What the Emperor Built: Architecture and Empire in the Early Ming 0295746882, 9780295746883

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what the emperor built

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what the

emperor built

Architecture and Empire in the Early Ming

aurelia campbell

University of Washington Press Seattle

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What the Emperor Built is made possible by a collaborative grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the Millard Meiss Publication Fund of the College Art Association. The Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, the James P. Geiss and Margaret Y. Hsu Foundation, the Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies, and the offices of the Dean and Provost at Boston College also provided support for this book. Copyright © 2020 by the University of Washington Press Design by Jeff Wincapaw, Tintype Studio Composed in Calluna, typeface designed by Jos Buivenga Maps and architectural drawings revised by Ani Rucki 24 23 22 21 20  5 4 3 2 1 Frontispiece: The Golden Hall (1418) atop Heaven’s Pillar Peak, Mount Wudang, Hubei. Drone photograph courtesy of Zhang Jianwei. Printed and bound in Korea All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. University of Washington Press uwapress.uw.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Campbell, Aurelia, author. Title: What the emperor built : architecture and empire in the early Ming / Aurelia Campbell. Description: Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Subjects: lccn 2019038424 (print) | lccn 2019038425 (ebook) | isbn 9780295746883 (hardcover) | isbn 9780295746890 (ebook) lcsh: Architecture—China—History—Ming-Qing dynasties, 1368–1912. | Architecture and state—China—History—To 1500. | Ming Chengzu, Emperor of China, 1360–1424— Art patronage. | China—Civilization—960–1644. Classification: lcc NA1543.5 .C36 2020 (print) | lcc NA1543.5 (ebook) | ddc 720.951/0902—dc23 lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038424 lc ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038425 The paper used in this publication is acid free and meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48–1984.∞

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For my parents, Faith and Patrick

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Contents ix xi xiii 3

Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Chinese Dynasties (with Ming Reign Periods) Introduction

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Chapter 1 Perfecting the Past: The Design and Construction of the Northern Capital

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Chapter 2 Great Pillars of State: The Rise and Fall of Monumental Nanmu Halls

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Chapter 3 Becoming Zhenwu: The Imperial Turn at Mount Wudang

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Chapter 4 From Mandala to Palace: Transforming Space and Site at Gautama Monastery

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Conclusion Architecture as Empire

173 179 199 211

Chinese Character Glossary Notes Bibliography Index

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Acknowledgments This book came together with the help of many people. I am thankful first and foremost to my teachers over the years who have provided me with the skills and knowledge to write this book. To Nancy Steinhardt I owe a special debt for cultivating a love of Chinese architectural history and for her constant support over the past decade and a half. If it were not for her, my life would surely have taken a much different path. I wrote most of this book during my yearlong stay at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, during the 2016–2017 academic year. I am grateful to Dagmar Schäfer for granting me a visiting fellowship that enabled this rewarding opportunity. Dagmar’s deep intellectual curiosity, strong work ethic, and kind support continue to serve as models for me. My book benefited immensely not only from the research tools and library resources available at the institute but also from stimulating conversations with colleagues, either during our weekly colloquia or over coffee at the nearby French pastry shop. Of particular value was the Local Gazetteers digital tool, developed by Shi-pei Chen, which allowed me to quickly search hundreds of local records for information on timber procurement in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which formed the basis for my second chapter. Boston College has also provided me with a great deal of support, for which I am sincerely thankful. A semester-long faculty fellowship and a two-semester release from teaching allowed me to spend a year of uninterrupted writing in Berlin. The provost’s office at Boston College generously awarded me a grant from the Norma Jean Calderwood Fund, with which I was able to hire a cartographer, Dana Heusinkveld, and a graphic designer, Brian Reeves, to make maps and edit architectural drawings. I also received a research expense grant to create an index. Boston College awarded me multiple undergraduate research fellowships, which allowed me to hire two absolutely outstanding art history majors, Jessica Lipton and Zhuolun Xie, as research assistants. Jessica and Zhuolun took on a number of responsibilities, including proofreading text, scanning images, and preparing the bibliography, which helped me enormously. Even after her fellowship had ended, Zhuolun worked for months to help me liaise with individuals in China regarding image permissions. I cannot thank her enough for her tireless work. The library staff at Boston College, especially the interlibrary loan office, worked for years to provide for me countless books and articles without which this book certainly would not have been possible. I feel very fortunate to teach at an institution that gives so much support for faculty research. Several of my friends deserve special acknowledgment for their huge contributions to this book project. Christian de Pee, with whom I became friends while at the Max Planck Institute, helped me in more ways than I can possibly articulate. He read every chapter, providing pages of edits and ix

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comments, which greatly improved my arguments and deepened my level of thinking. He assisted me with several difficult translations of classical Chinese texts, demonstrating a truly aspirational command of the language. A constant source of support and encouragement, he helped me build confidence in my own scholarship. Lala Zuo took the time to read every chapter and gave me instructive feedback, particularly on the parts of my book related to technical aspects of timber frame construction. She edited several of my professional emails to contacts in China. Jianwei Zhang contributed to this project in a number of ways, including helping me hire someone to create original architectural line drawings, providing me with several of his own beautiful drawings and photographs, and putting me in touch with contacts in China who could assist with image permissions. Jeff Rice, Kate Baldanza, and Ian Miller also read drafts of the chapters and offered valuable comments and critiques. One of the most challenging aspects was securing permissions for all of the images. Jessica Harrison-Hall, Wenyuan Xin, Yu-ping Luk, Daisy Wang, Fan Zhang, and Rob Linrothe were instrumental in guiding me to people in China from whom I could request image permissions. Li Ge was especially helpful in dealing with permissions from the Chinese Architecture and Engineering Press, spending weeks working on my behalf, despite the fact that we have never even met in person. Zhuge Jing and Chen Wei of Southeast University came to my rescue to obtain permissions for several of Pan Guxi’s architectural drawings. Ding Yao deserves special acknowledgment for taking the time to send me numerous architectural drawings from the Tianjin University collections, which were produced by teams of students based on surveys carried out in the 1990s under the direction of Wang Qiheng. The editorial staff at the University of Washington Press has been an absolute pleasure to work with. Executive editor Lorri Hagman handled the months-long process of developing this book with a truly admirable level of professionalism, efficiency, and care. Assistant editor Neecole Bostick graciously guided me through numerous matters, including the enormous task of making sure all my image permissions were in order, while the art director Katrina Noble patiently assisted in the process of preparing my many images. I could not have imagined a better project editor than Margaret Sullivan, and I also thank Jeff Wincapaw for his beautiful book design. Beth Fuget was a huge help with my applications for the subvention awards. The inclusion of many color images was made possible through very generous subvention awards from the College Art Association Millard Meiss Publication Fund and the James P. Geiss Foundation. The press put me in touch with the talented illustrator Ani Rucki, who reworked dozens of architectural line drawings, and the eagle-eyed editor Amy Smith Bell, who copyedited the entire manuscript. I am also grateful for reports from two anonymous reviewers, whose careful edits and insightful comments allowed me to conceptualize my project in new ways, thereby greatly improving it. Finally, I would like to thank my friends and family for their constant love and support during my many years of researching and writing this book. x

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Abbreviations Ch. Chinese J. Japanese Skt. Sanskrit T. Tibetan (Wylie)

Unless otherwise indicated, romanized terms are provided according to their pronunciation in standard Chinese (Mandarin).

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Chinese Dynasties (with Ming Reign Periods) Shang dynasty, 1600–ca. 1045 BCE Zhou dynasty, ca. 1045–256 BCE Spring and Autumn period, 770–476 BCE Warring States period, 476–221 BCE Qin dynasty, 221–206 BCE Han dynasty, 206 BCE–220 CE Western Han, 206 BCE–9 CE Xin, 9–23 CE Eastern Han, 25–220 CE Three Kingdoms, 220–280 Six Dynasties Western Jin, 265–317 Eastern Jin, 317–420 Southern and Northern dynasties, 420–589 Sui dynasty, 581–618 Tang dynasty, 618–907 Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, 907–979 Song dynasty, 960–1279 Northern Song, 960–1127 Southern Song, 1127–1279 Jin dynasty, 1115–1234 Yuan dynasty, 1279–1368 Ming dynasty, 1368–1644 Hongwu, r. 1368–1398 Jianwen, r. 1398–1402 Yongle, r. 1402–1424 Hongxi, r. 1424–1425 Xuande, r. 1425–1435 Zhengtong, r. 1435–1449; Yingzong, r. 1457–1464 Jingtai, r. 1449–1457 Chenghua, r. 1464–1487 Hongzhi, r. 1487–1505 Zhengde, r. 1505–1521 Jiajing, r. 1521–1567 Longqing, r. 1567–1572 Wanli, r. 1572–1620 Taichang, r. 1620 Tianqi, r. 1620–1627 Chongzhen, r. 1627–1644 Qing dynasty, 1644–1912

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what the emperor built

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Introduction

This book analyzes the empire-wide construction projects of Zhu Di, who reigned from 1402 to 1424 as the Yongle emperor of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) (fig. I.1). Yongle was one of the greatest imperial builders in all of Chinese history. His largest and most ambitious project was the imperial capital in Beijing, established only a few decades after his father, the Hongwu emperor (r. 1368–1398), had built the first Ming capital in Nanjing. At the center of the new capital was the magnificent palace now known as the Forbidden City (Zijin Cheng), which became the locus of imperial power in China for the next five hundred years. For the structural frames of the buildings in Beijing, Yongle ordered logs of nanmu, a dense hardwood, to be extracted by the hundreds of thousands from oldgrowth forests in the southwest part of his empire. Only one monumental nanmu hall survives from this time, the Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb, just north of the capital. While the construction of Beijing was under way, Yongle was also building temples dedicated to the Daoist deity Zhenwu in the Wudang Mountains, a sacred range in Hubei. In addition, the emperor was dispatching craftsmen to construct Gautama Monastery (Qutan Si), a palatial Buddhist temple in the northern Sino-Tibetan frontier. He also patronized two famous pagodas, the Porcelain Pagoda (Liuli Ta) in Nanjing and the Five Pagoda Temple (Wuta Si) in Beijing, as well as a modest temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Guanyin in present-day eastern Russia (map I.1). Taken as a whole, these sites reveal the massive scope of Yongle’s architectural ambitions and demonstrate how his sense of empire, his approach to emperorship, and his imperial legacy took shape in built space.1

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Empire Yongle’s conception of empire was vast and far-reaching. Through both military and diplomatic means, the emperor spread his power and influence not only over the territories directly under Ming control but also to the borderlands and beyond. Early in his reign, he invaded Annam (northern Vietnam), transforming it from a vassal kingdom into a province.2 He personally led five offensive military campaigns into the Mongolian steppes, during the last of which, at the age of sixty-four, he died.3 In terms of size, cost, and sheer spectacle, the most outstanding of his expansionist missions were the six state-sponsored sea voyages of the Muslim eunuch Zheng He (1373–1433) to Africa, India, and Southeast Asia.4 The largest of these missions consisted of a staggering three hundred ships and twenty-seven thousand men. Less well-known, yet still extraordinary, were the five Yongle-era missions of the eunuch-official Ishikha (Yishiha) up the Amur River (Heilong Jiang) on a fleet of twenty-five large ships to Nurgal (now Tyr, Russia) in Jurchen territory, along with more than a thousand soldiers and officials.5 One of the main purposes of Zheng He and Ishikha’s missions was to distribute gifts and enlist foreign states as tributaries. Yongle also sent embassies to Hami, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Ryukyu, Tibet, Turfan, Samarkand, and many more places. In all, thirty-eight states were persuaded to send tribute missions to his court.6 As the historian David Robinson explains, “The Ryukyu king sent horses, ivory, agate, sandalwood, and spices; the Korean court supplied horses, high-quality paper, inks, ramine and cotton fabrics, and ginseng; the ‘king of Japan’ offered samurai swords, folding fans, sulfur, silver, and tea-bowls; Vietnam brought southeastern Asian spices, medicines, and precious metals, Mongol and Jurchen envoys arrived with steppe horses, furs, leathers, and hunting falcons; Tibetans brought Buddhist icons, pennants, horses, and relics; and missions from western Asia contributed lions, jade, and textiles.”7 Much like the Chinese emperors’ long-standing practice of gathering plants and animals from far off regions for their imperial parks, by collecting the natural products and local crafts of these distant regions and bringing them to his court, Yongle was simultaneously collecting the known world and laying claim to it. The emperor also used these missions to establish a physical presence in various corners of his empire and beyond. One way he did this was through the erection of stelae in areas far from the capital. By erecting these stelae, Yongle was following the practice of two powerful predecessors: King Aśoka (r. 268–232 BCE) of the Mauryan Empire, who established pillars inscribed with Buddhist edicts across the Indian subcontinent, and Qin Shi Huangdi (r. 220–210 BCE), the first emperor of the Qin dynasty, who left inscriptions describing his accomplishments at sacred mountain sites he visited throughout his domain.8 Like those of the Mongols before him and the Manchu after him, many of Yongle’s stelae were multilingual. The history of Ishikha’s missions, for instance, was recorded on a stele introduction

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Figure I.1. Anonymous, Portrait of the Yongle Emperor (early fifteenth century). Ink and color on silk, 220 × 150 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei. Wikimedia Commons.

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Am

Map I.1. Locations of the Ming capitals and Yongle’s main architectural projects. Map by Dana Heusinkveld and Ani Rucki.

Temple to Eternal Peace Riv

ur

MONGOLIA

er

Ming Tombs Gautama Monastery

Beijing

KOREA JAPAN

TIBET

Mount Wudang

Fengyang Nanjing

0

250 500

1000km

VIETNAM

dated to 1413, which originally stood on a high cliff above the Amur River.9 The Chinese text, composed by Yongle, is inscribed on the front of the stele, while summaries of it are inscribed in Jurchen and Mongolian on the back. Via Zheng He, Yongle also commissioned a stele inscribed in Chinese, Persian, and Tamil in what is now Sri Lanka. The Chinese inscription, written by the emperor in 1409, praises the Buddha, while the Tamil and Persian inscriptions praise Vishnu and Allah respectively.10 Brunei, Cochin, Japan, Malacca, Mongolia, and the northern Sino-Tibetan frontier all once possessed multilingual Yongle-era stele.11 Even if most people could not read the inscriptions on these stelae, they could recognize that the stelae signified the Chinese imperial presence and that the emperor was speaking to multiple linguistic audiences. Yongle claimed ownership over various territories in his empire by renaming them. After he declared the Yellow Earth Mountains (Huangtu Shan) in Changping County north of Beijing the site for his future tomb, he renamed them the Mountains of Heavenly Longevity (Tianshou Shan) (see map I.1).12 He renamed a forested mountain in Sichuan the Mountain of Sacred Trees (Shenmu Shan) from which he extracted the nanmu timbers used to construct his Beijing palaces. Following the reconstruction of Daoist temples on Mount Wudang, he renamed the site the Mountain of Supreme Harmony (Taihe Shan) and ordered that an official seal bearing the new name be delivered to the mountain. After successful military campaigns in Mongolia, Yongle renamed two local areas and erected stelae at them inscribed with victory odes.13 In Japan and Malacca he “enfeoffed” mountains by granting them Chinese names: Mount Aso on Kyushu became the Mountain Which Will Peacefully Guard the Country (Shouan Zhenguo Zhi Shan), and a hill in Malacca became the Mountain That Protects the Country (Zhenguo Shan).14 6

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Deploying court-style architecture was yet another way in which Yongle asserted his imperial presence throughout his empire. During his reign a new court architectural style was developed in the capital and disseminated across his empire through his great construction projects. Like the stelae, these imperial buildings represented the emperor and his absolute authority. This is clearly expressed through the Golden Hall, a small-scale building made of brass that Yongle constructed atop the highest peak of the Wudang mountain range to show his dominance over the sacred Daoist landscape that extended in all directions beneath it. Through architecture, the emperor could wield authority in politically unstable regions. For instance, Gautama Monastery became a powerful outpost from which he could control regional trade and transportation networks on the Sino-Tibetan frontier. A similar purpose was intended for Ishikha’s missions to Nurgal. Acccording to the multilingual stele, Yongle instructed Ishikha to construct a temple dedicated to the bodihisattva Guanyin, called the Temple to Eternal Peace (Yongning Si) in Nurgal (see map I.1), as he believed that it would help “soften” (ruohua) the “wild Jurchen” (ye Nüzhen) and lead them into submission.15 The stele inscription boasts that once the temple was constructed, young and old alike flocked in great numbers to see it, which caused them to convert to Buddhism and submit to the Ming.16 In 1417, four years after the temple was established, Yongle ordered a Prefectural Buddhist Registry to be established in Nurgal and appointed a Jurchen monk to manage it.17 Only a decade after the temple was first constructed, however, it was demolished by the locals and had to be rebuilt under Yongle’s grandson, the Xuande emperor (r. 1425–1435).18 Yongle’s expansionist efforts required the mobilization of millions of his subjects, including officials, eunuchs, soldiers, laborers, and religious leaders. At the end of the stele documenting Ishikha’s missions to Nurgal are lists of the most important members of the expeditions. The names reflect Chinese, Mongolian, and Jurchen ethnic identities, which, as the historian Morris Rossabi has pointed out, demonstrated that the court both trusted these foreigners and recognized their value in foreign relations.19 The stele also records the names of the master craftsmen who were sent to oversee the construction of the Temple to Eternal Peace, including carpenters, stonemasons, brick makers, ironworkers, sculptors, and painters. Similar lists of craftsmen were documented for the construction of the Daoist temples on Mount Wudang. They reveal the great degrees of planning and organization required to carry out the emperor’s ambitious architectural visions. The rich resources of the natural environment within the vast expanse of Yongle’s empire were extracted on a massive scale for his construction projects. The most important material of all was the nanmu used for the timber frames of the palace buildings in the Forbidden City. Yongle went to great lengths to harvest this wood from the forests in the southwest of his empire and transport it to his new Northern Capital via waterways. Like tribute goods, the beams and pillars made out of the nanmu indexed the introduction

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extremities of the empire and Yongle’s control over these distant regions. Beyond their material value, the construction materials gathered in far-off lands were considered auspicious signs from the natural world (rui): when the emperor’s officials found large nanmu trees growing in abundance in the southwest of the country, it was regarded as a divine substance granted by Heaven for Yongle’s taking.20 The emperor was heavily invested personally in his architectural projects and through sustained engagement with them achieved a deeper understanding of the distant places within his empire. In turn, Yongle’s constructions established his imperial presence within these remote places, leading to significant shifts in their local identities. As a result, the architectural sites became important nodes of interaction between the emperor and his people. His enormous construction projects drew the empire more closely together through the memorials and edicts flowing in and out of the capital, the extraction of materials from distant regions, the participation of craftsmen and laborers from all parts of the country, and the objects crafted in imperial workshops that were sent to furnish the great Daoist and Buddhist temples. Thus Yongle’s great architectural projects helped to reinforce his position at the center of his empire, All Under Heaven.

