China Rules the Waves

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Belle Histoire

China Rules the Waves
Created by: * Brandubh Niall, 2007-09-10 01:09:15

On May 13, 1413, the day foreign envoys were to be received at court, Zhu Di was talking to his fourteen-year-old grandson, Zhu Zhanji. The emperor, who was very fond of dui shi, or "matching verse," asked the boy to think of a verse that corresponded in structure to the first line of the couplet he had just composed to mark the ambassadors’ visit: "Jade and fabrics from every comer meet like wind and clouds."

The boy thought for a moment and then replied, "Mountains and rivers come together and the sun and moon shine brightly." The prince’s verse implied the unity of the land under one glorious rule, and, when people heard it, they said it showed Zhanji shared his grandfather¹s ambition and would be like the great Yongle emperor when he ascended the dragon throne one day.

The Yongle (永樂)Emperor, Zhu Di, will forever be known as the man who initiated the great fleets and sent them out under the command of the Admiral Zheng He. The fleets traveled wide and far; from Malacca to the east coast of Africa, bringing riches back to the new capital, Beijing, and Chinese influence spreads across the Indian Ocean and much of the South Pacific.

Although Zhu Di’s edicts were infallible on a nominal basis, the costliness of his exploits often provoked criticism among the advisors, made up of Confusian scholars and court eunichs, even if this criticism was not voiced before the Emperor. The celebrations of the new capital in 1421 was linked to a fire that destroyed much of the Forbidden City, further creating tension within the ranks.

Zhu Di’s son reversed much of his father’s policies in his brief tenure as Emperor, in 1425, but his grandson, Zhu Zhanji, was a great admirer of his grandfather, and turned much of it back. He was a determined man, going against the advice of his mother and advisors and deposing his first consort, Hu, as Empress, when she was unable to bear him a son.

Had Zhu Zhanji’s own son, Zhu Qizhen, been older, father might have been able to bestow his own principles upon son. Sadly, however, Zhu Zhanji died leaving an empire in the hands of a seven-year-old and the control of the boy’s personal eunich, Wang Zhen.

But what if Hu had born Zhanji a son, very early on in their marriage, before Zhanji took the throne, and firming her place as Empress? Perhaps the celebration of a new prince, Zhu Qihu, in 1420, would have dramatically changed the celebration of the new capital, Beijing, and funds would have never had to have been diverted for the rebuilding of the Forbidden City. Perhaps the Zhu Di’s edicts would have appeared as infallible as they were presented. Perhaps an eleven-year-old boy would have watched the Seventh Voyage with wonder. Perhaps a dutiful son of his father would have taken the throne at fifteen, with a mind of his own, leaving the necessity of a regent a mere formality.

This Emperor, later to be known by his reign as the “Chunle” (純樂) Emperor, believed in the fleets, and continued them; even though plague and Mongols threatened the land.

What if China still ruled the waves?

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