My Views on Ming Dynasty Drama (大明风华)

 After the release of Ming Dynasty Drama (大明风华), it has caused a lot of controversies. Some of my friends pointed out that there were many parts of the play that were not historically accurate or even completely subverted history.

I have a different opinion about this. The first few episodes have given me a good impression of the drama, especially in terms of the plot and characters, which are different from other Chinese costume dramas.

Although I had similar doubts when I first watched this drama. After all, it is true that the Ming Dynasty Drama (大明风华) is not a common genre. Some of my friends pointed out that there were many parts of the play that were not historically accurate or even completely subverted history.

It has its own dramatic logic. It is also "rare", which creates a freshness in the genre and a different direction from the stereotypical female-headed drama.

Photograph© Ming Dynasty Drama

The Zhu family in this drama has similarities to the common royal family. Keywords include a balance of power and accompanying the king like a tiger. At the same time, it is special in that it has a sense of life and a human touch.

For example, between the grandfather and grandson, Zhu Di and the imperial grandson, Zhu Zhanji, the usual exchanges are occasionally playful and angry, and occasionally cautious towards each other. Zhu Zhanji is lively and clever by nature and is the wise man of his father, Zhu Gaoqchi.

Zhu Gaochi, on the other hand, acted like a wimp in front of his father Zhu Di every day, as well as to his own second brother Zhu Gao Hsu, a model of great wisdom.

The story of the Zhu family is often portrayed in movies and television dramas, which is familiar to most viewers. But in the previous films and TV dramas, it seems that everyone in the family is ambitious, and even the flesh and blood will be killed without a guilty conscience. This kind of convention seems to be "positive" and "serious", but it also has an overly cheeky and one-sided interpretation.

The Zhu family members in this drama are all living treasures, but they are also all scheming and secretly scheming. The contrast between the superficial jokes and the undercurrents behind the scenes is striking.  The second son is a frequent actor, joining forces with his third brother in an attempt to force the court, and forcing his adopted orphan to kill Zhu Zhanji, a truly ruthless man.

Photograph© Ming Dynasty Captial

As a result, each character has a very different, vivid side to our stereotypes.

Although Zhu Di is apparently extremely strong to everyone, the emperor is also a person. In his heart with the "ancient reputation" of the shackles, often dreaming of his father Zhu Yuanzhang when the nightmare is back to blame himself.  He often dreams of his father Zhu Yuanzhang accusing him when he returns home. Because of this, he is more afraid that his children will be killed by his own flesh and blood and will follow his own path, so he has to watch out for them.

Every man in Zhu's family seems to live under their father's shadow, except Zhu Zhanji. He lives a less fearful life because of his father's "wishy-washy" behavior and is also the person with the best relationship with Zhu Di in the family.

Zhu Yawen showed the free and resourceful side of Zhu Zhanji's nature. He repeatedly helped his father and second uncle in front of Chu Di to help Chu Di solve problems and can help Chu Di to solve problems, and from time to time will also put down face spoiled. Constantly maneuvering between everyone in the family, he is the smartest one in the family apart from Chu Di.

In my opinion, Ming Dynasty Drama can be better defined as a mix of "historical legend" and "family drama". Many people talk about it being "unhistorical", but I don't think it's that important.

Photograph© Yong Le Emperor

It breaks the stereotype of ancient costumes and royal families. It combines historical facts to some extent, and by extension, human emotions that everyone can relate to.

All the "jokes" are also established in the logic of the theater, thus creating a sense of truth in the theater dimension.

This sense of truth is quite touching. I will continue to watch this drama with a positive attitude and hope that the rest of the story will develop more brilliantly.

Why did Zhu Yuanzhang want to move the capital?

The idea of moving the capital came about during the reign of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.

After Zhu Yuanzhang was crowned with a yellow robe and set the capital at Yingtian, he felt that Nanjing was not the center of China. As Nanjing was located in the southeast and the Mongols were still stirring up trouble in the north, he came up with the "Two Capital System" and planned to move the new capital.


The "Two Capital System" originated in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The Duke of Zhou, Ji Dan, built a new city at Luoyi, and the Pingwang of Eastern Zhou moved the capital to Luoyi, thus the "Two Capital System" came into being.

Zhu Yuanzhang and his ministers discussed four places to move the capital, namely, Fengyang, Guanzhong, Luoyang, and Kaifeng. In the ninth month of the second year of Hongwu (1369), Zhu Yuanzhang raised the issue of choosing another place to build the capital.

Photograph © MDHIST

It was this "Capital Settlement Conference" that decided to build the capital at Linhao (Fengyang), Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown, on the Huaixi plain, which was not an affluent land. It took 6 years to build the capital, and in the eighth year of Hongwu (1375), it became the largest capital in China.

In April of that year, Zhu Yuanzhang went to inspect the capital but gave up moving it due to feng shui problems. In the fourth month of that year, Zhu Yuanzhang went to visit the capital and gave up the idea of moving it due to feng shui issues, but later he also gave up the idea of moving the capital to Kaifeng because it was in a deplorable state after the war.

When he returned to Nanjing, his ministers suggested that Beijing should be built on the basis of the Yuan capital and moved the capital here. Zhu Yuanzhang, considering the control of the north, agreed and set the capital as the capital.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang never once visited Beijing, probably because he felt that the Yuan dynasty's demise in Beijing was unknown. He named his three sons, King Chu Sine, King Chu Yuzheng of Qin, King Zhu Yuzuri of Jin, and King Chu Di of Yan, as the three feudal kings to guard the north of the country, which was the "Three Northern Fan".

Photograph © MDHIST

The Imperial Palace in Nanjing was built by filling the lake. After it was built, due to the sinking of the ground surface, it gradually formed a south-high and north-low situation, which was very bad in terms of feng shui. So Hongwu 24 years, Ming Taizu sent Prince Zhu Biao to investigate the Guanzhong region.

In the northern part of the region was the Shaanbei Loess Plateau, while in the southern part were the Shaanbei Mountains and the Qinba Mountains, with developed agriculture and a large population, the Guanzhong region was an affluent land, known as the "800-mile Qinchuan".

It was here that the capital was set, and that was the real "China". Moreover, Guanzhong is the most typical capital city culture of China in the Yellow River valley, represented by Xi'an, and also the hometown of Chinese people.

When Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were competing for the world, Xiang Yu claimed the throne of Guanzhong, and Liu Bang held a grudge for it. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang, who regarded Liu Bang as his revolutionary idol, was most optimistic about this feng shui treasure.

He planned to make preparations for moving the capital to Guanzhong after Zhu Biao's inspection. However, the following year, Zhu Biao fell ill and died, which was a great blow to Zhu Yuanzhang and made him reluctant to change the capital again. No one in the Hongwu dynasty ever mentioned the idea of moving the capital again.