Emperorship Yongle’s emperorship reached across the extent of his empire and its subjects as well as across all realms of culture, ritual, and religion. He came to power after usurping the throne from his nephew, Zhu Yunwen, the Jianwen emperor (r. 1398–1402), during a bloody three-year civil war known euphemistically as the Pacification of Crisis (Jingnan).21 This involved not only the burning of large sections of the Nanjing imperial palace with Jianwen inside but also the violent slaughter of Jianwen’s loyal officials, friends, and family members.22 To make matters worse, Yongle was not the child of Hongwu’s wife, Empress Ma, but rather of a lesser-rank concubine thought to be of either Mongolian or Korean descent.23 Many aspects of Yongle’s approach to emperorship, including his architectural patronage, can thus be explained by his need to demonstrate that he had the mandate to rule. One of the ways Yongle did this was to erase the unsightly parts of his past and construct a new history that presented himself in a much more positive light. In addition to expunging Jianwen’s reign from the official record, Yongle made a number of grand public gestures to his parents, which implied that he was both a legitimate son and a legitimate successor to the throne.24 For instance, he sponsored many cultural projects in his parents’ honor, including the Porcelain Pagoda at the Monastery of Filial Gratitude (Bao’en Si) in Nanjing and the Daoist architectural complex on Mount Wudang. He erected a massive stele bearing a lengthy inscription 8

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that he composed in praise of his father at the entrance to Xiaoling, his father’s tomb in Nanjing. Another stele that he commissioned in memory of his father was never finished because it was too large to move from the Yangshan quarry outside Nanjing, where it remains in situ.25 Yongle directly modeled the palaces in his new capital in Beijing on those of his father in Nanjing to project a sense of continuity with Hongwu and to disguise his illegitimacy. However, the fact that the emperor transferred the capital from Nanjing to Beijing indicates that he actually wanted to distance himself from his father—not to mention his nephew—and to inaugurate a new beginning. Yongle’s success in this regard can be illustrated through the layout of the Thirteen Ming Tombs (Ming Shisan Ling) north of Beijing. His is not only the largest tomb at this site and the one to which the great spirit path leads, it also served as the center point around which the tombs of all the later Ming emperors were built.26 In all his great cultural pursuits, Yongle seems to have been particularly concerned with his visibility. The art historian Dora Ching has argued that whereas in the Hongwu reign imperial portraits were worshipped privately by the emperor and members of the imperial family, Yongle instead used imperial portraits in public ceremonies involving hosts of officials and elaborate rituals.27 Under Yongle, imperial portraiture was extracted from the private space of the inner courts and brought into the public world of the officials, thereby enabling it to become a much more visible sign of emperorship.28 An important example of this visibility is an eighteenth-century Tibetan painting of Yongle receiving a consecration ceremony from the Fifth Karmapa, Deshin Shekpa (T. De bzhin gshegs pa, 1384–1415), which represents Yongle as his imperial portrait (fig. I.2). This indicates that his image circulated well beyond the court and even made its way into other works of art. In Yongle’s approach to emperorship we see a desire to encompass the whole world. This can be clearly illustrated by his most ambitious literary work, the 22,937-volume Great Yongle Encyclopedia (Yongle dadian), compiled between 1403 and 1408.29 In the preface to this encyclopedia Yongle writes: “I ordered my literati-officials to compile The Four Treasuries, to purchase lost books from the four corners of the country, to search and to collect whatever works they could find, to assemble and classify them according to both topical and phonetic order, and to make them into enduring classics. The fruits of their labor is this encyclopedia, which includes the breadth of the universe and all the texts from antiquity to the present time, whether they are big or small, polished or crude.”30 Yongle’s goal in creating the encyclopedia was to amass knowledge that spanned the whole universe, all of space and time. By dictating how to organize and classify this knowledge, he was asserting his power over it. Because he never ordered his Great Encyclopedia to be printed, scholars have speculated that for Yongle the act of creating the encyclopedia was more important than the final product. The historian Shi-Shan Tsai has argued that Yongle used the encyclopedia to provide disaffected literati introduction

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Figure I.2. The Fifth Karmapa Deshin Shekpa and the Yongle Emperor (late eighteenth or early nineteenth century). Ink and color on silk, 100 × 60 cm. Current location unknown. Pal, Tibetan Paintings, plate 92.

with the opportunity to work together for several years on a great scholarly project to bolster their confidence in his regime.31 The historian Endymion Wilkinson has similarly suggested that Yongle’s reason for commissioning the encyclopedia was to rid texts of any possible references that could cast doubt on the legitimacy of his claims to the throne.32 These scholars draw 10

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attention to the important fact that it is impossible to separate Yongle’s cultural productions from his political motivations. In the same way that Yongle’s Great Encyclopedia represents his desire to incorporate everything, we see in his religious patronage an attempt at complete coverage. As demonstrated through his architectural patronage, the emperor placed equal weight on each of the Three Teachings (Sanjiao): Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. During his reign Yongle ordered the compilation of three major religious works: the Daoist Canon (Daozang), the Buddhist Canon (Skt. Tripit. aka), and the Tibetan Buddhist Canon (T. Kanjur).33 He also commissioned an important collection of Buddhist texts titled Famous Sutras of Various Buddhas, Bodhisattva, Arhats, and Divine Monks (Zhuofo pusa miaoxiang ming hao jingzhuo).34 In addition to the Daoist and Buddhist publications, in 1415 Yongle compiled the Confucian Great Compendia of the Five Classics, Four Books, and Human Nature and Principle (Wujing sishu xingli daquan).35 This was distributed to each of the prefectural and county schools throughout the empire for the examination candidates to master.36 He published a number of his own Confucian writings as well, including The Mind-and-Heart Method of the Sage (Shengxue xinfa), which, as the historian Hok-lam Chan has pointed out, “vividly reveals the emperor’s image of himself as a sage ruler.”37 Yongle surrounded himself by high-ranking religious figures who served as his spiritual advisers. The most famous of them was the Chan Buddhist monk Daoyan (also known as Yao Guangxiao, 1335–1418), who was said to have helped the future emperor in his revolt against Jianwen. Yongle invited the heads of each of the three main schools of Tibetan Buddhism to his court to give teachings and perform elaborate state ceremonies on behalf of himself and his family. A possible reason why Yongle sponsored the reconstruction of the temples on Mount Wudang was so that he could find a famed Daoist immortal named Zhang Sanfeng, rumored to be living on the mountain, and convince him to become the emperor’s personal religious adviser at court, although Yongle was never successful in finding him. Yongle’s lavish patronage of Buddhist art and architecture as a means of political legitimation was not new in Chinese history. Beginning in the Northern Wei period (386–534) and lasting for the rest of dynastic China, rulers sponsored the creation of great Buddhist monuments and even equated themselves with Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The famous female emperor Wu Zetian (r. 684–704) of the Tang dynasty, for instance, claimed to be a reincarnation of Maitreya, while Khubilai (r. 1260–1294) of the Mongol Yuan dynasty and Qianlong (r. 1735–1796) of the Manchu Qing dynasty both saw themselves as reincarnations of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī.38 Yongle instead chose the Daoist deity Zhenwu to represent himself. Yongle’s evenhanded religious patronage may have stemmed from a desire to cover all bases with regard to the afterlife, which was necessary given the violent means by which he came to the throne. In some cases we see that he was striving for redemption. For example, a text dated to 1494 introduction

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Figure I.3. Yongle bell (ca. 1417), Great Bell Temple (Da Zhong Si), Beijing, detail. Bronze, 5.5. × 3.3 m (entire bell). Author’s photograph, 2012.

informs us that following a particularly fierce battle in 1400, Yongle, deeply troubled by the great number of casualties, ordered the skulls of the dead to be collected and made into rosary beads and skull cups (Skt. kapāla). The rosaries were distributed among the palace eunuchs to pray for the rebirth of the fallen soldiers, while the skull cups were filled with pure water and placed on an altar.39 For the new capital at Beijing, Yongle commissioned a massive Buddhist bell onto which were cast the first twenty chapters (more than 130,000 characters) of the Famous Sutras of Various Buddhas of 1417 as well as more than a hundred esoteric formulas (Skt. dhāran. ī) in Lantsha script (fig. I.3).40 The Qianlong emperor later wrote an ode to the great bell, in which he mentioned that Yongle had it cast in order to repent (chanhui) for murdering the loyal officials of Jianwen.41 In Beijing, Yongle erected so-called “sutra listening towers” (tingjing lou) at major crossroads, within which a Buddhist monk would loudly recite scriptures every evening, thereby spreading the Dharma among the city’s populace.42 The art historian Craig Clunas has observed that Yongle’s reign was “attended by almost continuous visual expressions of cosmic approbation of imperial rule.”43 Indeed, the emperor constantly looked for signs that Heaven approved of his reign. If a sign appeared, he would immediately order that it be documented in visual form. He commissioned a number of paintings that recorded sightings of auspicious images from the natural world. These included several paintings of rare animals and mythical creatures, the most famous of which is the hanging scroll of a qilin (giraffe) being offered as tribute to the Ming court.44 Right after the Daoist temples on Mount Wudang were completed, Yongle asked his ministers to document any signs of the deity Zhenwu’s approval of the project. The ministers submitted to the throne painted and printed images of rainbow 12

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Figure I.4. (top) Detail of Illustrations of Auspicious Responses at the Temple of the Sacred Valley (1407). Handscroll, ink and color on silk, 4.97 × 66 cm. Xizang wenwu jingcui, 52. (bottom) Detail of Illustrations of Auspicious Responses at the Temple of the Sacred Valley (1407). Handscroll, ink and color on silk, 4.97 × 66 cm. Xizang wenwu jingcui, 53.

light, fantastic clouds, and Zhenwu himself appearing above the mountain. Miraculous light and other auspicious images were also recorded in a nearly five-meter-long painted silk handscroll of a twenty-eight-day Tibetan Buddhist ritual performed by the Fifth Karmapa for Yongle’s parents in Nanjing (fig. I.4). introduction

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Figure I.5. Model of the Mahābodhi temple complex (early fifteenth century). Wood. Narthang Monastery, Tibet. Liu Yisi, Xizang Fojiao yishu, 10.

In addition to the fleeting signs from Heaven, Yongle was concerned with obtaining actual objects that could validate his rule. For instance, his five military campaigns against the Mongols may have in part been motivated by a desire to get ahold of an ancient imperial jade seal (yuxi) rumored to be in Mongol hands.45 In the third year of his reign (1405), Yongle dispatched the eunuch-admiral Zheng He to obtain a famed tooth relic of the Buddha in Sri Lanka. This event was recorded in a note appended to the Ming edition of the Tang dynasty pilgrim-monk Xuanzang’s (602–664) Records of the Western Regions (Xiyu ji).46 The record describes Zheng He’s arduous task of obtaining the relic, which involved, among other things, the capture by force of the city in which the relic was being held by a non-Buddhist king. Upon Zheng’s return to the capital in 1411, we are told that Yongle ordered a sandalwood Diamond Seat (Jingang Baozuo; Skt. Vajrāsana) to be made to store the tooth relic so that people could make offerings to it and, in turn, receive blessings and immeasurable merit.47 The implication of this story is that the tooth relic, a long-standing symbol of legitimacy, was rightfully taken from a nondeserving king and given to the pious Yongle emperor, who would safeguard it and ensure that it would be used to bring blessings to all. Whether this story actually has any historical validity, the reference to the Diamond Seat within the text is intriguing. The name fundamentally refers to the seat upon which the Buddha achieved enlightenment, but it also came to be known as the stupa type exemplified by the Mahābodhi temple in Bodhgayā, India, constructed at the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment. The Mahābodhi stupa has a distinctive shape reflective of northern Indian Hindu temple architecture characterized by a collection of five “mountain peaks” (Skt. Śikhara) on one base. Between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries the Mahābodhi stupa inspired numerous copies 14

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throughout Buddhist Asia, both portable models and full-scale replicas, at least two of which can be linked to Yongle.48 One is a sandalwood model of the Mahābodhi temple complex located in Narthang (T. sNar thang) Monastery in Tibet (fig. I.5).49 The model, containing twenty-one replicas of stupas and gateways in a walled precinct, bears the inscription “Donated in the Reign of Yongle of the Great Ming Dynasty” (Da Ming Yongle nian shi).50 Yongle sent many ritual objects bearing this inscription to Tibetan lamas as gifts, the most well-known of which are small gilt-bronze Buddha statues. The wooden Mahābodhi complex undoubtedly belongs to the same category of object.51 However, the model’s architectural details are so intricate and precise that it seems improbable that it could have been made by someone who had never seen the temple in person. It is thus likely that the model was made in India and passed through the Yongle court, where it was inscribed, before being brought to Tibet. The more famous Diamond Seat commissioned by Yongle is a fullscale “copy” of the Mahābodhi stupa in Beijing now known as the Five Pagoda Temple on account of its distinctive shape (fig. I.6 ).52 The origins of this pagoda can be traced to an Indian monk known as Śāriputra (also called Pan. d. ita, Ch. Bandida, c. 1335–1426). Around 1417, Śāriputra traveled to the Ming court and presented Yongle with a model of the Mahābodhi stupa along with five golden Buddha images.53 Earlier, Śāriputra had served for three years as the abbot of the Bodhgayā monastery, where he had probably obtained the model.54 Yongle bestowed upon Śāriputra the title Great State Preceptor (Da Guoshi) and built him the Temple of True Awakening (Zhenjue Si) in which to reside.55 The emperor requested that a Figure I.6. Diamond Seat Pagoda (mid-fifteenth century), Zhengjue Monastery, Beijing. Author’s photograph, 2017.

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“throne” (baozuo) be made at the temple to house the five golden images, yet it was “not easily finished” (fuke yijiu) at that time. Around fifty years later, the Chenghua emperor (r. 1464–1487) ordered that the Temple of True Awakening be refurbished and a stone Diamond Seat stupa to be created there in the “Central Indian style” to complete the “unfinished good deeds” (shanguo weiwan) of his predecessor. We can thus gather that the stupa was initiated in the Yongle reign to house the five golden Buddha images given to him by Śāriputra, but for reasons that are not entirely clear it was not finished until the Chenghua reign. Yongle’s act of commissioning the full-scale replica of the Mahābodhi stupa in his new capital was highly symbolic. Between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, rulers throughout Asia sponsored copies of the Mahābodhi Temple to transform their kingdoms into exemplary Buddhist centers and to claim their status as Cakravartin, or “wheel turning” Buddhist kings.56 In doing so, they outwardly connected themselves to King Aśoka, the model of the Cakravartin ideal, who had constructed the first stupa atop the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment in the third century BCE. By patronizing the Mahābodhi stupa replica in Beijing, Yongle was asserting his new capital’s position at the center of the Universe, as the Mahābodhi Temple was considered in Buddhist belief to be located at the center of the world; thereby Yongle was claiming himself to be a Universal Emperor.57

Legacy Yongle’s great monuments had important historical afterlives, continuing to shape the public perception of him well after his death. Even today Yongle remains closely associated with all of the sites he initiated, despite the fact that they were patronized by his successors and were reconstructed over time. The Forbidden City, for example, to this day is invariably linked to Yongle, even though only a few small-scale halls within the palace date to his reign.58 As with famous architects today, a connection to Yongle often guaranteed the “success” of a construction project in terms of its historical impact. That the effects of Yongle’s constructions extended well beyond his lifetime is well illustrated by the Porcelain Pagoda in Nanjing.59 This remarkable octagonal, nine-story pagoda was made of brick and faced with molded and glazed ceramic tiles—a completely novel construction method that required great degrees of technological sophistication. At night, more than one hundred lanterns hanging from the roof eaves illuminated the delicate pagoda structure and its colorful architectural skin. It was a great spectacle meant to be seen from afar and to communicate the glory of its great patron.60 Two centuries after it was first constructed, the Porcelain Pagoda caught the attention of a number of European visitors to the city, who recorded its image in detailed illustrations that later circulated widely 16

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in the form of prints (fig. I.7). This eventually caused the pagoda to become known in Europe as one of the Wonders of the World. In 1762, during the height of the excitement for chinoiserie in England, the architect William Chambers created a ten-story wooden copy of the Porcelain Pagoda at Kew Gardens outside of London.61 However, the significant architectural differences in material and form between the two pagodas indicate that although Chambers wanted to associate himself with the powerful Porcelain Pagoda by replicating it, he did not actually have the means to re-create such a technically sophisticated structure. In order to fill the void that was left by its destruction during the Taiping rebellion in the late nineteenth century, a contemporary version of the Porcelain Pagoda was recently constructed in Nanjing. The Porcelain Pagoda was not the only architectural project initiated by Yongle to inspire copies. During the Ming and Qing dynasties several copies, both miniature and full-scale, were made of the Golden Hall located on the summit of Mount Wudang. In fact, Yongle’s idea to create the Golden Hall was not original; he took it from an earlier metal hall that had been established on the mountain by local Daoist priests. Nonetheless, while the earlier metal hall remained virtually unknown, Yongle’s Golden Hall not only became a famous symbol of Mount Wudang, it was also considered the prototype upon which all later metal halls were based. In addition to architectural novelty, Yongle’s reputation was a key factor in shaping the power and influence of his buildings. introduction

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Figure I.7. Johannes Nieuhof (Dutch, 1618–1672), Porcelain Pagoda in Nanjing (1665). Etching, 30 × 20 cm. Wikimedia Commons.

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Figure I.8. Pagoda at Tabun subury-a (1723), Kökeqota, Inner Mongolia. Photograph courtesy of Isabelle Charleux.

A similar phenomenon can be seen in relation to the aforementioned Diamond Seat pagoda at the Temple of True Awakening in Beijing. In 1723 a near-exact replica of this pagoda was erected in Kökeqota, Inner Mongolia, by a Mongolian lama who had lived in Beijing (fig. I.8).62 This is important because it suggests that, at least in the eyes of one Mongolian lama, Yongle’s pagoda had replaced the Mahābodhi Diamond Seat pagoda in Bodhgaya as the authentic “original.” The Diamond Seat pagoda at the Temple of Complete Awakening was replicated at least once more, in 1748, by the Qianlong emperor at the Temple of Azure Clouds (Biyun Si) outside Beijing. Although this is a less faithful copy than the Inner Mongolian example, it is clear from the form—including the cube-like base, the five dense-eave pagodas, and the square pavilion in the front center—that it was designed with Yongle’s pagoda in mind.63 While the timber architecture patronized by Yongle may not have inspired copies in the same way that his other more distinctive buildings did, its influence was nonetheless great. After Yongle built the highest-ranking halls in his capital out of massive nanmu trunks, this wood became considered the ideal imperial construction material for the rest of dynastic Chinese history. The use of nanmu in these buildings led to a newfound aesthetic emphasis on the materiality of wood in architecture. The huge beams and columns created out of the nanmu set new standards for imperial construction, redefining what it meant for a building to be monumental. It is no exaggeration to say that after Yongle constructed the buildings in his capital out of nanmu, imperial architecture in China changed forever. 18

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In the centuries after Yongle moved the capital to Beijing, he became the subject of popular legends related to its construction.64 In one of these legends he is said to have been the son of the last emperor of the Yuan dynasty, Toghan Temür (r. 1333–1370).65 Perhaps even more significant, Yongle’s architectural engagements led him to be conflated with powerful deities in popular legends. For example, he became associated with the deity Zhenwu after he constructed the Daoist architectural complex on Mount Wudang, and to Vajradhāra, the highest Buddha in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon, following his patronage of Gautama Monastery. Yongle’s architectural projects therefore helped transform him from an emperor into a semi-mythical, even godlike, figure. Yongle’s legacy was consciously shaped not only with the help of his most trusted officials during his lifetime but also by his imperial successors after he died. This is particularly true of his grandson, Xuande.66 Indeed, a number of Yongle’s most important architectural projects—the Porcelain Pagoda, the main hall at the Gautama Monastery, and the Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb—were completed under Xuande. The Diamond Seat Pagoda was likewise finished in the Chenghua reign. Even through the more implicit act of reconstructing the great halls in Beijing out of nanmu, Yongle’s successors were referring back to him, thereby helping to reinforce his authority. As Yongle’s descendants, they of course had a stake in promoting his legitimacy as a ruler. Yongle’s great architectural projects were integral to his conception of empire and his approach to emperorship. Unlike paintings that were tucked away in the imperial collection or statues hidden deep inside temples, these monuments had enormous physical presences. They required the efforts of millions of people—from the conscripted laborers forced to collect the timbers and quarry the stone, to the skilled craftsmen who planned and built the structures, to the religious officials who performed rituals in them afterward. These great sites not only became the subjects of awe, myth, and admiration, they were also an important part of many people’s lives, inspiring interaction and engagement in myriad forms. The influence of Yongle’s architectures did not die with him, but continued to shape the memory of the emperor for centuries afterward, even to this day.

