History
Zhu Quan was initially a military commander in service to his father the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. He was granted the frontier fief of Ning with his capital at Daning in Manchuria in 1391. He was famous for his masterly art of war and played an important role in the unrest surrounding the ascension of his nephew, the teen-aged Jianwen Emperor, in 1399.
Under the advice of his Confucian advisors, the Jianwen Emperor summoned his uncle to an audience in the imperial capital Nanjing. Not trusting the emperor's intentions (other uncles were demoted or executed the same year), Zhu Quan refused and lost three of his divisions for the insubordination.
Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, was preparing for his own uprising against the emperor and considered it a major point to neutralize Zhu Quan, a talented leader of well-trained troops located behind his lines. Taking advantage of Wu Gao's attack on Yongping near modern Shanhaiguan, the Prince of Yan – after crushing Wu Gao's force – rode hastily to Daning and feigned defeat and distress. After several days of hospitality, his forces were in position and successfully captured Zhu Quan as he was seeing his brother off. The official history of the Ming records Daning's evacuation, with Zhu Quan's harem and courtiers removed to Songtingguan and the prince himself kept in the Yan capital at Beiping, but passes over Zhu Di's setting of the entire city to the torch and the destruction of Zhu Quan's extensive library.
Zhu Quan from that point assisted his brother in his uprising, with the History of Ming recording that the Prince of Yan offered to split the entire empire between them. After his elevation as the Yongle Emperor in 1402, however, he swiftly reneged and refused to appoint his brother to lordship over Suzhou or Qiantang, instead giving him a choice only of backwater appointments. He settled upon Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi, and, after a scare where he was accused of practicing wugu sorcery, essentially retired from any interference with the realm, devoting his time instead to cultural pursuits.
Meeting daily with local or visiting scholars, he pursued immortality. He treasured and revised his Secret Book of Origins (原始秘书, Yuánshǐ Mìshū), a text which alone survived the fire of Daning and sharply attacked Buddhism as a foreign "mourning cult" at odds with Chinese culture and proper governance. His encyclopedia of Taoism, the Most Pure and Precious Books on the Way of August Heaven (天皇至道太清玉册, Tiānhuáng Zhìdào Tàiqīngyù Cè), was so esteemed it joined the Taoist canon. He was ordered by his brother to complete the Comprehensive Mirror of Extensive Essays (Tongjian Bolun) and was also credited with writing Family Advice (Jia Xun), Ceremonial Customs of the Country of Ning (Ningguo Yifan), The Secret History of the Han and Tang (汉唐秘史, Hàn-Táng Mìshǐ), History Breaks Off (Shi Duan), a Book of Essays (文谱, Wén Pǔ), a Book of Poetry (诗谱, Shī Pǔ), and several other annotated anthologies. His most successful was his Tea Manual (茶谱, Chá Pǔ). He also personally funded the publication of many rare books and composed several operas.
Zhu Quan is an important figure in the history of the Chinese zither or guqin, for his compilation of the important Manual of the Mysterious and Marvellous (神奇秘谱, Shénqí Mì Pǔ) in 1425. This is the earliest known collection of Chinese zither scores.
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