Dynasty begins after Li Zicheng captures Beijing. Desperate Ming dynasty officials called on the Manchus for aid. The Manchus took advantage of the opportunity to seize the capital and establish their own dynasty in China. -
New ruler for the Qing Dynasty.
A ceremony was held at the Forbidden City to proclaim the young Shunzhi Emperor as ruler of all China.The Qing rulers maintained the Palace's Ming Dynasty scheme, except for the names of some of the principal buildings. -
The Forbidden city is taken over.
During the Second Opium War, Anglo-French forces took control of the Forbidden City and occupied it until the end of the war. Later, during the Boxer War Empress Cixi flees the palace leaving it to be occupied by the treaty forces. -
The Forbidden City is no longer the political center.
the Forbidden City ceased to be the political center of China with the abdication of Puyi, the last Emperor of China. an agreement signed between the Qing imperial house and the new Republic of China government stated that Puyi was allowed/ required to live within the walls of the Forbidden City. -
Sources
https://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/astimeln.htm
https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Forbidden-city/History-of-the-forbidden-city.php
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ming-dynasty-Chinese-history
http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/sub4/entry-5603.html
https://study.com/academy/answer/who-became-emperor-after-hong-wu.html -
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingnan_Campaign
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/imperial-china/ming-dynasty/a/an-introduction-to-the-ming-dynasty-13681644
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hongwu
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Forbidden-City
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Forbidden_City -
Sources
http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/sub4/entry-5603.html
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yongle#ref8093
https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2016/12/29/capital-histories-how-beijing-came-be-chinas-capital
http://english.cri.cn/4406/2007/02/12/1281@195333.htm
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Qing-dynasty