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Perfecting the Past The Design and Construction of the Northern Capital

In the eleventh month of the eighteenth year of his reign (1420), the Yongle emperor announced to All Under Heaven the completion of the palace—later known as the Forbidden City—in his new Northern Capital, Beijing: “Since the beginning of the construction, soldiers and civilians from all over the country have taken an active part in it. By the grace of Heaven and support of the people, the palace is now complete.”1 On New Year’s Day of the nineteenth year (1421), he installed the spirit tablets in the Ancestral Temple (Tai Miao), finalizing the transfer of the capital to the north. He invited his ministers to the most illustrious building in the palace, the Hall of Revering Heaven (Fengtian Dian), and banqueted them in celebration.2 Upon imperial order, three of Yongle’s most loyal officials composed a lengthy encomium of the new capital, “Rhapsody of the Great Unification of the Imperial Capital” (Huangdu dayitong fu), in which they praised the emperor’s sagelike virtue and described in rich detail the splendor of the imperial palaces.3 Yongle basked in the glory of his new capital, the materialization of his ambitious imperial vision and a symbol of power, prestige, and moral redemption within his numinous empire. Prior to becoming Yongle’s capital, Beijing had already had a long history as a capital city, serving as the seat of power of the Khitan Liao (906– 1125), the Jurchen Jin (1115–1234), and the Mongol Yuan (1279–1368) (fig. 1.1). In the Liao dynasty it had been a modest southern capital located in the southwest corner of what is now Beijing. The Jin expanded the city significantly and designated it their Central Capital. In the Yuan dynasty Khubilai Khan (r. 1260–1294) established his capital, Dadu, around Taiye Lake, an artificial body of water located to the northeast of the Liao and Jin capitals, which had been created as a pleasure spot for the Jin dynasty rulers.4 21

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The Yuan palatial city consisted of three palaces organized around the lake: the main palace (Gongcheng) was located to its east, while Abundant Fortune Palace (Longfu Gong) and Palace of Promoting Sagacity (Xingsheng Gong) were located to its west.5 The walled palace city was situated in the southern part of a larger walled rectilinear imperial city. When Yongle’s father, the Hongwu emperor (r. 1368–1398), founded the Ming dynasty, he moved the capital to the south, in what is now Nanjing. Yongle’s own connections to Beijing began in the seventh year of the Hongwu reign (1374), when he was only fourteen. In that year Hongwu enfeoffed the young prince in the former Yuan capital in the region of Yan.6 The Prince of Yan’s palace, completed in 1379, was constructed directly atop the remains of the Yuan imperial city and followed much of its lavish design.7 According to detailed textual descriptions, the palace contained a main hall of eleven bays in width, in front of which was a large gate and behind which, aligned south to north, were two halls of nine bays each. Behind these were three more nine-bay halls, front, middle, and rear, as well as other subsidiary halls and covered corridors comprising hundreds of bays. This grandiose layout far exceeded the sumptuary restrictions for the Ming princes’ palaces established by Hongwu in the fourth year of his reign; it also surpassed, at least with regard to the number of bays along the façade of the main hall, the imperial palace in Nanjing, whose main hall was only nine bays across the front. This is, notably, the only Ming princely palace for which such a detailed textual description exists. It was likely intended to serve as evidence for the extravagance of the palace, for which the Prince of Yan was heavily criticized, particularly by his nephew, the future Jianwen emperor.8 Soon after he took the throne from Jianwen in 1402, Yongle began discussing the issue of transferring the capital back to the north.9 This prospect must have been appealing for several reasons. By moving the capital away from the south, Yongle could distance himself from the troubling event of his usurpation, in which he burned down the Nanjing palaces with his nephew inside, while also returning to his former fief as the Prince of Yan, where he had already lived for more than two decades. Being stationed in the north furthermore offered him a better position from which to defend against the Mongols, who had retreated to the northern steppes at the beginning of the Ming dynasty but continued to cause problems at the northern frontier. Only one year after he ascended the throne, Yongle changed the name of his former fief from Northern Peace (Beiping) to Northern Capital (Beijing), thereby establishing the city’s importance within the political geography of his empire, even though the main capital officially remained in Nanjing for nearly twenty more years.10 According to the official Ming histories, “When the Northern Capital was built, the structure of all the ancestral temples, altars to heaven and earth, palace halls, and gate towers followed those of the Southern Capital. However, [those in the Northern Capital] surpassed [those in the Southern Capital] in grandeur and magnificence.”11 Indeed, Yongle delib22

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Figure 1.1. Plans of former Jin (1115–1234) and Yuan (1279–1368) dynasty capitals in what is now Beijing. a. Main Palace. b. Palace of Promoting Sagacity. c. Abundant Fortune Palace. d. Taiye Lake. e. Ancestral Temple. f. Drum Tower. g. Bell Tower. h. Golden River. i. Jin dynasty palace. Pan, Zhongguo gudai jianzhu shi, 18 and 21.

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erately modeled the architecture in his new capital on that of his father. Ideologically speaking, this act gave built expression to filiality and continuity, while disguising nepoticide and disruption. Practically speaking, it greatly facilitated the planning process because most of the methodological basis for the designs of the palaces and ritual buildings had already been painstakingly worked out under Hongwu. The intense amount of imperial construction in the early Ming dynasty enabled craftsmen to hone their specialized skills, leading to an architectural renaissance that resulted in a new simplified and standardized court style that reflected Yongle’s great power. Although in many ways Beijing thus marked the culmination of a complex process of planning and construction that originated in the Hongwu reign, Yongle’s capital did not passively mimic the architecture of Nanjing. Rather, it perfected upon that architecture in order to project Yongle’s status as the supreme ruler of All Under Heaven and his new capital’s place at its center. perfecting the past

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City Planning in Nanjing Selecting the location of a capital and laying out its most important buildings, the palaces and the altars, were among the most important problems the emperor of a new dynasty faced. These decisions not only determined where an emperor positioned his reign in history, they were also thought to influence the fate of his dynasty. For Hongwu a great deal lay at stake in these decisions because his capital had to convey the sense that he was restoring the standards of the past, particularly of the Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279), before the century-long period in which the country was “corrupted” by the Mongols.12 Exactly how did a capital city take shape? Throughout most of Chinese history this process was handled in two main ways, both of which looked to the past. The first can be called the “tangible” method—that is, by using the buildings of earlier capitals as direct models. This involved measuring the foundations and making blueprints of important buildings in former capitals with which the new dynasty wanted to be associated, then constructing buildings in the new capital according to those plans. When the Ancestral Temple and the Hall of the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji Dian) were being designed for the Northern Wei (386–534) capital at Pingcheng, for instance, an official was sent to Luoyang to measure the foundations of the same buildings in the former Wei (222–265) and Jin (265–420) capitals.13 Similarly, during the construction of the Northern Song (960–1127) capital at Bianliang the emperor ordered an official to make diagrams of the palaces in Luoyang, and during the construction of the Jin dynasty Central Capital, craftsmen were sent to do the same in Bianliang.14 This method of planning indicates that the sacred power of great past dynasties was thought to be embodied in their most important ritual buildings, and that by making blueprints and erecting copies of these buildings, later rulers could transfer this sacred power to their own dynasties. The second way in which Chinese capitals were designed can be called the “intangible” method—that is, based on descriptions from canonical texts such as the Book of Rites (Li ji) and the Rites of Zhou (Zhou li). This kind of classicism began in the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) and continued throughout the rest of dynastic Chinese history.15 Much like Greek temple architecture is employed in the United States capital to symbolize democracy, Chinese emperors lent legitimacy to their rule through the adoption of classical Confucian architecture. The problem with planning cities and erecting buildings based on texts is that the descriptions were both scarce and vague, containing few, if any, details pertaining to the actual construction of the buildings. This meant that considerable liberties were taken when it came to executing the plans. For instance, although we know that a number of historical capitals are based on the ideal city plan described in the Rites of Zhou, they all altered this plan in significant ways.16 Han dynasty Luoyang contained two palaces instead of the prescribed one, and its overall shape was irregular.17 The palace in Tang Chang’an was 24

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likewise located in the north instead of at the center of the city as prescribed.18 Most capital cities can therefore be considered a variation on a theme, rather than an exact copy of a past model. Hongwu seems to have been troubled by where and how to build his capital. In the eighth month of the first year of his reign (1368), he sent down an order designating Yingtian (Nanjing, Jiangsu) the Southern Capital and Bianliang (Kaifeng, Henan) the Northern Capital; he announced his intention to reside in one during the spring and the other during the fall.19 But the next year, Hongwu decided to make his hometown, now Fengyang, Anhui, the main capital.20 After the construction of Fengyang (the Central Capital) had been under way for six years (1369–75), Hongwu traveled there to check out the progress in person. When he returned to Nanjing (the Southern Capital), however, he decided to stop the construction of Fengyang altogether, citing the enormous costs.21 Hongwu spent the next two years (1375–77) reconstructing the palaces and altars in the Southern Capital, incorporating into their design much of the layout of the abandoned Central Capital.22 He instructed his advisers to make the architecture “plain and solid” (pusu jianzhuang), devoid of excessive ornamentation.23 It was not until the eleventh year of Hongwu’s reign (1378) that construction was finally completed and Nanjing was officially designated the main capital (jingshi). In the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu’s reign (1392), the capital at Nanjing once again underwent reconstruction, during which time more halls and gates were added.24 The site Hongwu ultimately selected for his capital had already served as a capital city during the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589) and the Five Dynasties period (tenth century). It was situated in a geomantically favorable position, with the Zhong Mountains to the northeast, Xuanwu Lake at the north, the Yangzi River at the northwest, and the Qinhuai River at the south (fig. 1.2). The entire capital city was surrounded by a massive brick wall thirty kilometers in length that extended far to the west of the imperial palaces toward the Yangzi River. The Nanjing administrative center was located in the east of the city. It comprised a walled palatial city within a larger walled imperial city, with government offices extending in front. The palatial city was entered through the large U-shaped Meridian Gate (Wu Men) (fig. 1.3). Aligned along the central axis after the gate were the Golden River Bridge (Jinshui Qiao), the Gate of Revering Heaven (Fengtian Men), and the Three Halls (San Dian): the Hall of Revering Heaven (Fengtian Dian), the Hall of Magnificent Canopy (Huagai Dian), and the Hall of Scrupulous Behavior (Jinshen Dian), where the emperor conducted state affairs. Behind these buildings was the residential ward of the emperor. It was entered through the Gate of Heavenly Purity (Qianqing Men), behind which was a smaller version of the Three Halls: Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qianqing Gong), Examining Oneself Hall (Shengong Dian), and Palace of Earthly Tranquility (Kunning Gong). On either side of these halls were the Six Palaces (Liu Gong), where the women of the court lived.25 perfecting the past

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Figure 1.2. Plan of Ming dynasty Nanjing. a. Palace City. b. Imperial City. c. Altar to Soil and Grain. d. Ancestral Temple. e. Zhengyang Gate. f. Bell Tower. g. Drum Tower. h. Qinshui River. i. Xuanwu Lake. j. Yangzi River. Pan, Zhongguo gudai jianzhu shi, 26.

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The difficulties involved in the process of planning Hongwu’s capitals can be better understood through the example of the Ancestral Temple. This was where the emperor made sacrifices to his ancestors who were memorialized in the form of inscribed rectangular tablets. In accordance with the prescription “On the left, the Temple to the Ancestors, on the right, the Altar to the Land” (zuozu youshe) outlined in the Rites of Zhou, the Ancestral Temple was traditionally located in the eastern suburbs of a capital city (i.e., to the left of the ruler, who faces south). Since at least the Han dynasty, the layout of the state Ancestral Temple followed one of two chapter i

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architectural forms. In the first, the multihall type, each tablet was housed in its own small hall, and the halls were positioned according to the alternating generation (zhaomu) order: the hall dedicated to the first ancestor was located in the “center,” facing south, that of the second ancestor situated to the right (west) of center, the next to the left (east) of the center, and so on. The second form, the two-hall type—known in classical literature as “same hall, different rooms” (tong tang yi shi)—comprised two large halls (miao and qin) aligned south to north. The tablets were installed in the rear hall and organized into the alternating generational order, one tablet for each bay. Once the tablets exceeded nine, a third hall (tiao) could be added behind the second hall to house the retired tablets. Shortly after Hongwu had ascended the throne, he instructed the Imperial Secretariat Li Shanchang (1314–1390) to compile a study of canonical Confucian ritual structures from the Song and pre-Song periods to be used for the planning of the important buildings in his capitals.26 Li’s finished study, titled Discussions on the Altars for Sacrifices to Heaven perfecting the past

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Figure 1.3. Plan of Ming dynasty Nanjing palatial city. a. Meridian Gate. b. Golden River Bridge. c. Gate of Revering Heaven. d. Hall of Revering Heaven. e. Hall of Magnificent Canopy. f. Hall of Scrupulous Behavior. g. Palace of Heavenly Purity. h. Examining Oneself Hall. i. Palace of Earthly Tranquility. j. Western Six Palaces. k. Eastern Six Palaces. l. Hall for Honoring the Forebears. m. Altar to Soil and Grain. n. Ancestral Temple. Pan, Zhongguo gudai jianzhu shi, 113.

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and Earth and the Ancestral Temple (Jiaoshe zongmiao yi), reviewed the canonical texts and historical precedents for the ritual structures and made a recommendation for each. For the Ancestral Temple, Li proposed the multihall type, probably because it was thought to be older than the two-hall type.27 The first Ming Ancestral Temple was completed in Nanjing in the first year of the Hongwu reign (1368). Following Li’s suggestion, it consisted of four halls, dedicated to Hongwu’s great-great-grandfather, his great-grandfather, his grandfather, and his father, arranged in the alternating generational order.28 The temple was located quite far from the palace, in the northeast of the Imperial City, diagonally opposite the Altar to Soil and Grain (Sheji Tan) at the southwest.29 Not long after the first Ancestral Temple was built, Hongwu became dissatisfied with it. He complained that on account of its location outside the palace walls, the temple was not suited for holding the daily rites to the forebears—although it was suited for performing the more infrequent seasonal rites to the ancestors.30 Here, Hongwu was making a distinction between his personal forebears, in his capacity as a son, and his ancestors as imperial predecessors, in his capacity as ruler. For the construction of the new Central Capital, Hongwu ordered the official Tao Kai to seek out a historical precedent for a more conveniently located temple to the forebears.31 Tao reported back that the Song emperors had established a temple called the Hall for Filial Longing for the Imperial Forebears (Qinxian Xiaosi) within the palace, at which regular offerings were made to ancestral portraits. Tao suggested that the emperor similarly establish a Hall for Honoring the Forebears (Fengxian Dian) inside the palace walls to the left (east) of the emperor’s residence, the Palace of Imperial Tranquility. He proposed that like its Song model, the Ming hall should follow the two-hall form and contain ancestral portraits, to which regular offerings of food should be made. The emperor followed Tao Kai’s suggestion.32 When the Central Capital was being constructed, significant alterations were also made to the design of the main Ancestral Temple. The boldest change was to position the Ancestral Temple and the Altar to Soil and Grain directly outside the main entrance to the palatial city, on either side of the central axis. This was the first time in Chinese history that these two buildings were located so close to the palatial city.33 The layout of the Ancestral Temple in the Central Capital was changed from the multihall to the two-hall type, with each hall consisting of nine bays.34 The main appeal of the two-hall form was that it was considered to be a return to the traditions of the Tang and Song dynasties.35 It had practical advantages: many tablets could be fit within one hall, thereby using up much less space than the multihall type, and the tablets could be added or retired without requiring major structural alterations. After Hongwu had finally decided that Nanjing would serve as the main capital, he incorporated into its design the changes to the ancestral temples that had been made in the Central Capital.36 Like the Central Capital, the final form of Nanjing possessed twin temples to the ancestors: the Hall for Honoring the Forebears, 28

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to the east of the emperor’s residence inside the palace, and the Ancestral Temple, to the east of the central axis outside the palace (see fig. 1.3).37 The first Ming capital in Nanjing thus took shape over a period of several decades and involved continuous planning and reworking. The construction of the Central Capital was a pivotal moment in this process, in which many new ideas were worked out. Throughout the construction of Hongwu’s capitals historical precedents were sought out to justify the design of the buildings, creating the illusion of an unbroken architectural line extending well into the past. In reality, Hongwu made significant decisions regarding the layout of the city, such as constructing a second ancestral hall within the palace walls, for the sake of convenience or practicality.

