biography
| name: |
Yongle or Yung-lo
|
| |
originally Zhu Di
|
pronunciation:
[yonglay]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1360–1424)
|
| biography:
| Third emperor (1403–24) of the Chinese Ming dynasty (1368–1644), known postumously as Chengzu, born in Nanking, EC China. The fourth son of Hongwu, he seized the crown from his nephew after much bloodshed. He moved the capital to Beijing (1421) and reconstructed the Grand Canal, developed central and local government organs, and instituted the civil service examination format which lasted to the 20th-c. He also patronized Confucianism, published the Buddhist Tripitaka, sponsored the Great Encyclopaedia (1408), and sent Zheng He to sea. He conquered the Mongols in five campaigns (dying on the fifth), annexed Annan, and enforced tribute from Borneo, Japan, Java, Korea, Siam, and SE India. |
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