Planning and Constructing Beijing In contrast to the false starts and failed attempts of Nanjing, the city planning of Beijing was a relatively smooth process because Yongle adopted much of his father’s ready-made plan. With regard to how the process was carried out, a valuable record discovered in Fangshan County in the 1970s helps fill the lacuna in the official histories. The record is taken from an epitaph of a eunuch named Ni Zhong, which documents that in the fifteenth year of Yongle’s reign (1417), the emperor dispatched Ni to Nanjing to measure the palace halls and to document their scale relative to one another. Yongle instructed Ni to prepare (now lost) blueprints of the buildings and to take them back to Beijing, after which the plans were used to lay out the new capital.38 Thus while Hongwu relied largely on the “intangible” method when designing his capital, Yongle instead followed the “tangible” method to create a strong symbolic link between his capital and that of his father, even though he was in fact returning the Ming capital to the former powerbase of the Mongols. According to the official records, the construction of Beijing began in the eleventh month of the fourteenth year of the Yongle reign (1416) and was completed in the eleventh month of the eighteenth year (1420). This has led to the incorrect assumption that the city was built in only four years.39 In reality, at least a decade earlier, craftsmen and laborers had begun making the preparations for its construction by felling trees, quarrying stones, firing ceramic roof tiles, hauling bricks, pounding earthen foundations, and fabricating the parts of the timber-frame halls. The resources, both human and material, required to build the new capital came from many different corners of the country, representing the prosperity of Yongle’s realm. The high degrees of preparation and organization involved in the construction of the capital enabled the erection of the buildings to be handled with great speed and efficiency, which also spoke to Yongle’s great capability as a ruler. In the fourth year of Yongle’s reign (1406), an edict was issued to start securing the craftsmen necessary for the project: perfecting the past

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I order the Ministry of Works to call up all the craftsmen in every trade. Select the soldiers from all the guards of the capital, from every guard under the jurisdiction of the Regional Military Commissions in Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi, Shanxi, the Regency of the Central Capital, and the Metropolitan Area. Select adult male commoners from the Provincial Administration Commissions in Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi, and Shanxi, the Metropolitan Area of Fengyang, Huaian, Yangzhou, Luzhou, Anqing, Xuzhou, and Hezhou. In the fifth month of next year they will all go to the capital to hear their assignments. The rotations are for a six-month period. Each person will receive five dou of rice a month.40 This statement reveals that both civilian and military laborers were requisitioned to take part in the construction of the capital. Most of the soldiers came from garrisons in the north, where they were stationed to protect the northern frontier. The civilian craftsmen came from a wide range of places in the northeast and southeast of the country. The method of drafting and organizing the craftsmen used for the construction of Beijing had been established in the century or so prior to Yongle’s reign. Beginning in the Yuan dynasty, censuses were taken of the country’s craftsmen and their names entered into an official registry of artisan households (jianghu).41 In the early Ming these registered craftsmen were further divided into two types: “residential craftsmen” (zhuzuo jiang) and “rotating craftsmen” (lunban jiang).42 Residential craftsmen lived in or near the capital city and created buildings and luxury goods for the imperial family.43 Although they were far fewer in number than rotating craftsmen, residential craftsmen participated the most frequently in imperial projects and were therefore the leaders in artistic and technological knowledge. In contrast, rotating craftsmen were usually conscripted laborers who traveled to the capital on a temporary basis depending on the need for their particular skill.44 Historical records testify that the number of workers involved in the building of the Northern Capital was enormous, totaling three hundred thousand registered craftsmen and one million other laborers.45 The most reliable source for estimating what kinds of craftsmen were employed is a list of registered craftsmen dated to 1393 during the late Hongwu reign, about a decade before construction began in Beijing. The record lists 232,819 individuals from sixty different occupations, approximately half of whom were involved in the building trade: 33,928 carpenters (mu jiang) on a five-year rotation 9679 sawyers (ju jiang) on a four-year rotation 7590 tile makers (wa jiang) on a four-year rotation 5137 painters (youqi jiang) on a four-year rotation 102,780 bamboo workers (zhu jiang) on a four-year rotation 4541 ironsmiths (tie jiang) on a four-year rotation 30

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1376 diggers (tugong jiang) on a three-year rotation 1112 framers (dacai jiang) on a three-year rotation 6017 stone masons (shi jiang) on a two-year rotation 2370 kilnsmen (heiyao jiang) on a one-year rotation 1710 glaze tile makers (liuli jiang) on a one-year rotation46

These figures represent the less skilled rotating craftsmen, the type who were instructed to travel to the capital for six months at a time. Most of the residential craftsmen who took part in the construction of Beijing were from the region of the lower Yangzi River delta known as Jiangnan. This was where the country’s most talented craftsmen lived because they had already participated in the construction of the first two Ming capitals.47 Their biographies, preserved in local gazetteers, highlight their extraordinary talents and place particular emphasis on their recognition from Yongle.48 Among the most renowned master craftsmen was the carpenter Kuai Xiang, who was later commemorated in a large hanging scroll in which he stands prominently in front of the Forbidden City (fig. 1.4).49 Other famous Jiangnan craftsmen included the stonemason brothers Lu Xian and Lu Xiang, the carpenter Cai Xin, and the tile maker Yang Qing. The most influential non-Jiangnan master craftsman was undoubtedly the Vietnamese eunuch Nguyen An (Ruan An), who has often been called the “architect” of Beijing, on account of the great many projects he oversaw.50 If Yongle in the construction of Beijing largely continued Hongwu’s system of craftsmen, even down to the specific individuals involved, his approach to gathering and producing construction materials reveals that he wanted his capital to surpass that of his father in magnificence. In the same edict in which Yongle ordered the country’s craftsmen to go to the capital to receive their assignments, he also dispatched several high-ranking officials to begin the task of preparing the construction materials: The Minister of Works Song Li was sent to Sichuan, the Vice Minister Gu Pu to Jiangxi, the Vice Ministers Shi Kui and Jin Chun to Huguang [Hubei and Hunan], the Vice Censor-in-Chief Liu Guan to Zhejiang, and the Assistant Censor-in-Chief Shi Zhongcheng to Shanxi, all to supervise the soldiers and commoners in selecting timber, for a wage of five dou of rice and three ding of cash per person per month. The Marquis of Taining Chen Gui and the Assistant Minister of Punishments of Beijing Zhang Sigong instructed the soldiers, commoners, and craftsmen in the production of bricks and roof tiles, at five dou of rice per person per month.51 As suggested in this edict, Yongle went to great lengths to obtain the highest possible quality materials from the best sources in his empire, particularly timber. He apparently did not recycle any construction materials from Dadu, as had been done with capital cities in the past, but rather perfecting the past

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created everything from scratch. Before any materials could be sent, however, the main waterways leading to the capital, the Tonghui River and the Grand Canal, had to be dredged, as they had silted over due to decades of neglect.52 The most common material made for the Ming palaces was standard gray brick (qing zhuan). It was used everywhere from walls to plinths to floors.53 Yongle ordered these bricks to be produced in kilns in Linqing, Shandong, instead of the kilns in Jiangnan that his father had used (map 1.1).54 In the Yongle reign, Linqing possessed an estimated three hundred large-scale kilns.55 Each kiln could produce approximately twelve batches of one thousand to four thousand bricks in a month, depending on the size of the brick and the size of the kiln.56 The bricks themselves came in several different standard types and sizes.57 Linqing was conveniently located at the junction of the Grand Canal and the Huitong River, reopened in 1416 for the purpose of shipping bricks north.58 According to a local gazetteer, in the Yongle reign one million bricks from Linqing were requisitioned every year for the city walls of Beijing.59 To transport them, imperial regulations specified that grain boats passing through Linqing had to take bricks with them to the new capital.60 The most valuable type of brick used in the Beijing palaces were “gold bricks” (jinzhuan), so named because of how expensive they were to produce. These large square bricks possessed a dark color and a smooth surface.61 In contrast to the gray bricks, which served a variety of purposes, gold bricks were exclusively used to pave the floors of the most illustrious halls in the palaces. The gold bricks were created in Suzhou and were each stamped with the phrase “manufactured under the supervision of the Suzhou prefectural office” (Suzhou fu duzao) as a means of quality control.

Gold brick Roof tiles Grey brick Stone Timber

Figure 1.4. Zhu Bang (attributed), portrait of the master carpenter Kuai Xiang in front of the Beijing imperial palace (1480–1580). Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, 170 × 110.8 cm. British Museum, London.

Map 1.1. Sources of the construction materials for Yongle’s Beijing. Map by Dana Heusinkveld and Ani Rucki. Beijing Ye ll

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The process of creating such numbers of bricks was enormously complicated and took as long as a year and a half.62 Because of their large size, only about one hundred gold bricks could be fired at a time.63 The bricks were sent to Beijing via the Grand Canal and then directly into the city via the Tonghui River, where they were unloaded at the Square Brick Depot (Fangzhuan Chang) located north of the palace64 The stone used for the palace was mainly quarried in Fangshan County, approximately seventy kilometers southwest of Beijing.65 The most conspicuous use of stone was in the elaborately carved ramp known as the imperial path (yudao), which led up the platform where the main halls of the outer courtyard were situated. Although no information on the transportation of the massive slabs of stone required for the reconstruction of this ramp survives from the Yongle reign, we know that for the reconstruction of the platform in the Wanli reign (1572–1620) the process involved thirty thousand men and took twenty-eight days. To move the stone, the laborers had to wait until winter so that they could flood the roads between the quarry and the palace with water and slide the stone across the ice.66 The same process was likely required in the Yongle period. In contrast to brick and stone, roof tiles (wa) were created in or near the capital. The glazed tile (liuli wa) factories were located just southwest of the palaces, while unglazed tile (hei wa) factories were located north of the city, near today’s Yaotai.67 Master craftsmen provided these factories with information about the building’s dimensions and roof type, and the number of tiles needed was calculated based on this information.68 The roof tiles came in four main types. The plate tiles (ban wa) were laid with the concave side face up, while the cylindrical tiles (tong wa) were laid face down, overlapping with the plate tiles.69 The eaves tiles (yan wa), usually impressed with decorative designs, consisted of drip tiles (dishui) at the end of the plate tiles and circular tiles (goutou or wadang) at the end of the cylindrical tiles.70 The polychrome glaze that covered these tiles not only added beauty and distinguished the rank and the function of the buildings within the palace, it also made the roof tiles water resistant, which was necessary to help protect the timber frame.71 Most of the timber for the buildings was gathered in Sichuan, more than eighteen hundred kilometers from Beijing, between 1406 and 1407. It was shipped down the Yangzi, then up the Grand Canal, and finally via the Tonghui River into the capital. The first shipment of wood likely arrived to the capital in the first month of the sixth year (1408), when the Minister of Works was called from Nanjing to Beijing to inspect the incoming lumber.72 This means that it took approximately two years to extract the logs from the forest and ship to the new capital. Other reports note that it could take up to five years for the timbers to reach Beijing.73 The logs were stored in two main places within the capital—the Sacred Timber Yard (Shenmu Chang), located outside today’ Chongwen Gate, and the Great Timber Yard (Damu Chang), located in today’s Chaoyang Gate region.74 The storehouses functioned not only to store the wood but were also the 34

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places where all the prefabrication of the parts of the timber frame was carried out.75 Therefore the onsite “construction” of the palaces was much more a process of assembling the parts than designing and building from scratch. Over the course of the roughly fifteen-year period in which the Northern Capital was being built, Yongle made three inspection tours to check out the progress, in the seventh (1409), eleventh (1413), and fifteenth (1417) years of his reign.76 During his first two inspection tours to Beijing, Yongle stayed in the very same palace he had occupied as the Prince of Yan. But in the eighth month of the fourteenth year (1416), he ordered his ministers to tear down his former residence so that he could begin constructing the new imperial palaces in its place.77 At this time Yongle ordered the construction of a new Western Palace (Xigong), which could serve as a residence and place for him to hold court while his imperial palace was being built.78 The Western Palace was completed in the fourth month of the fifteenth year (1417).79 It was located to the west of Taiye Lake, atop the remains of the former Yuan dynasty Abundant Fortune Palace, and contained several gates and halls named after those in Nanjing.80 Two months later, construction on the new capital began. The establishment of the Western Palace thus marked a major turning point: not only did Yongle never again reside in Nanjing after the Western Palace had been built, but the Western Palace became the political center of the empire in the final years leading up to the completion of the main palaces in Beijing.81

Sanctioning the New Capital The construction of Beijing involved matters of timber, brick, and stone as well as generating approval for it, especially among the disaffected literati from the region of Nanjing. An important artifact that illustrates Yongle’s efforts in this regard is a collection of landscape paintings called the Eight Views of the Northern Capital (Beijing bajing tu), completed in 1414. In 1409 the emperor ordered the court artist Wang Fu to accompany him on his second inspection tour to Beijing to record some of its major sites in visual form. The result was a set of eight monochromatic ink paintings done in the handscroll format: “Sunset at Jintai” (Jintai xizhao), “Clear Waves at Taiye Pond” (Taiye qingbo), “Spring Clouds at Qionghua Island” (Qiongdao chunyun), “Cascading Rainbow at Mount Yuanquan” (Yuquan chuihong), “Layered Shades of Green at Juyong Pass” (Juyong diecui), “Misty Trees at Jimen” (Jimen yanshu), “Dawn Moonlight at Lugou Bridge” (Lugou xiaoyue), and “Clearing Snow in the Western Hills” (Xishan jixue) (fig. 1.5).82 Accompanying each scene was an inscription that highlighted the great achievements made by Yongle in relation to the new capital. For instance, one inscription explains: “The Sagely Son of Heaven arrived here like a soaring dragon. He commanded the construction of Beijing as the capital where people from myriad directions convened. Carriages patrolled perfecting the past

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Figure 1.5 (top). “Clear Waves at Taiye Pond”; (bottom). “Layered Shades of Green at Juyong Pass,” from Wang Fu, Eight Views of the Northern Capital (1414). Handscroll, ink on paper, 42.1 × 2006.5 cm (entire scroll). National Museum of China. Lin, “Gifts of Good Fortune and Praise-Songs for Peace,” 130–31.

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in the surrounding areas; scholarly officials lined in procession. . . . The roads in all four directions were even and straight, enabling the control of all regions. This is a firm foundation for imperial descendants to reign for ten thousand generations.” 83 This inscription clearly places Yongle’s capital at the center of the universe, where people from everywhere gathered and the roads from all directions led, and establishes it as the base of imperial power for future generations. The Eight Views of the Northern Capital included a frontispiece written by the Hanlin scholar Hu Guang and, at the end, odes to the new capital composed by thirteen of Yongle’s most trusted officials. These odes were written in the Eminent Court Official Style (Taige ti), a graceful writing style that, according to the art historian Lina Lin, was developed by scholars in the Yongle reign to “describe an age of peace and prosperity.”84 An excerpt from the ode written by the official Yang Rong leaves little doubt about the political implications of the work: “I have carefully studied the various advantageous terrains of the emperor. No place is superior to Jinling [Nanjing] as an imposing and beautiful capital site. Yet no place surpasses Yanjing [Beijing] for having broad deep terrain and steep, secure

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passes which will firmly protect the level, broad plain forever. Although Chang’an is kept secure by the Hangu Pass and Mount Yao, and Luoyang is the center of the earth, no capital surpasses Jinling or Yanjing for being strategic imperial capitals which will always be peaceful burial sites.”85 As the art historian Kathryn Liscomb has argued, in praising Beijing as the imperial capital, Yang Rong highlighted its military defensibility as well its geomantic suitability as a burial place for the emperor.86 He also established a parallel between Nanjing and Beijing as twin capitals of the Ming empire. At least three versions of the Eight Views were produced in the early fifteenth century.87 The record was likely intended to help convince officials in Jiangnan who were opposed to the movement of the capital about the merits of Beijing.88 It is noteworthy that the paintings seem to reflect the watery landscapes of the Southern Capital much more so than the arid landscapes of the Northern Capital, perhaps in an effort to make it more appealing for the Jiangnan officials. In 1417 several of the officials who contributed to the Eight Views composed a collection of odes, titled Ode to Imperial Virtues and Auspicious Responses (Shengde ruiying song), that described miraculous appearances of radiant light, mythical animals, and many other things that signaled Heaven’s approval of Beijing.89 In the same year, shortly after the Hall of Revering Heaven was completed, the official histories record that the Golden River and Taiye Lake within the palatial city froze and created splendid shapes of towers, dragons, phoenixes, and flowering plants within the ice. Yongle invited all his officials to go see these miraculous phenomena, which they took to be an auspicious sign and repeatedly expressed their congratulations to the emperor.90 These various visual and textual records reveal that in the years leading up to the official transfer of the capital in 1420, Yongle and his officials spent great efforts fabricating an image of Beijing as a divinely sanctioned capital city.

The Layout of Yongle’s Beijing Having served as both the capital of the Yuan dynasty and his kingdom when he was the Prince of Yan, Yongle’s Beijing had a very recent architectural past with which he had to deal. Yuan Dadu had comprised three concentric rectangular enclosures formed with tamped-earthen walls, with the palaces located in the center of the city’s southern part (fig. 1.6). When the general Xu Da (1332–1385) captured and occupied Dadu in the early Ming dynasty, he shifted the northern boundary of the former capital about three kilometers to the south as a matter of defense.91 Under Yongle the southern boundary was also moved about half a kilometer to the south, although the east and west walls were left in place. This means that Dadu and Beijing were the same width, but Beijing was considerably

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1279–1368

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Figure 1.6. Plan of Ming dynasty Beijing. a. Forbidden City. b. Long Life Mountain. c. Drum Tower. d. Bell Tower. e. Altar to Soil and Grain. f. Ancestral Temple. g. Altar to Agriculture. h. Altar to Heaven. Pan, Zhongguo gudai jianzhu shi, 35.

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shorter than Dadu in depth. Yongle tore down the two Yuan palaces west of Taiye Lake and built his new palace about four hundred meters south of the main Yuan palace, keeping its position atop the Yuan central axis.92 He fortified his palace more heavily than had the Mongols, surrounding it by a brick wall and a moat.93 In front of the palace, in the location of the former southern city wall of Dadu, Yongle constructed a major east-west thoroughfare modeled on one in Hongwu’s Central Capital.94 Beijing reused much of Dadu’s street plans, waterways, and drainage systems.95 Thus, rather than breaking with the architectural past of his capital, chapter i

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Yongle literally built upon it, using much of the preexisting city infrastructure to his advantage. With the debris from the demolished Yuan palaces and the earth excavated from the moat, Yongle created a massive artificial hill at the northern end of his palace, which fulfilled the geomantic requirement of blocking malevolent forces to the north.96 The hill was named Long Life Mountain (Wansui Shan) after a natural mountain to the north of the palaces in the Central Capital.97 To the north of this hill, along the central axis, were constructed the timekeeping devices for the city, the Bell Tower and Drum Tower, just to the east of where they had been in the Yuan.98 Yongle considerably extended the southern central axis leading to his palace to create a grander entrance. The series of gates that unfolded along the southern approach were named and arranged after those in Nanjing, as were the yamen on either side of it.99 Further south he constructed the Altar to Agriculture (Xiannong Tan) and the Altar to Heaven (Tian Tan) to the east and west of the central axis after his father’s capital. The Altar to Heaven’s famous circular Prayer for Good Harvests Hall (Qinian Dian) was originally built in the 1530s under Jiajing and has been heavily reconstructed many times since.100 Under Jiajing three more altars were added, at the north, east, and west of the city. The long north-south central axis, the three concentric walled enclosures, and the suburban altars on all four sides of the outer city wall together had a centering effect upon the imperial palace. In many respects, the palace city in Beijing was a mirror image of that in Nanjing (fig. 1.7). The scale of both palatial cities was the same: approximately 750 meters east to west and 950 meters north to south.101 Both cities could be divided horizontally into two parts of roughly even size and vertically along three north-south axes—a much more orderly layout than exists today. A detailed early description of Yongle’s new capital survives in the “Rhapsody of the Great Unification of the Imperial Capital” of 1421. This record confirms that the layout of the main halls in the Beijing palace city were identical to those in Nanjing.102 Even various idiosyncrasies of the Nanjing palace city were transplanted to Beijing. For instance, following his father, Yongle constructed the main audience hall, the Hall of Revering Heaven, with only nine bays across the front instead of the traditional eleven.103 Yongle also continued one of the major innovations of Hongwu’s capitals: placing the Altar to Soil and Grain and the Ancestral Temple directly in front of the palace.104 As in Hongwu’s capitals, the Beijing ancestral temple consisted of two halls, front and back, of nine bays each (fig. 1.8).105 Moreover, a Hall of Honoring the Forebears was constructed within the Beijing palace walls, in the same location as it had been in Nanjing.106 The greatest departure from the Nanjing palatial city plan was the addition of a temple dedicated to the deity Zhenwu, the Guardian of the North, inside the imperial palace.107 The temple, called the Hall of Imperial Peace (Qin’an Dian), is located at the very north end of the Forbidden City, perfecting the past

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Figure 1.7. Plan of the Forbidden City in the Yongle reign. a. Meridian Gate. b. Golden River Bridge. c. Gate of Revering Heaven. d. Hall of Revering Heaven. e. Hall of Magnificent Canopy. f. Hall of Scrupulous Behavior. g. Palace of Heavenly Purity. h. Examining Oneself Hall. i. Palace of Earthly Tranquility. j. Western Six Palaces. k. Eastern Six Palaces. l. Hall for Honoring the Forebears. m. Hall of Imperial Peace. Redrawn after Wang Zilin, Zijincheng yuanzhuang yu yuanchuang, 17.

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within the imperial garden, and contained a large statue of Zhenwu cast in bronze. According to a Qing dynasty history of Beijing, Yongle also had an image of Zhenwu painted between the two central bracket-sets of the roof eave of the Hall of Revering Heaven.108 Yongle claimed that Zhenwu had aided him during his usurpation of the throne. By constructing a temple for the deity in such a prominent position in his new palace, Yongle was not only outwardly expressing his devotion to Zhenwu, he was also implicitly designating Zhenwu the guardian of his empire.109 Despite the many consistencies between the Nanjing and Beijing city plans, due to the differences in their local topographies, the two capitals would not have looked much alike in person. While the flat landscape of the Northern Capital helped dictate its straight lines, right angles, and orderly layout, the mountainous and watery landscape of the Southern Capital 40

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Figure 1.8. Plan of Beijing Ancestral Temple. Pan, Zhongguo gudai jianzhu shi, 164.

hall for retired tablets (tiao)

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resulted in much more relaxed shapes and patterns.110 Furthermore, the natural environment of the south was deliberately incorporated into the architecture of Nanjing: the Zhong Mountains and the Yangzi River served as protective barriers at the northeast and northwest, and the Xuanwu Lake and Qinhuai River to the north and south provided natural places for recreation and transportation. Although landscape features played an important role in the architecture of Beijing, its “mountains,” “lakes,” and “rivers” were completely artificial. This artificiality combined with the rigid city layout gave Beijing a schematic and abstracted feel, as opposed to perfecting the past

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the more organic feel of Nanjing. This helped convey the centrality of the imperial palace—the architectural expression of the emperor—within the capital, the empire, and ultimately the universe. Far more so than Hongwu’s capital, Yongle’s capital communicated the power of the emperor to mold and shape the natural environment to create a perfected space from which to rule. Previous scholarship has tended to explain the architecture of imperial Beijing in relation to fengshui, Five Phases cosmology, theories of yin and yang, and numerology.111 Although it is true that evidence of these principles can be found within the architecture of the palaces—for instance, the numbers five and nine, associated with male yang energy, appear throughout—they were really only ideological details.112 Rather, the design of Beijing was primarily a result of the superimposition of elements of Hongwu’s capitals onto the earlier Mongol city plan. Even though Yongle strove to create a continuity with his father through the architecture of his capital, popular Mongolian legends concerning the construction of Beijing instead present Yongle as a descendant of the Mongol imperial line.113 In a folktale titled “The Mongolian Story of How Emperor Yongle Built the City of Beijing,” Yongle is said to be the son of the last emperor of the Yuan dynasty, Toghon Temür (r. 1333–1368), born from a Mongolian consort who was secretly pregnant at the time she was taken by the Ming troops from Dadu. When Hongwu later found out about the future Yongle’s real paternity, he banished him to the north, where Yongle constructed a capital in accordance with Mongolian conceptions of astrology, cosmology, and the division of time.114 While we should not actually believe this colorful story, it is remarkable that in the Mongol imaginary, the construction of Beijing was considered a key link between Yongle and the rulers of the Yuan and a major point of departure from the legacy of Hongwu, founder of the Ming.115

A New Imperial Architecture Regarding what the buildings in Yongle’s capital looked like, the esteemed early twentieth-century architectural historian Liang Sicheng (1902–1972) made the following observation: “With the founding of the capital at Beijing at the beginning of the fifteenth century, there appeared, principally in the official architecture of the court, a style of marked departure from the tradition of the Song and Yuan dynasties. The change is very abrupt, as if some overwhelming force had turned the minds of the builders toward an entirely new sense of proportion.”116 The term “official architecture” (guanshi jianzhu) used by Liang refers to state-sponsored, as opposed to vernacular, constructions in China. Whereas vernacular Chinese architecture varied widely from region to region, depending on such factors as geography, climate, and culture, official architecture, because it was regu-

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lated by the government, remained relatively standardized. Furthermore, while vernacular architecture tended to evolve organically at a consistent rate, official architecture instead developed in sudden, abrupt changes, with significant changes occurring at the start of each new dynasty.117 Within the history of official Chinese architecture, the early Ming was a moment in which particularly great leaps were made. The appearance of this new architectural style in the Yongle reign indicates that it had been created sometime during the great period of construction of the three imperial capitals in the first fifty or so years of the Ming.118 Unfortunately, its origins are obscured by the fact no imperial Ming buildings from before the Yongle reign survive. Although today only a handful of small Yongle-era structures in Beijing and a few more outside the capital remain, originally all the buildings patronized by this emperor would have exhibited the novel architectural style, the key characteristics of which were the simplification and standardization of the timber-frame structure.119 The governments of both the Song and the Qing published extensive treatises of their official dynastic architectures. The Song construction manual, Treatise on Architectural Methods (Yingzao fashi), was compiled in 1103.120 The Qing construction manual, Building Methods of the Board of Works (Gongbu gongcheng zuofa), was compiled in 1734.121 These exhaustive manuals were primarily intended to regulate and standardize construction practices and to economize labor and materials. They included information on all aspects of traditional construction (such as carpentry, masonry, brickwork, and roof tiling) and also outlined the principles that guided construction (such as the system of ranking buildings according to a modular unit). For reasons that are unknown, no government-issued construction manual exists from the Ming. This presents challenges for historians of Ming architecture because it means that we must rely exclusively on the data from surviving buildings for information. Without a grammar book for Ming architecture, we lack a precise vocabulary to talk about it. Does it make more sense to use the terms (and concepts) from the Treatise on Architectural Methods or the much different ones from the Building Methods of the Board of Works? The fundamental construction principle outlined in the Song Treatise on Architectural Methods is the modular (caifen) system. In this system a standard unit (cai) is used to determine the sizes of the various other components of the building.122 Its dimensions corresponded to the crosssection of the arm (gong) of the bracket-set (dougong) (fig. 1.9).123 The unit could either be a single unit (dancai) or a full unit (zucai), which included the addition of a stiffener (zhi) at the top.124 The single unit measured 15 fen in height and 10 fen in width, while the full unit measured 21 fen in height and 10 fen in width. The modular units came in eight grades (sizes).125 The largest and highest-rank module (Grade 1) measured 9 cun in height and 6 cun in width (approximately 28 × 19 cm), while the smallest and lowestrank module (Grade 8) measured 4.50 cun in height and 3 cun in width

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single unit

full unit

fen

Song Treatise on Architectural Methods

doukou Qing Building Methods of the Board of Works

Figure 1.9. Song and Qing dynasty modular systems. Redrawn after Guo Qinghua, “Yingzao fashi,” 7, and Liang Sicheng, Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture, 18.

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(approximately 14 × 9 cm).126 In the Song the size of the module and the overall scale and rank of a building were in direct proportion: the larger the unit, the larger the building and the higher its rank. In the Qing manual Building Methods of the Board of Works, the module was called “block mouth” (doukou).127 Its width corresponded to the opening (kou) in the capital block (dou) into which the bracket arm was inserted.128 The single block mouth module measured 14 fen in height and 10 fen in width, while the full module measured 20 fen in height and 10 fen in width, slightly shorter than the standard unit in the Song.129 The Qing modular units came in eleven grades. The highest grade (Grade 1) measured 8.40 cun in height and 6 cun in width (approximately 27 × 19.50 cm), while the lowest (Grade 11) measured 1.4 cun in height and 1 cun in width (approximately 4.50 × 3.20 cm), significantly smaller than the lowest-grade module in the Song.130 Although in theory the Qing Grade 1 module was almost the same size as that of the Song, Grade 1 modules were never actually used in Qing construction. We would expect that the most eminent hall in the Forbidden City, the Hall of Supreme Harmony (formerly the Hall of Revering Heaven, last reconstructed in 1695), would employ a Grade 1 module, yet it actually only employs a tiny Grade 7 module.131 This indicates that by the Qing dynasty the size of the module no longer corresponded to the size or rank of a building, as it had in the Song. Ming buildings reveal a significant decline in the importance of the module in relation to the overall rank and size of the buildings.132 For example, the modules of several Yongle-era buildings discussed in this book range from 3.00 to 3.50 cun (9.50–11 cm) in width.133 This corresponds chapter i

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to the eighth, or lowest grade on the Song dynasty ranking scale. The largest modules from the Ming are found in the four halls along the central axis of the Ancestral Temple (reconstructed in 1545), which measure 3.90 cun (12.50 cm) in width.134 Still, this corresponds to only the sixth rank in the Song Treatise on Architectural Methods scale, which would be the equivalent to a small pavilion in that dynasty.135 Because the halls in the Ancestral Temple range from five to eleven bays across the façade, we can see that by this time a strict relationship no longer existed between the size of the module and the size of the building, as stipulated in the Treatise on Architectural Methods.136 By the late Ming, even some of the most important halls to the state, such as those along the central axis of the Forbidden City, employ modules so small that they do not even factor on the Song scale.137 The modular unit is closely linked to bracket-sets because its dimensions corresponded to either the cross-section of the bracket arm (in the Song) or the width of the opening of the block into which the bracket arm is inserted (in the Qing). Therefore, as the module shrank over time, bracket-sets also became smaller—or perhaps more correctly, because bracket-sets shrank over time, so did the module. The column-top bracket sets of high-ranking buildings in China went from measuring 40 percent to 50 percent of the height of the column in the Tang, to measuring 30 percent in the Song, 25 percent in the Yuan, and finally, to just 20 percent of the height of the column in most Ming and Qing buildings.138 One reason for this decline may be that Tang and Song builders had “over designed” bracket-sets—that is, made them larger than necessary because they could not determine exactly how big they needed to be to support the roof eaves—but by the Ming they had figured out that much smaller bracket-sets provided sufficient support. In other words, the shrinking of the bracket-sets indicates that over time craftsmen became more skilled at estimating precisely what was needed to support the roof eaves, thereby economizing labor and materials. The great reduction of the size of the bracket-sets during the Ming was also made possible because of technological improvements in the rest of the timber structure. By the Ming period bracket-sets no longer carried as much of the load as in earlier buildings because the eave support was in part taken up by the transverse tie-beam that extended beyond the wall plane.139 Moreover, the purlins, the beam frame, and the pillars were now connected to each other directly with mortise and tenon. This provided a much stronger structural grid and obviated the need for complex connecting members, such as bracket-sets, “camel-humps” (tuofeng), “supportingfeet” (tuojiao), or “forking-hands” (chashou), which had been popular in the Song period.140 Advances in brick and glaze technologies made during the Ming, as well as the more widespread use of brick, contributed to a decline in the importance of the bracket-sets: because brick walls and glazed roof tiles helped to prevent rain and corrosion, it was no longer as necessary for buildings to have such huge overhanging eaves and giant bracket-sets to support them.141 perfecting the past

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slanted arm

cantilever bracket arm set at 45-degree angle

Alongside the shrinkage of the size of bracket-sets, we see in the Ming a major simplification of bracket-set types. Pre-Ming bracket-sets were rich in variety and included diagonal members such as cantilevers (ang) and slanted arms (xiegong) (fig. 1.10).142 Ming bracket-sets, however, came in a limited number of types, usually with either seven or nine “steps” (cai)— or projections perpendicular to the façade (fig. 1.11).143 Furthermore, in the Ming period, cantilevers—which originally served to help support the load of the roof eaves—became decorative “pretend” cantilevers (jiaang); the slanted arms disappeared altogether.144 The use of bracket-sets in the Ming was standardized according to the buildings’ function: the most eminent state halls used nine-step brackets in their upper eaves and seven-step brackets in their lower eaves, while Buddhist and Daoist halls used sevenstep brackets on the upper eaves and five-step brackets on the lower eaves.145 In short, Ming bracket-sets were smaller, less complex, and more standardized than those of earlier periods. This would have greatly sped up the work of the craftsmen because they did not need to fabricate great numbers of different individual components, as they would have in the past. The simplification of the bracketing system that occurred in the Ming dynasty was echoed in the rest of the timber frame. In the Song period the highest-ranking buildings followed the so-called palace (diantang) form, in which a pillar grid of uniform height is topped with a layer of bracket-sets, and the roof frame composed of beams and purlins (fig. 1.12). Lowerranking buildings, followed the so-called mansion (tingtang) form, in which the pillars of uneven height, held together with tie-beams, support the roof purlins directly (fig. 1.13).146 Even though some official Ming buildings, such as the Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb, use pillar grids of uniform height, the complex bracket-set layer is omitted, and most Ming buildings, even very lofty ones, employ the simpler mansion form framework.147 Moreover, whereas buildings of the Tang, Song, and Yuan periods often employ decorative “crescent-moon-shaped beams” (yueliang), in official Ming architecture only straight beams are used.148

Figure 1.10. Example of a pre-Ming bracket-set from the main hall of the Longmen Temple in Pingshun, Shanxi (tenth century). Line drawing courtesy of Lala Zuo.

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“pretend” cantilevers bracket arms set directly parallel and perpendicular to building facade

Finally, in contrast to buildings of the pre-Ming period, when it was common to either shift (yizhuzao) or completely eliminate (jianzhuzao) pillars to create more interior space, in Ming architecture each bay possesses four pillars, resulting in an orderly structure.149 By Yongle’s reign new models for indicating a building’s rank had been established. Before the Ming dynasty one of the key indicators of a building’s status was the size of the bracket-sets. In the early Ming, however, status was instead communicated through the number of intercolumnar bracket-sets (pingshenke), particularly those in the central bay. In the Song dynasty most buildings only had one intercolumnar bracket-set. In the Yuan dynasty we often see two intercolumnar sets; but by the Ming it was common for very high-rank buildings to have six or eight intercolumnar sets in the central bay.150 The more sets a Ming building contained, the greater its importance to the state. Both the Sacrificial Hall and Main Gate at Yongle’s tomb possess eight sets of intercolumnar brackets in the central bay.151 The Golden Hall atop Mount Wudang possesses a remarkable ten sets, denoting its preeminent status among all of Yongle’s constructions.152 These examples all indicate that strict sumptuary laws guided Ming construction. An imperial Ming building’s importance was also conveyed through the large sizes of the columns and beams and the type of wood used to construct them, nanmu being the most illustrious of all. The decline in the size of the module, the shrinking of the bracketsets, and the suspension of the system of ranking buildings as it was outlined in the Treatise on Architectural Methods had in fact already begun in the Yuan dynasty.153 But by the Yongle reign these construction methods were being executed to a much greater degree and much more consistently than ever before, indicating that they were part of a mature architectural system. Due to a lack of both textual and material evidence, it is difficult to know precisely how and why official Ming architecture originally took

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Figure 1.11. Example of a Ming dynasty bracket-set from Huangqian Hall at the Altar to Heaven in Beijing. Line drawing courtesy of Lala Zuo.

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shape. It was most likely first developed by the Jiangnan craftsmen during the construction of Hongwu’s capitals and was driven by the desire to simplify the building process to save time and costs. When the capital was moved to Beijing, it was transmitted northward through these master craftsmen’s embodied knowledge, replacing the northern architectural styles of the Yuan.154 Official Ming architecture was likely further refined in the early Yongle reign, as hundreds of thousands of craftsmen and other laborers from all over the empire worked together, contributing their different skills and knowledge.155 Finally, it was regulated and deployed on a massive scale for the construction of Yongle’s Beijing and the other building projects he sponsored throughout his empire. It is no coincidence that the birth of the simplified and standardized architectural style coincided with the ascendency of the absolute ruler, Yongle. On the one hand, official Ming architecture was a result of the practical concerns of the master craftsmen, who had to build structures more quickly and efficiently during the decades of nonstop construction of the three Ming imperial capitals. On the other hand, because this architectural style flourished under Yongle’s patronage, it also had to represent and transmit his authority, as it was he who assumed the ultimate responsibility for its creation. The architectural style in which the buildings of the new capital were constructed possessed an overarching sense of order and uniformity that communicated the message of a strong centralized power controlled by a capable and moral ruler. The official Ming architectural style thus ultimately served as a metaphor for the emperor himself.

Figure 1.12. Song dynasty palace form hall. Redrawn by Ani Rucki after Li Jie (1065–1110), Yingzao fashi, vols. 7, 8, and 11. Figure 1.13. Song dynasty mansion form hall. Redrawn by Ani Rucki after Li Jie (1065–1110), Yingzao fashi, vols. 11, 15, and 16.

Conclusion The construction of Beijing was a massive, empire-wide effort that involved millions of Yongle’s subjects, from lowly laborers to lofty officials, as well as building materials gathered from throughout his realm. The great quantities of people and resources poured into the project reflected the richness of Yongle’s empire, while the efficiency with which the construction was handled spoke to his abilities as a ruler. Visual and textual records of the new capital sponsored by the emperor promoted it as a perfect, numinous city sanctioned by Heaven. Yongle modeled his capital city on that of Hongwu, who had, together with his officials, spent more than a decade determining its layout based on loose interpretations of classical texts. Yongle also took advantage of the preexisting infrastructure of the Mongol capital, which significantly facilitated the construction process. Thus although the construction of three Ming capitals within a period of less than fifty years undoubtedly took enormous financial, material, and human tolls, with regard to architecture, it had far-reaching effects and ultimately engendered a simplified and standardized official court style that symbolized Yongle’s absolute authority.

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The glory in which Yongle basked following the completion of his capital was short-lived. In the fourth lunar month of 1421, only a few months after construction had finished, lightning struck the Hall of Revering Heaven, and a fire broke out, destroying it along with the two buildings behind it.156 This naturally caused the whole court great shock. For Yongle it must have been particularly upsetting, as it appeared to signal Heaven’s disapproval of his reign. Two days later, following tradition, the devastated emperor issued an “Edict in Response to the Disaster of the Hall of Revering Heaven” (Fengtian dian zai kuan xu zhao), in which he solicited “sincere words” (zhenyan) from several high-ranking ministers to determine why the natural disaster had happened. Among them, the official Zou Ji submitted an especially lengthy memorial, the “Memorial on the Hall of Revering Heaven Disaster” (Fengtian Dian zai shu), enumerating the many problems involved in moving the capital to the north. A small portion is excerpted here: For nearly two decades Your Majesty has been preoccupied the construction of the Northern Capital. The scale of the labor has been exceedingly costly; the scope of taxation has been uncommonly wide. Superfluous officials are eating through the tax grain, and lavishly waste the reserves of the realm. The men who provide the labor have been mobilized by the millions. Providing service labor throughout the year, they cannot take care of their own fields. . . . At the same time the demands on the populace from your bureaucrats have increased day by day. For instance, last year when they needed colored pigments, hundreds of thousands of people were ordered to find such materials. If the people could not give what the officials demanded, they had to pay money instead, and some of the monies were pocketed by the officials. . . . At present, a starving multitude in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi eat nothing but tree bark, grass, and whatever crumbs they can find. Others, in desperation, are forced to sell wives and children for their own survival. In contrast, tens of thousands of Buddhist monks and Daoist priests who were brought here to pray in various temples, daily consume hundreds of piculs of rice. . . . Since the Hall of Revering Heaven, where you conduct state business and receive the audience of officials, burned, it is time to reflect and reform. . . . You should send all of those poor workers home so as to placate the anger of heaven. Let’s return the capital to Nanjing and report to your father at his tomb about the reasons for the calamity.157 As evidenced in Zou Ji’s memorial, the movement of the capital to the north greatly disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people. The project depleted the imperial coffers and diverted attention away from the many problems already facing the empire in the early 50

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fifteenth century.158 Although Yongle was undoubtedly deeply troubled by the accusations of the officials who had given their “sincere words,” he had them imprisoned, and the capital remained in Beijing. The charred remains of the Three Halls served as a lasting accusation of Yongle’s illegitimacy as emperor, recalling every day the palace he burned down in Nanjing with his nephew inside. This memory was not erased until decades later, when the halls were finally rebuilt in the Zhengtong reign (1435–1449). The enormous social and economic devastation caused by the construction of Beijing eventually too faded from memory. Yet the contours of the city—its moat, walls, gates, and main halls—endured for centuries and were forever afterward associated with the Yongle emperor.

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Great Pillars of State The Rise and Fall of Monumental Nanmu Halls

Of particular importance to the Yongle emperor (r. 1402–1424) when constructing the palaces and ritual buildings in his new capital at Beijing was the quality of the building materials. The material to which he devoted the most energy toward obtaining was the timber used for the structural frames of the buildings. Nanmu was considered the ideal wood for imperial construction, so much so that it was known simply as the “imperial wood” (huangmu).1 Large nanmu used for construction only grows in the southwest of China—namely in the western part of Hubei, northwestern Guizhou, northeastern Yunnan, and Sichuan. It is prized most of all for its size: the oldest trees, which are several hundred years old, can measure over thirty meters tall with diameters of more than four meters.2 The timber is straight, dense, easy to work, does not split or warp easily, and is resistant to rot.3 Among the several different nanmu types, the rarest and most treasured is known as Golden Thread (jinsi) nanmu for the goldish pattern of grain, and Yongle constructed the great halls in his new capital out of it, only one of which survives today.4 Records documenting the use of nanmu in imperial construction before the Yongle reign are scarce and indicate that it was uncommon. According to the Song (960–1279) dynastic histories, the pillars and beams used in the Bright Hall (Ming Tang) in the Song capital were created with twenty-seven nanmu timbers that had floated out of the forests in western Hunan as a result of a large flood in the fourth year of the Huizong reign (1110).5 In other words, they were not deliberately harvested but merely collected by chance. In addition, a fourteenth-century text records that a hall

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known as the Nanmu Hall (Nanmu Dian), which was made entirely out nanmu, once stood in the Yuan (1279–1368) capital, Dadu.6 But the fact that this hall was known primarily for being constructed out of nanmu points to its uniqueness. And although there is some evidence that Hongwu (r. 1368– 1398) collected nanmu, it appears only to have been in limited amounts.7 One of the most likely reasons why nanmu was rarely employed in imperial construction before the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) is that it only grows in the southwest, far from the country’s capitals in the north and east.8 The process of extracting and transporting the massive timbers from these distant regions (caimu or muzheng) involved enormous amounts of manpower, not to mention that it took several years and was very dangerous. The early Ming procurement of nanmu was greatly facilitated, and perhaps only made possible, by the territorial expansion and the increased interconnectedness of the empire that had occurred during the Yuan period.9 Moreover, the early Ming restoration of the Grand Canal allowed logs from the southwest to be sent to Beijing.10 But it was ultimately the personal drive of Yongle to obtain the largest and bestquality timbers for the construction of his new capital that served as the impetus for the practice of using nanmu in imperial construction. The history of imperial timber procurement during the Ming and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties is illustrated by several high-ranking buildings originally constructed under Yongle, including the Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb (1427), the main hall of the Ancestral Temple (reconstructed in 1545), and the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City (last reconstructed in 1695). In the Yongle reign, nanmu was plentiful, thus the most important imperial buildings were constructed out of the material. The buildings prominently displayed the wood’s special qualities, including its massive size and its natural grain. The value placed on nanmu was not only aesthetic but also political: because the trees grew in areas previously at the margins of the Chinese empire, Yongle’s ability to harvest them represented his great geographical reach. The emperor also used nanmu architecture to help convey Heaven’s sanction of his rule by perpetuating the idea that the timbers had been divinely grown for his capital. After Yongle’s reign his monumental nanmu buildings set the standard for all subsequent reconstructions. But already by the mid-Ming period, huge nanmu trees were becoming difficult to find. As a result, it eventually became impossible to construct large-scale buildings out of nanmu. Yet even as the resources dwindled, nanmu maintained its status as the ideal imperial building material. For the rest of dynastic China emperors continued to use this increasingly rare material whenever possible, even though it meant building much smaller nanmu structures. Thus, by constructing the buildings in Beijing with nanmu, Yongle had ushered in a new age in which a building’s construction material became a primary indicator of its significance.

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The Rise of Nanmu Procurement in the Yongle Reign With regard to the amount of huge nanmu trees growing near waterways, the Yongle reign can be considered the period of abundance. The center of timber collection during this time was the mountainous region in the lower reaches of the Jinsha River in southern Sichuan (see map 1.1).11 Although some logs were already being obtained here in the Hongwu reign, under Yongle timber collection reached unprecedented heights.12 The process of timber procurement began in the fourth year of the Yongle reign (1406), fifteen or so years before the palaces were built. In that year Yongle sent officials to the remote forests of his empire to search for high-quality woods. He dispatched ministers to Huguang (Hubei and Hunan), Jiangxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, and Zhejiang.13 Among them, Song Li, who was sent to Sichuan, was by far the most successful.14 Whereas the other officials either returned home or were assigned different posts not long after their initial timber-finding missions, Song spent more than a decade in Sichuan collecting woods for Yongle’s construction projects.15 His biography in the History of the Ming praises Song in lofty terms: “For the construction of the Northern Capital, he was ordered to collect timbers in Sichuan. Upon arriving there, he gave gifts to officials and led the tribal people and Ming subjects. In many remote regions of rivers and valleys, he felled and gathered all the finest timbers.”16 Song was summoned from Sichuan to Beijing several times by the emperor to assess the amount of materials needed for the palace construction project.17 In 1419, following Song’s final stint in Sichuan, Yongle sent him a laudatory edict: “As the minister of collecting materials in Sichuan for many years, you have exhausted your efforts; this is what we call an accomplishment. The materials are now sufficient. You may return to the capital to assume office.”18 One of the richest sources of large trunks “discovered” by Song Li was in the area of Mount Mahu in Pingshan County. In the third month of the fifth year of the Yongle reign (1407), not long after Song had arrived to oversee the collection of timbers in Sichuan, he reported the occurrence of a miraculous event on this mountain to the emperor. According to the memorial, one evening, without any human effort, a number of large felled trees on Mount Mahu emerged from the ravine and arrived at the river for transport. It was believed that the spirits of the mountains and rivers had assisted the timbers. Upon hearing the news, Yongle was greatly pleased, as it must have signaled Heaven’s sanction of his new capital and, more broadly, his reign. The emperor subsequently formally renamed Mount Mahu the Mountain of Sacred Trees (Shenmu Shan) and dispatched an official to make sacrifices to it. So that rituals could be conducted there in perpetuity, the emperor ordered that a shrine (ci) be erected on the south face of the mountain accompanied by a stele bearing an inscription composed by the Hanlin Academy scholar Hu Guang.19 By constructing a shrine at which regular sacrifices were performed and erecting a stele

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bearing an inscription that glorified the spirits on the mountain, Yongle seems to have been incorporating the Mountain of Sacred Trees and its resident spirits into the imperial fold.20 The entire stele inscription, preserved in the Comprehensive Gazetteer of Sichuan (Sichuan tongzhi), centers on the event of the miraculous trees at Mount Mahu but goes into lengthy philosophical tangents about the sacred power of nature. Here, the story is recounted in more detail than it was in Song’s memorial. According to this version, when the trees were traveling down to the waterway, a giant boulder standing in their path split open, making a thunderous roar, to let the trees pass through. Somehow the trees managed to remain completely unscathed and not a blade of grass in their path was damaged. Although the ministers all suggested that this event had occurred on account of Yongle’s great virtue (shengde), the emperor would not take credit for it, instead attributing the event to the mountain’s spirits. He dispatched an official to perform a sacrifice at the mountain, during which time the spirits showed their approval through auspicious sights and sounds.21 After narrating the event, Hu Guang provides his commentary: As for trees and rocks, they cannot be moved without the effort of humans. But [the boulder] mysteriously split open and [the trees] were transported soundlessly. This truly resulted from the great virtue [of the emperor] and was aided by the responses of the mountain spirits. . . . The famous mountains and great rivers of the Heavenly realm have settled within this area, putting forth clouds and rain and growing timber that is provided for the state. Its spirits are certainly efficacious. Moreover, the great timber produced on the Mountain of Sacred Trees that grows from tiny shoots into trunks so large in circumference that it takes several people to wrap their arms around them, was safeguarded by the spirits to be used specially for today. The efficacy of the spirits is not a daily occurrence, but rather was a [specific] sign that foretold the emperor’s long life. Therefore, we cannot underestimate the achievements of the [mountain’s] spirits!22 According to Hu Guang’s analysis, by growing the trees and supplying them expressly for Yongle’s great construction projects, the spirits of the mountain were revealing to the emperor that they approved of his reign. Moreover, this approval was a direct response to Yongle’s virtue. Through the event of the miraculous timbers, Yongle and his sycophantic officials thus claimed that even this very remote corner of his empire—a region with which the emperor had no significant contact before this time—sanctioned his emperorship. It is important to note that the medium through which the mountain spirits supposedly showed their support was nanmu: no longer a mere construction material, nanmu had thus become a symbol of the authority to rule. 56

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An important yet overlooked source of information on early Ming nanmu procurement is a set of four stone inscriptions recently discovered in Yanjin County in northeastern Yunnan.23 The earliest of these inscriptions dates to the eighth year of the Hongwu reign (1375). It documents that an official from Yibin County managed 180 local people in the collection of 140 trunks of nan wood.24 The three other inscriptions are from the Yongle reign. The first, dated to the fourth month of the fifth year (1407), records that various departments in Yibin County managed eight hundred locals and shipped four hundred timbers of nan wood to the capital for the imperial palaces.25 Two months later, in the sixth month of the fifth year (1407), 110 locals took part in the shipping of timbers.26 The final inscription, which also dates to the sixth month of the fifth year, records a playful ditty, probably sung by the local timber workers: “Eight hundred people came here. The mountains and streams are steep and the roads are dangerous. The officials used their minds and we used our strength. Four hundred timbers were soon [collected].”27 A stele discovered in 1987 in Tongjiang County, northern Sichuan, reveals that in the Yongle reign nan woods were being obtained much farther afield from the Jinsha River basin as well. This stele, titled the “Stele Record of Felling Nan Timbers and Sending Them to the Capital” (Yongle simian tongjiang fa nanmu yunjing ji bei), documents that on the third day of the eighth month of the Yongle fourth year (1406), imperial orders were received to cut timbers and men were sent out into the valleys to collect them. It goes on to say that sometime earlier, ten rafts of nan timbers were extracted from Mount Baiya and that they were hauled first to the Xiaokou River and then to the capital.28 Because eighty logs were generally used to form a raft, it is likely that around eight hundred total timbers were obtained.29 These inscriptions reveal how essential the local people, whose service was conscripted by the government, were to the timber collection process. Textual records help shed light on the timber extraction and transportation process. Once the officials had located the sites where the large trees grew, hundreds of thousands of laborers had to make roads into the remote and forested mountain.30 At the most important sites, such as Mount Mahu, timber factories were established. A Qing document describes that a factory in Suiyang, Guizhou, included one hundred axe-men (fu shou), twenty stone masons (shi jiang), twenty iron workers (tie jiang), fifty bamboo workers (mie jiang), twenty scaffolding-makers (zhaoxiang jiazhang), and at least five hundred haulers (zhuaiyun fu).31 Furthermore, an official known as the Timber Supervisor Vice Prefect (Dumu Tongzhi) of the Supervising Timber Circuit (Dumu Dao) was stationed at each factory to manage the business of gathering land taxes and enlisting people for the jobs of cutting and hauling the timbers.32 It is clear that, at least by the Qing, these factories were very large and well organized. After the trees were felled, the timbers were dragged to the waterways that emptied into larger rivers that connected with the Yangzi River. The Great Pillars of State

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distance from where the trees were felled to the waterways was at least tens of kilometers and could be up to more than a hundred kilometers; it was often more than a hundred kilometers from the small rivers to the larger rivers. Hauling the timbers to the waterways usually took several months.33 Because the Yongle reign was the earliest period in which the Ming court was obtaining timbers from the southwest, large trees still grew closer to the waterways. It later became increasingly difficult to transport the timbers from where they grew to the channels because of the greater distances between them. Transporting the timbers was both difficult and dangerous. Textual records document that the largest tree-trunks each required between five hundred and a thousand men to haul.34 In the dry season a system of dams had to be constructed to raise the water levels and then the timber was floated in sections, from dam to dam.35 Because rocks that could easily damage the trunks often stuck out above the water, the haulers had to wait until the river rose high enough to float the timbers above the rocks.36 In the flood season (between the third and seventh lunar months) it was basically impossible to transport the wood because the currents were too strong.37 It is no surprise that a popular saying in Sichuan expressed that if one thousand men went into the forest to collect timbers, only five hundred came out.38 Once the timbers had floated to the larger rivers, they were bundled together in groups of eighty to form rafts, each of which was escorted by ten sailors and forty laborers to Beijing.39 The rafts were first floated eastward down the Yangzi, then northward up the Grand Canal. It took between two and five years for them to reach Beijing.40 Eyewitness records document they sometimes even contained vegetable gardens, wine houses, tailors, barbers, shoemakers, rice-vendors, and butchers!41 Writing in the late sixteenth century, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci observed a convoy nearly four kilometers long and noted that the logs were pulled by thousands of men.42 The palace construction and later reconstructions would thus have been very visible not only to those in the environs of the capital but also to anyone along all the waterways. As for the total amount of timber gathered in the Yongle reign, no complete record exists. Although the stone inscriptions just discussed seem to suggest that the number was only in the thousands of logs, neither of the places in which these records were discovered constituted a major site of timber procurement. In the regions under the guidance of the Ming officials, tens of thousands of nanmu trunks must have been collected. The most important textual source for this estimate is a record from the Zhengtong reign (1435–1449), which states that an astonishing 380,000 nan and shan (cunninghamia) logs from the Yongle period were still stored in the Beijing timber yards.43 Considering that this was the number of materials left over after all the Beijing palaces had been constructed, the original figure must have been enormous.

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The Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s Tomb The only monumental nanmu building still standing from the Yongle period is the Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb, Changling, which was completed in 1427 under Xuande (r. 1425–1435) (fig. 2.1). Until the sixteenth year of the Jiajing reign (1538), when its name was changed to the Hall of Eminent Favor (Ling’en Dian), this building was known simply as the Hall for Making Sacrifices (Xiang Dian) on account of its function as the place where offerings would be made to the deceased emperor and empress.44 The Sacrificial Hall was the main destination for the reigning emperor and his entourage making the two-day journey to Changling from the capital. The tomb is situated in the foothills of the tallest mountain north of the Tianshou Mountain range in the northwestern suburbs of Beijing. It is approached by an axial spirit path seven kilometers in length, lined with large stone figures of animals and men. Closer to the tomb entrance, the path curves gently and leads up an incline. The tomb is entered through a large main gate, behind which stands the Sacrificial Hall. At the rear of the axis is the mounded tomb chamber (fig. 2.2).45 The Sacrificial Hall is oriented to the south and is situated upon a 3.55-meter-tall three-tier white-marble base richly adorned with relief carvings of mythical animals and landscapes (fig. 2.3). The hall is nine bays (66.9 meters) wide, five bays (29.3 meters) deep, and 25.9 meters tall.46 It is capped by a roof of the highest rank: a double-eave, hipped roof covered in yellow-glazed ceramic tiles. Supporting the upper roof eaves are nine-step bracket-sets and supporting the lower eaves are seven-step bracket-sets with liujin rear tails extending into the interior of the hall to support purlins (figs. 2.4 and 2.5).47 The central bay across the façade (mingjian) is a massive 10.3 meters wide, and there are eight intercolumnar bracket-sets in this bay. The two sets of flanking bays (cijian) and one set of second to side-most bays (shaojian) are all 7.2 meters wide and possess six sets of intercolumnar brackets each. The two side-most bays (jinjian) measure 6.7 meters wide and also possess six sets of intercolumnar brackets each.48 Based on the width of the bays and the number of intercolumnar bracketsets alone, it is clear that this is an extremely high-rank building. Figure 2.1. The Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb (1427), Changping district, Beijing. Author’s photograph, 2017.

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Figure 2.2. Plan of Changling, Tomb of Emperor Yongle and Empress Xu, Changping district, Beijing. Redrawn after Liu Dunzhen, “Ming Changling,” 280. Figure 2.3. Front elevation of the Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb. Pan, Zhongguo gudai jianzhu shi, 213.

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Figure 2.4. Bracketing in the upper and lower eaves at the Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb. Author’s photograph, 2014. Figure 2.5. Rear tails (liujin) of exterior brackets on the interior of the Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb. Author’s photograph, 2014.

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Figure 2.6. Nanmu columns and beams on the interior of the Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb. Author’s photograph, 2014.

The total number of pillars at the Sacrificial Hall is sixty-two— thirty-two of which support the main roof (fig. 2.6). The thirty-two pillars are arranged into two concentric rings, one inner and one outer (fig. 2.7).49 In contrast to many timber halls built in the preceding centuries, in which oftentimes some pillars were removed to increase the space inside a hall, the full pillar network of the Sacrificial Hall has been left completely intact. As is clear from the ground plan, the pillars are not spaced evenly; instead, the central bays running both the length and the depth of the building are the widest. The largest pillars are the four that define the central-most bay. These reach an impressive 13 meters in height and 1.17 meters in diameter—so large that it takes at least two people to wrap their arms around one.50 Large tie-beams connect the pillar tops in both the parallel and perpendicular directions to the facade, forming a grid that helps stabilize the structure.51 These beams also add a great sense of weightiness to the interior. This is mitigated by a ring of brackets situated above the beams in a three-by-three bay area at the hall’s center and by the rear tails of the exterior brackets, carved into elaborate cloud shapes, that encircle the perimeter of the hall (see fig. 2.5). The pitch of the roof is determined by eleven circular purlins running parallel to the building’s façade (fig. 2.8). They are supported by the cross-beams running perpendicular to the building’s façade. The longest of these beams, made out of a single massive trunk of nanmu, span eleven-purlin distances.52 The length of these crossbeams determined the depth of the interior of the hall, and their spans could not exceed thirteen meters without columnar support.53 On top of the eleven-purlin beams are seven-purlin beams, five-purlin beams, and three-purlin beams supported by struts in between.54 One of the most distinctive characteristics of this building is the lack of ornamentation in its interior. Unlike most high-ranking halls in China, there is no elaborate coffer; rather, the ceiling is composed of simple boards recently repainted a light shade of green. Without permanent 62

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Figure 2.7. Ground plan of the Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb. Redrawn after Liu Dunzhen, “Ming Changling,” 278. Figure 2.8. Side section of the Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb. Redrawn after Li Qianlang, “Changling Ling’endian,” 19.

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objects at the center of the hall, such as a throne or Buddha statues, there was no need for a built-in ceiling coffer to symbolically protect them. Besides the ceiling panels, none of the timber members inside the hall have been painted. (There is, however, some textual evidence to suggest that the four central-most pillars may have originally been covered with gold lotus patterns.)55 Instead, they have been finely planed and applied with wax, resulting in a soft sheen. An obvious explanation for why the interior Great Pillars of State

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of the Sacrificial Hall was left unpainted is that the “gold-thread” wood was considered too beautiful and special to cover up. The lack of ornate interior decoration may also have been a result of the hall’s ritual function, in which the architecture merely served as a silent backdrop for the props moved into it during the ceremonies.56 Whatever the reason for leaving the interior of the Sacrificial Hall undecorated, the result was profound. Instead of being obscured by decoration, as was traditional in Chinese architecture, at the Sacrificial Hall the material of the timber frame is celebrated in its own right. As a result, the formal qualities of the structure are brought to the fore. In this respect the hall can be likened to simple and elegant Ming dynasty furniture, which was designed to show off the wood material.57 In contrast especially to the heavily ornamented palatial halls of the Qing period, the Sacrificial Hall appears grand, solemn, powerful, and elemental. Even Liang Sicheng, who generally disparaged Ming buildings as rigid and uncreative in contrast to those of earlier periods, noted that “the general effect of [the Sacrificial Hall] . . . is most impressive.”58 Much like the architectural historian William Coaldrake has argued with regard to the Great Shrine at Ise in Japan, the massive unadorned pillars and beams in the Sacrificial Hall evoke the sacred power of the natural world that created them. At the same time, they speak to the earthly power of the Yongle emperor, who was able to gather the timbers from the edge of his empire, bring them back to his new capital, and to construct great halls out of them.59 The joining of the natural and imperial powers expressed through the Sacrificial Hall’s architecture was first established in the story of the sacred timbers reported by Song Li; it was later developed at great length in Hu Guang’s stele inscription. Yongle perpetuated this union by renaming Mount Mahu the Mountain of Sacred Timbers and establishing a shrine to the local spirits. Finally, at the Sacrificial Hall it was materialized in architectural form, enabling all who stood within the hall to experience it.

Ming Nanmu Procurement after Yongle In the decades immediately following Yongle’s reign, nanmu procurement slowed down considerably. Right after he ascended the throne, Hongxi (r. 1424–1425), Yongle’s successor, put a stop to the collection of timbers altogether. In an edict addressed to the minister Chen Xuan from the fourth month of the first year of his reign (1424), Hongxi announced: “Regarding the labor of the soldiers transporting timbers year after year, I greatly pity them. Today, go from Yizhen to Tongzhou [the place where the shipments arrived in the capital] and stop the transport of all timbers along the river. Just pile up the timbers that have already arrived and order people to guard them. The soldiers and the civilians can all disperse and return.”60 64

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On account of the great numbers of logs still stored in the Beijing yards, there was no immediate reason to collect timbers during this time. Nonetheless, there was a still a high degree of concern for conserving the materials as much as possible. An interesting edict issued by Xuande in 1431 states that “even when [the materials] are not being used, do not rashly waste them. If carpenters chop the large timbers for trivial purposes, they will be punished without pardon.”61 In the fifth year of the Zhengtong reign (1440), the Three Halls in the outer courtyard of the Forbidden City, which had been destroyed by fire only months after they were first built in the Yongle reign, were finally reconstructed using the surplus wood from the timber yards.62 A great spike in the history of nanmu procurement occurred in the Jiajing (r. 1521–1567) and Wanli (r. 1572–1620) reigns. It was precipitated by the destruction of many large-scale palace buildings, including the Three Halls, which burned down twice. It is clear that by this time nanmu was considered the ideal building material for the great halls of the state. Yet at the same time, our primary sources reveal an increasing level of anxiety over having to reconstruct these monumental buildings of nanmu because the majority of large trees growing close to the waterways had already been cut down in the Yongle reign. For the first major reconstruction carried out under Jiajing in the mid-sixteenth century, enough large nanmu materials were obtained to rebuild the main hall of the Ancestral Temple on the same scale as Yongle’s Sacrificial Hall. The Ancestral Temple constructed under Yongle was located to the southeast of the Forbidden City, and it consisted of two halls, front and rear. In the fifteenth year of the Jiajing reign (1536), the emperor changed the layout to the multihall plan, in which nine individual halls each housed an ancestral tablet. However, in the twentieth year (1541), not long after it was completed, the new Ancestral Temple was struck by lightning and eight of the nine halls were destroyed.63 In response, the Jiajing emperor dispatched the officials Pan Jian and Shi Daijin to Huguang and Sichuan to collect large timbers for its reconstruction.64 In the twentyfourth year (1545) of his reign, the emperor decided to rebuild the temple according to the original layout of the front and rear halls.65 This was the first major reconstruction project in the Jiajing reign. Not long after, in the thirty-sixth year of the Jiajing reign (1557), the Three Halls in the outer court of the Forbidden City burned down for the second time.66 The official Li Xianqing was sent to Huguang to search for materials.67 A detailed and intriguing account of his mission can be found in his obituary, “Obituary of the Grand Master for Thorough Council Censorate Vice Censor-in-Chief Li Gong” (Tongyi dafu duchayuan zuo fudu yushi Li Gong xingzhuang), written by Gui Youguang. Gui writes that Li and other officials surveyed every possible forested region in the remote borderlands of the country for timbers suitable for the reconstruction of the “Purple Palace” (Zi Gong) (i.e., the Forbidden City), but they were unable to find enough that were as big as those used for the interior pillars Great Pillars of State

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in the Yongle reign near the waterways.68 When it came to obtaining the best construction materials, it seems that already by this time the Yongle reign was associated with an irrecoverable past. Gui goes on to explain that Li sent a memorial to the Jiajing emperor detailing their exhaustive hunt for timbers. In the memorial Li enumerates the more than fifty different places in Sichuan, Huguang, and Guizhou that he, along with twenty-one other high-ranking officials, searched. He states that almost all the large trees in these areas were impossible to access because they were located deep within the remote forests and ravines.69 According to the memorial, Li and the others were only able to harvest two thousand nan and shan timbers with circumferences of one zhang (3.2 meters, or just over 1 meter in diameter) and 117 timbers with circumferences of four (12.8 meters, or 4 meters in diameter) or five zhang (16 meters, or 5 meters in diameter). Li told the emperor that he was aware this was not enough needed for the reconstruction. The point of writing this memorial in such great detail seems to have been to convince the emperor to lessen the requirements on the sizes of the timbers they had to collect. Gui states that the Jiajing emperor accepted Li’s memorial and ordered him and the other officials to start looking for “second rate” (qicizhe) woods from that point on. They were subsequently able to collect 11,289 logs from twenty-five places in Guangdong, Guizhou, Huguang, Shaanxi, and Sichuan. The scope of timber procurement by this time had thus evidently expanded well beyond the regions of the lower reaches of the Jinsha River in southern Sichuan. Although this was the most extensive period of wood collection during the Jiajing reign, it was not the last: in the forty-fifth year (1566), the Upholding the Heavens Hall (Chengtian Dian) burned down and officials were once again sent southwest to collect timbers.70 A vivid account of the process of imperial nanmu procurement in the Jiajing reign is documented in the Collected Essays on Timber-Felling in the Western Region (Xi cha hui cao), written between 1522 and 1566 by a timber collection supervisor named Hui Gong.71 The record contains twenty skillfully rendered woodblock illustrations, each of which is printed across two pages, and a short accompanying essay. It communicates the difficulties involved in the process of collecting nanmu. In figure 2.9, for instance, we can see that the logs often had to be lowered down steep and dangerous precipices. To extract the timbers from the mountains, the laborers sometimes constructed elevated bridges and trestles covered with bamboo skins, enabling the logs to slide more easily.72 Giant winches were erected on the sides of the cliff to help the laborers drag the timbers across the bridges (fig. 2.10).73 Oftentimes, as depicted in these illustrated records, the elevated bridges would collapse, sending the precious logs, along with the workers, tumbling into the ravine. Other illustrations show the laborers being attacked by tigers and poisonous snakes, falling ill and dying of foreign diseases, and peeling bark and picking grass to eat, revealing that the conscripted workers, who were paid little more than a daily ration of rice, 66

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Figure 2.9. “Lowering a Timber from a Precipice” (Xuan mu diao ya), from Collected Essays on TimberFelling in the Western Region (Xi chai hui cao), by Hui Gong (1552). Library of Congress and World Digital Library. Figure 2.10. “Heavenly Winches over the Ravine” (Tianche yuejian), from Collected Essays on TimberFelling in the Western Region (Xi chai hui cao), by Hui Gong (1552). Library of Congress and World Digital Library.

were literally starving. By documenting the many hardships faced by the laborers involved in the collection and transportation process, this record was undoubtedly meant to appeal to the sympathies of the emperor in an effort to put a stop to the timber procurement. Yet we see an even greater increase in nanmu wood procurement in the Wanli reign than we did in the Jiajing reign. This was precipitated by the repeated destruction of the great imperial halls. In the eleventh year (1583), the Palace of Loving Peace (Cining Gong) and the Palace of Loving Celebration (Ciqing Gong) in the rear of the Forbidden City were destroyed Great Pillars of State

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by fire. Shortly after, orders were issued to collect nan and shan timbers to rebuild them.74 In all, 5,600 timbers were gathered.75 In the twenty-fifth year (1597), the Three Halls burned down for the third time.76 By the thirtyfifth year (1607), 24,601 logs had been collected. The official Qiao Bixing, who led the mission, proudly reported that this was “twice that collected in the 36th year of the Jiajing reign for the reconstruction of the Three Halls” and “four times that collected in the 24th year of the Wanli reign for the reconstruction of the Palaces of Loving Peace and Loving Celebration.”77 Despite the large numbers of nanmu trunks they were able to gather, those of the “first grade” (yihao), or largest (likely over one meter in diameter), were becoming very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. As Qiao Bixing explained in a memorial to the throne: “Regarding the first grade nan and shan that can be formed into beams, these kinds of large timbers are very rare. Even though at times there are one or two, they are located in miasmic villages in barbarian territories within deep mountains and remote valleys. Finding them is extremely arduous, and felling and transporting them is extremely difficult. For the sole survivors whose callouses have not yet started to form and are not yet worried and distressed, this is an enormous and difficult service. How can this be endured?”78 At this time Qiao also compiled for the emperor the Illustrated Record of Collecting and Transporting [Timbers] (Caiyun tu), which was no doubt analogous to the illustrated record from the Jiajing reign just discussed.79 Wanli was apparently so moved by the record that he and his mother, the pious Cisheng Empress, personally contributed 500,000 taels (liang) of silver to help offset the transportation costs of the nanmu.80 Indeed, whereas in the Yongle reign the entire timber procurement process was handled by conscripted laborers, by the Wanli reign local bureaus had taken over the responsibility of felling and transporting the timbers. Paying them seems to have become a major issue for the court. Originally the Ministry of Works estimated that the wood for the reconstruction of the Three Halls would cost 9.3 million taels of silver.81 Later, Qiao Bixing, conscious of the economic constraints, suggested that they could do without 8,559 logs, which would lower the cost to 363,000 taels of silver.82 In the end no more than 450,000 taels were spent, a mere onetenth of the original estimate. As the historian Ray Huang has pointed out, it is actually very difficult to grasp an accurate picture of the costs of the lumber obtained by the court because of the complexities of the fiscal transactions, not to mention that many of the official figures were exaggerated.83 By the Wanli reign local chieftains (tusi) in Guangxi, Guizhou, Huguang, Sichuan, and Yunnan and had also become closely involved in the imperial timber procurement process. This undoubtedly helped lessen the heavy burdens of the imperial wood collectors.84 Some of these local rulers took advantage of the court’s demand for large timbers by presenting them in exchange for freedom from certain punishments.85 At the same

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time, many of these minority people were forced to provide the wood as tribute, which ultimately provoked rebellions and caused social unrest.86 By the end of the Wanli reign, only small amounts of large nanmu timbers were being collected for specific structural members. A document from the thirty-eighth year (1610), for instance, notes that when construction began on the Three Gates (San Men) of the Forbidden City, the carpenters realized that they did not have enough large timbers for the major beams and pillars. An official was therefore sent to Sichuan to obtain twentythree logs of nan wood as well as three hundred logs of “Tiger’s Tail” (huwei) shan.87 Because there were no longer enough materials to construct monumental-scale buildings entirely out of nan wood, it appears that nan was used only for the largest structural members, while most of the structure was built of shan.

Nanmu Buildings of the Mid- and Late Ming Dynasty Among the great halls reconstructed in the Jiajing reign, only the main hall of the Ancestral Temple survives. This massive and imposing building is the only extant nanmu structure comparable in scale to the Sacrificial Hall (fig. 2.11). The hall measures 66.79 meters wide and 29.09 meters deep, almost the exact same width and depth as the Sacrificial Hall (66.90 × 29.30 meters).88 The hall is 28.83 meters tall and sits on a three-tier,

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Figure 2.11. Main Hall of the Ancestral Temple (1545), Beijing. Author’s photograph, 2014.

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Figure 2.12. Elevation drawing of main hall of the Ancestral Temple. Courtesy of the Tianjin University Department of Architecture. Figure 2.13. Ground plan of main hall of the Ancestral Temple. Redrawn after image courtesy of the Tianjin University Department of Architecture.

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3.64-meter-tall marble base (fig. 2.12). The central bay measures 9.60 meters wide, almost a meter narrower than that at the Sacrificial Hall. The four sets of side bays are all around 6.50 meters.89 Nine-step bracket-sets support the upper eaves and seven-step bracket-sets with rear liujin tails support the bottom eaves, the same type of bracket-set construction as at the Sacrificial Hall. Yet the Ancestral Temple possesses fewer intercolumnar bracket-sets than at the Sacrificial Hall: six in the central bay and four in each of the side bays. 70

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The hall contains sixty-eight pillars (fig. 2.13). The tallest of these, the thirty-four that support the roof frame, measure 13.32 meters in height and 1.23 meters in diameter, even taller and wider than those in the Sacrificial Hall.90 The pillars supporting the lower eaves are approximately 6.50 meters tall, meaning they are half the height of the pillars that support the roof frame. The height of the eaves pillars is equal to the width of the space between two pillars, resulting in square bays. This is the only surviving example of this method from the Ming dynasty.91 The layout of the pillar network differs from that at the Sacrificial Hall. Instead of two concentric rings, the pillars supporting the main roof are arranged into three rows parallel to the façade, forming two large spaces, front and back, in between them.92 As at the Sacrificial Hall, large tie-beams connect the pillar tops on the interior of the structure in both the parallel and perpendicular directions and the brackets above them support a ceiling.93 The importance of the center in the main hall of the Ancestral Temple is clearly expressed through its structure and decoration. Although the nanmu pillars are unpainted, the ceiling, the tie-beams connecting the pillar tops, and the brackets have all been beautifully adorned. The patterns on the ceiling and beams above the three central-most bays of the hall are painted in gold, distinguishing them from the rest of the ceiling, which is painted a dark green (fig. 2.14). The pattern of the ornamentations is thought to be original, although it has been recently repainted.94 Finally, the bases of the six pillars in the center of the hall are set apart from the others by being carved into lotus flowers (fig. 2.15). Like the Sacrificial Hall, the main hall of the Ancestral Temple is an eleven-purlin building, meaning that the largest cross-beams span elevenpurlin distances (fig. 2.16). In 1998 the dimensions of these transverse cross-beams were measured: the eleven-purlin beam was an enormous 1.50 × .95 meters (height to width), the seven-purlin beam was 1.02 × .95 meters, the five-purlin beam was 0.85 × .60 meters, and the three-purlin beam was 0.75 ×.63 meters.95 At 1.5 meters in width, the eleven-purlin beam would have been made out of an even thicker tree trunk than the largest of the pillars in the hall. The other beams, which are all close to one meter in height, were fabricated from only slightly smaller tree trunks. The scale of this building and the size of its largest pillars and beams leave no question that large nanmu timbers were still able to be obtained in the early Jiajing reign. The Great Compassionate Hall of Pure Jewels (Daci Zhenru Baodian), a Buddhist hall now located in Beihai Park to the west of the Forbidden City, offers a glimpse of what the Ming halls constructed of the lesser grade, smaller nanmu looked like (fig. 2.17). This hall, dated to the Wanli period, is, to my knowledge, the only extant nanmu hall from the Ming dynasty besides the Sacrificial Hall and the main hall of the Ancestral Temple. The double-eave, hipped roof hall is 38.34 meters wide and 18.62 meters deep, about three-quarters of the size of the Sacrificial Hall.96 It is elevated on a marble platform of a single tier. The roof frame is supported Great Pillars of State

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Figure 2.14. Ceiling of main hall of the Ancestral Temple. Author’s photograph, 2014. Figure 2.15. Central nanmu pillar at main hall of the Ancestral Temple with lotuscarved base, 1.23 meters in diameter. Author’s photograph, 2014.

by twenty-four nanmu pillars, the tallest of which rise close to ten meters in height and have diameters of 0.50 meters.97 This means that they are nearly four meters shorter and less than half the size in diameter than the two earlier Ming halls. The most noticeable difference between the Hall of Pure Jewels and the early Ming halls is that its exterior is left unpainted. It is likely that the nanmu materials dictated this design choice. In sum, for the first major reconstruction carried out under Jiajing in the mid-sixteenth century, enough large nanmu materials were obtained to rebuild the main hall of the Ancestral Temple on the same scale as Yongle’s Sacrificial Hall. But by the early seventeenth century, during the Wanli reign, nanmu timbers were becoming so scarce that only buildings 72

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Figure 2.16. Side section of main hall of the Ancestral Temple. Courtesy of the Tianjin University Department of Architecture. Figure 2.17. The Great Compassionate Hall of Pure Jewels, Beihai Park, Beijing (Wanli reign, 1572–1620). Author’s photograph, 2019.

of a much smaller scale could be built entirely of nanmu. As for monumental buildings, nanmu was employed only for the largest structural members, while shanmu was used for the rest. Beginning in the sixteenth century, we also see shanmu frequently being used as a substitute for nanmu in imperial construction. This indicates that builders were conscious of conserving the large nanmu materials as much as possible, while still showing them off. By the Wanli reign we can therefore detect a decline in the model Yongle had created of constructing monumental nanmu buildings. Great Pillars of State

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Reconstructing the Hall of Supreme Harmony When the Kangxi emperor (r. 1661–1722) of the Qing dynasty took the throne, the Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihe Dian), the foremost of the Three Halls in the Forbidden City (fig. 2.18), was in a state of disrepair. In the Kangxi sixth year (1667), the Ministry of Works held discussions about the need to obtain large nanmu timbers to rebuild it, and officials were dispatched to Sichuan and Huguang to assess the number of suitable trees there.98 One of these officials, Zhang Dedi, wrote a long report of his findings—a portion of which is excerpted here: I have personally felled trees and suffered many hardships, continuously going to every forested mountaintop to examine the large materials for architectural members. Within each forest there are trees that could be cut and provided for the state’s use, however, the large forests have areas of 500 to 600 li and the small ones 100 to 200 li. This is not something that can be exhausted overnight. We can only get the timbers if we carefully investigate every day. For example, if the small river is either fifty or one hundred li away from us, then we can still get them. But if it is over a hundred, the steeper the mountainous terrain is, the more dangerous is the road. So even though there are large timbers, we cannot do anything about them.99 On his mission Zhang was only able to find eighty harvestable trees of suitable size, which he sent to Beijing in the third month of the eighth year of the Kangxi reign (1669).100 Not long after, Kangxi issued an order to stop the collection of woods in Sichuan altogether.101 He had probably decided that the search was futile. Because there was not enough nan wood, the suggestion was made at this time to use pine wood for the reconstruction of the hall instead.102 Despite these discussions, the Hall of Supreme Harmony was not rebuilt, just renovated, at this time. In the second month of the eighteenth year of the Kangxi reign (1679), the Hall of Supreme Harmony was destroyed for the fourth time after an earthquake. Now they had no choice but to rebuild it. In the twenty-fourth year of Kangxi reign (1685), officials were once again dispatched to Sichuan to survey the forests.103 Their findings were not good. It was reported that in Zunyi and Mahu prefectures, all the large timbers grew in the distant and remote valleys of tall mountains, where even the locals had not set foot and into which hardly any paths even led.104 The populations of Sichuan had significantly dwindled following a series of wars in the area, and the collection of nan and shan timbers had been incredibly taxing on them.105 The Ministry of Works originally estimated that 4,503 timbers of nanmu were necessary for the reconstruction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The local chieftains in Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Huguang

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promised to donate a total of 1,797 nan timbers. Another 43 timbers were subtracted from the original estimate based on a recalculation. This meant that 2,663 timbers still needed to be collected from Sichuan.106 The officials announced that this was simply impossible.107 In the twenty-fourth year of Kangxi’s reign (1686), the emperor listened to a report outlining the difficulties involved in transporting nanmu from Sichuan for the construction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. He responded: “The roads in Sichuan are dangerous and difficult. The people are few and they have repeatedly undergone war. Their hardship and suffering is already extreme. The gathering and transporting of timbers will certainly cause the exhaustion of the commoners. Now, beyond the Great Wall there are large pine woods. There are many that can be used. If we use the pine woods as building materials, it will not be exhausted for hundreds of years. What is the need for nanmu? Stop all collection and transportation of nanmu.”108 In 1695 the reconstruction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony was completed using pine. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is a structure of the highest possible rank, a symbol of the state. The hall today is 60.08 meters across the front and 33.33 meters in depth (fig. 2.19).109 It is therefore about six meters narrower than the Sacrificial Hall but around the same width as the Ancestral Temple. Yet because the Hall of Supreme Harmony is eleven as opposed to nine bays across the front, the pillars are spaced much closer together than in the Ming halls. The dense pillar spacing is reflected in the narrowness of the Hall of Supreme Harmony’s central bay (8.44 meters) in comparison to that of the of the Sacrificial Hall (10.30 meters) and the Ancestral Temple main hall (9.60 meters).110 The hall is 26.92 meters tall and, like the Ming halls, is capped by a double-eave hipped roof with glazed yellow roof tiles. This is roughly the same height as the 25.90-meter Sacrificial Hall and the 28.83-meter Ancestral Temple. Yet the hall is situated on a massive marble platform measuring 108 meters in width, 62.60 meters in depth, and 8.13 meters in height.111

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Figure 2.18. The Hall of Supreme Harmony (1695), Forbidden City, Beijing. Author’s photograph, 2017.

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Figure 2.19. Front elevation of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Liu Dunzhen, Zhongguo gudai jianzhu shi, 298.

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The proportion between the height of the base and the height of the building is thus 1:3.31, meaning the Hall of Supreme Harmony is only over three times the height of the base in contrast to the Sacrificial Hall, which is over seven times the height of the base, and the main hall of the Ancestral Temple, which is nearly eight times the height of the base.112 Because the structure itself could be built only so tall on account of the limitations of the timber frame, the huge base was likely necessary to provide an exaggerated feeling of grandeur.113 It is also likely that a giant base was needed to be in proportion with the enormous courtyard in which the hall was situated, which measured 130 meters north-south and 190 meters east-west.114 This kind of constraint was not imposed on the either of the two Ming halls, which are located in much smaller courtyards. There are seventy-two pine wood pillars inside the hall (fig. 2.20). Forty support the main roof and thirty-two support the lower roof eaves. This means that the Hall of Supreme Harmony has ten more total pillars than the Sacrificial Hall and eighteen more than the Ancestral Temple. The largest pillars measure an impressive 12.70 meters in height and 1.06 meters in diameter, only slightly shorter and narrower than the massive nanmu pillars in the Ming halls.115 The pillar network is laid out in two concentric rings connected by tie-beams running in both the parallel and perpendicular directions. The perpendicular tie-beams measure 0.96 × 0.66 meters, while those parallel to the building’s façade are thinner, measuring 1.04 × 0.52 meters.116 The Hall of Supreme Harmony contains thirteen purlins instead of eleven, resulting in a depth that is approximately four meters greater than the Sacrificial Hall and the main hall of the Ancestral Temple. The roof structure is similar to that of the Ming halls, in which seven-purlin, five-purlin, and three-purlin cross-beams are piled up with short struts in between (fig. 2.21).117 The seven-purlin beams have sections of 0.70 × 1.10 meters, which is approximately the same thickness as the seven-purlin beam at the Ancestral Temple.118 chapter 2

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Although the pine wood pillars and beams of the Hall of Supreme Harmony appear to be as thick as those used in the Sacrificial Hall and the main hall of the Ancestral Temple, they in fact hide an important secret: unlike in the Ming halls, these pillars do not comprise a single tree trunk; rather, they were fabricated using the “wrapped-rim” (baoxiang) method, in which one tall but thin trunk forms a central core around which several boards carved into trapezoids are arranged to create a thicker pillar, and the wooden strips are clamped together with metal rings (fig. 2.22).119 The beams have been composed in the same method as the pillars, in that planks are assembled around a core and held together with metal components.120 According to a recent analysis, decoration was applied to the timber components first by covering them with a mixture of ground brick, pig blood, and tung-tree oil (tongyou), then by layering strips of hemp cloth with an (unspecified) dark gray mixture until a thickness 5.50–10 millimeters was achieved, and finally by painting them with lacquer and pigment.121 In addition to helping protect the wood, this treatment created uniform surfaces that obscured the fact that the structural members were composed of many parts.122 Indeed, the most noticeable difference between the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the Ming halls is that every surface of its interior has been elaborately ornamented, including an impressive coffered ceiling set directly above the throne (fig. 2.23). Why did the craftsmen at the Hall of Supreme Harmony create large timbers with the “wrapped rim” method rather than using smaller timbers? On the one hand, large timber members were structurally necessary to create big buildings, and the Hall of Supreme Harmony certainly had to be big—first on account of its importance and second because it had to maintain an appropriate sense of scale in relation to its surroundings. On the other hand, the large pillars and beams composed of smaller parts Great Pillars of State

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10m

Figure 2.20. Ground plan of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Liu Dunzhen, Zhongguo gudai jianzhu shi, 297.

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Figure 2.21. Side section of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Liu Dunzhen, Zhongguo gudai jianzhu shi, 297. Figure 2.22. The “wrapped rim” method of pillar construction. Hu Shuping, “Earthquake Resistant Properties of Chinese Traditional Architecture,” 379. Reproduced with permission from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.

within the Hall of Supreme Harmony underscore the symbolic value that had been placed on massive timbers since the Yongle period. Furthermore, by that time the sizes of Yongle’s pillars had become the standard, and the Qing emperors did not want to be dwarfed by Yongle! Finally, they reveal an important fact that is absent in the textual records: that pine trunks as thick as those of nanmu were never found. It is reasonable to conclude that the Hall of Supreme Harmony, with its composite pillars and beams hidden under layers of cloth and lacquer, lacked the frankness and authenticity of the Ming nanmu halls. The Hall of Supreme Harmony constructed in the Kangxi period was the last of a long chain of reconstructions. The original hall, the Hall of Revering Heaven, was first built in 1420 during the Yongle reign but was 78

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Figure 2.23. Interior of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Reproduced with the permission of the Commercial Press (Hong Kong) Limited from the publication of Yu Zhuoyun, Palaces of the Forbidden City, 65.

damaged by fire just months later. In the fifth year of the Zhengtong reign (1440), the hall was reconstructed using nanmu that had been collected under Yongle. In the thirty-sixth year of the Jiajing reign (1557), the hall burned down again, and in the forty-first year of the Jiajing reign (1562), it was rebuilt. At this time its name was changed to the Hall of the Imperial Absolute (Huangji Dian).123 In the twenty-fifth year of the Wanli reign (1597), the hall burned down for the third time and was only finally reconstructed in the seventh year of the Ming Tianqi reign (1627). In the Qing dynasty the name was changed to the Hall of Supreme Harmony. It was renovated in the eighth year of the Kangxi reign (1669) but was again struck by fire in the eighteenth year (1679) and was rebuilt for the final Great Pillars of State

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time in the thirty-fourth year of the Kangxi reign (1695). The last major premodern renovation of the hall took place in the thirtieth year of the Qianlong period (1765).124 We have already established that the Hall of Supreme Harmony differs in significant ways from both of the Ming halls, but how much did it differ from the original Yongle-era Hall of Revering Heaven? And at what point during the subsequent reconstructions did the building take its present form? What was the architectural relationship among the buildings in this long sequence of construction and reconstruction? With regard to the original Hall of Revering Heaven, we can make several assumptions. First, based on early paintings of the Forbidden City, we know that the hall possessed nine bays across the front and was flanked by sloped covered corridors that led to storied towers on either side.125 Second, textual sources confirm that the hall would have been situated on the same white marble platform as it is today, and that the structure would have been positioned within the direct center of this platform.126 Third, the hall was constructed out of the largest possible nanmu timbers, with pillars bearing diameters of around 1.50 meters. Finally, because they were both constructed according to the same principles of the early official Ming style, the Hall of Revering Heaven would likely have closely resembled the Sacrificial Hall.127 Determining the exact size of the Yongle-era Hall of Revering Heaven is more challenging. At least three leading Chinese architectural historians—Li Xieping, Qinghua Guo, and Fu Xinian—have taken up this issue. Based on a Jiajing-era record describing the Hall of Revering Heaven as “30 zhang wide and 15 zhang deep,” Li Xieping estimated that the building would have measured 95.10 × 47.44 meters.128 Qinghua Guo instead attempted to determine the size of the hall based on its relation to the marble platform, proposing that it would have measured 83.40 meters in width, 37.40 meters in depth, and 29.70 meters in height.129 Fu Xinian based his estimation on the proportions between the width and depth of the Sacrificial Hall. Fu observed that even though the Hall of Supreme Harmony is six meters narrower that the Sacrificial Hall, it is four meters deeper. He therefore speculated that the current depth of the building is consistent with its original depth, but that the width was changed at some point. He applied the proportions between the width and depth of the Sacrificial Hall (2.29:1) to the Hall of Supreme Harmony and calculated that the hall would originally have measured about 76.30 meters across the front in contrast to today’s 60.08 meters.130 Fu Xinian’s estimate is the most convincing. According to Li Xieping’s proposal, the Hall of Revering Heaven would have been an astonishing 34.30 meters wider and 14.11 meters deeper than the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and even 28.20 meters wider than the Sacrificial Hall, which is the largest premodern building to survive in China. It is more likely that the textual record upon which Li based his calculations was exaggerated. Qinghua Guo’s results also seem too large. Although the Hall of Revering 80

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Heaven would have been only four meters deeper and three meters taller than the Hall of Supreme Harmony, it would have measured 22.60 meters wider than the extant hall. We must keep in mind that the Hall of Revering Heaven was only nine bays wide, not eleven. Therefore, if the hall were really as big either as Li or Guo propose, the spans in between the pillars would have been very long. If the spans in a traditional Chinese timber frame building are too wide, the risk of deflection (sagging under a heavy load) among the horizontal members will be very high.131 It therefore seems reasonable that Yongle’s Hall of Revering Heaven was larger but not too much larger than the Sacrificial Hall, which was of slightly lesser importance to the state. Fu Xinian’s suggestion that the Hall of Revering Heaven would have been approximately ten meters wider and four meters deeper than the Sacrificial Hall thus seems reasonable. When did the Hall of Revering Heaven take on its current dimensions? Textual evidence indicates that it was during the reconstruction of the hall in the mid-sixteenth century under Jiajing. In an important passage from Ming Veritable Records, Jiajing discusses the reconstruction of the hall with his advisers. The problem at hand is that, due to a lack of large timbers, the hall could not be built on the same scale as the original. The emperor begins by telling his advisers: “I am afraid that the former proportions certainly cannot be violated; therefore, we can just shrink [the scale] slightly and not compromise the original width of 30 zhang and depth of 15 zhang.”132 Here, Jiajing probably meant that they had to maintain the proportion of 2:1 between the width and the depth, not the actual measurements, which were probably exaggerated. In response, one of his advisers says: If we slightly diminish [the original size of the hall], it definitely will not violate the former proportions. I submit, however, that in the construction of a building, the erection of the platform is the main difficulty. Its cost is several times that of the wood and stone [of the building set on top of it]. If we change the measurements of the old foundation even a little bit, that one change will result in a hundred other changes. To change everything from the beginning would require extensive ramming and carpentry and a renewed expenditure of wealth and labor, it will drag on for months and years, and it will be exceedingly difficult to complete the building. I respectfully propose that we leave the depth and width of the base the same as before, but it is perhaps permissible to reduce the circumference and girth of the timber and stones in relation to the former measurements. I have discussed this with the other officials and they all support this proposal. We await the emperor’s sanction.133 Jiajing’s adviser thus proposed that because the giant tamped-earth foundation faced with marble would have been far too difficult to rebuild, Great Pillars of State

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instead of shrinking the scale of the building and the base together, as implied in the emperor’s suggestion, they simply leave the base as it was and only shrink the size of the building atop it. Following Jiajing’s reconstruction of the main hall of the Ancestral Temple, the country’s large nanmu timber resources were significantly depleted. As a consequence, Li Xianqing and the other officials were only able to gather “second rate,” or smaller, nan and shan timbers for the reconstruction of the Three Halls. An important passage from the Veritable Records explains the architectural result of the shortage of large nanmu materials: “In the time of [Jiajing], shan replaced nan for the golden pillars. Their length was sufficient, but not their width. [As a result,] eight sections were converged around the central core of one trunk to form a pillar. The large beams used either three or four [sections] converged.”134 It is evident from this statement that to construct a monumental hall without large nanmu timbers, significant architectural modifications needed to be made. In the architectural history of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Jiajing-era reconstruction is thus a critical and overlooked juncture in which the hall was constructed with shan instead of nan wood, the largest pillars and beams were created with the “wrapped rim” method, and the overall scale of the hall was shrunken considerably.

The Fall of Nanmu Procurement in the Qing Dynasty Although one might assume that the allure of nanmu would have worn off once pine was used for the reconstruction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Kangxi reign, this was not the case. In the fourth year of the Yongzheng reign (1726), the emperor discussed the construction of his future tomb with his advisers and the issue of nanmu arose. It was mentioned that, according to “old rules” (jiuli), nan and shan timbers were to be used for the construction of an emperor’s tomb. Yongzheng responded by saying that, while it is inappropriate to change the old rules, nanmu was very difficult to find; therefore, if they were unable to find nan timbers, they could “bear to” (kan) use pine instead.135 This statement is our most important piece of evidence for what we might have expected based on the actions of the Ming and Qing emperors subsequent to Yongle: that employing nanmu for the highest-rank architecture (a trend that Yongle initiated) had become considered the standard and was deemed improper not to follow. Luckily for Yongzheng, between the sixth (1728) and eleventh (1733) years of his reign, the officials were able to find 1,738 timbers in what are now parts of eastern Sichuan and Chongqing. However, we can be certain that the timbers they collected were much thinner than those used by Yongle.136 In the Qianlong reign the collection of nan timber continued with great fervor. Between the eighth (1743) and the fourteenth (1749) years,

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2,028 nanmu timbers were obtained from eastern Sichuan and Chongqing, and also from southern, northern, and far northwestern Sichuan for the construction of Qianlong’s tomb.137 In the fifteenth year of the Qianlong reign (1750), it was announced that twelve large timbers were still needed for the tomb. These were gathered from northeastern Sichuan and northwestern Guizhou.138 In the thirtieth year of the Qianlong reign (1765), thirty-six large nan timbers were obtained from what is now Hunan, Chongqing, and southern Sichuan (near the Mountain of Sacred Timbers) for the construction of a building in the Garden of Perfect Brightness (Yuanming Yuan) in Beijing.139 By the end of Qianlong’s reign, in the thirty-second (1767), thirty-fifth (1770), thirty-sixth (1771), forty-eighth (1783), and fifty-eighth (1793) years, and also in the third year of the Jiaqing reign (1798), nanmu was collected exclusively for the lamp posts (denggan) of the Altars to Heaven (Tian Tan) and Earth (Di Tan). Each time, only a small number of trunks, ranging from one or two to around thirty, was collected.140 By the Qianlong reign, large nanmu trees had become so scarce that the few large logs leftover from the Yongle period were greatly treasured. In the thirty-ninth year of Qianlong’s reign (1784), for instance, the emperor ordered an official to survey all the ancient timbers still left in the Divine Timber Yard. The official found one large nanmu timber from the Yongle reign measuring six zhang (19.20 meters) in length with a circumference on one end of two zhang, five chi, and five cun (8.26 meters) and at the other end of one zhang, six chi, and five cun (5.28 meters). In honor of this massive timber, Qianlong ordered the construction of a Divine Timber Temple (Shenmu Miao), at which regular seasonal sacrifices were made.141 The massive nanmu timbers harvested in the Yongle reign had Figure 2.24. The Hall of Detached Sincerity (ca. 1750), the Manchu summer palace Mountain Villa for Avoiding the Heat, Chengde, Hebei. Author’s photograph, 2014.

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thus transitioned from being prized construction materials to objects of devotion in their own right. An exquisite example of a nanmu hall from the Qianlong reign is the Hall of Detached Sincerity (Danbo Jingcheng Dian), the main hall of the Mountain Villa for Avoiding the Heat (Bishu Shanzhuang) in the Manchu summer palace at Chengde (ca. 1750) (fig. 2.24). This hall is reflective of vernacular garden architecture from north China. Set at the rear edge of a small courtyard planted with trees, the hall is seven bays across the front but only a bay deep, and the roof is a simple rolled pitched roof (juanpeng ding). The hall is completely unpainted and devoid of bracket-sets, but the ornate lattice windows and thin pillars of the front veranda embellish the building. We know that nanmu continued to be gathered up into the nineteenth century because the main hall tomb, Muling, of the Daoguang emperor (r. 1820–1850), is constructed out of it (fig. 2.25).142 The hall, known as the Hall of Great Favors (Long’en Dian), has a more imposing presence than the Hall of Detached Sincerity on account of its tall, steeply sloped roof and squat marble platform approached by three sets of stairs. Yet the structure is still a very modest three-by-three bays with a one-bay-wide open corridor extending around the building. It contains thirty-six nanmu pillars of different sizes that get taller and wider moving from the exterior to the

Figure 2.25. The Hall of Great Favors at Muling (ca. 1850), tomb of the Daoguang emperor (r. 1820–1850). Author’s photograph, 2017.

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interior of the hall: the twenty pillars around the perimeter measure 5.25 meters tall and 0.56 meters in diameter; the twelve pillars that support the roof eaves are 7.50 meters tall and 0.62 meters in diameter; and the four central-most pillars are 8.95 meters and 0.67 meters in diameter (fig. 2.26).143 The hall’s most remarkable feature is the way in which the interior pillars have been treated: each pillar was carefully wrapped with delicate, 10-millimeter-thick strips of nanmu, which are meticulously fitted together in a fashion that highlights the natural grain of the wood (fig. 2.27).144 From these Qing nanmu buildings it appears that, alongside the growing scarcity of large nan timbers, although the value of nanmu remained strong, the aesthetic of the buildings constructed out of it shifted: while the massive pillars and beams in the Ming halls were intended to awe and overwhelm the viewer with their monumentality, the Qing-period halls evoke a much more intimate feel, and their elegant ornamentation invites close and careful investigation. In this regard, the model of monumental nanmu buildings established in the Yongle reign was ultimately lost. After Daoguang the large-scale construction of palaces and tombs declined dramatically and alongside it the need for nanmu basically stopped altogether.145 Today, very few of the large nanmu (specifically zhennan, the type used in construction) trees that once grew in abundance in the forests of southwestern China survive. Those that do are mostly located in protected areas or cultivated forests and are so few in number that they can be easily counted. In Sinan County, Guizhou, for instance, only forty nanmu trees with diameters of more than a meter and a few thousand trees with diameters of more than half a meter survive; a protected area belonging to a monastery on Mount Yunfeng in Sichuan contains three hundred and eight nanmu trees supposedly planted in the Yuan dynasty; in Chengdu,

Figure 2.26. Interior of the Hall of Great Favors. Author’s photograph, 2017.

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Figure 2.27. Detail of exterior column at the Hall of Great Favors. Author’s photograph, 2017.

thirty-seven ancient nanmu trees are located in an outdoor museum; and in Zhushan County, Hubei, one hundred ancient nanmu trees grow.146 Thus we can conclude that the great architectural monuments of the Ming dynasty, especially those built in the Yongle reign, essentially wiped out all the large and old nanmu trees growing near the waterways, bringing to mind the environmental historian Mark Elvin’s observation that “culture exacts its tribute from nature.”147

Conclusion Yongle initiated the practice of using nanmu to construct the most important buildings in the Ming empire. The massive nanmu pillars and beams in these halls indexed the extremities of the empire and Yongle’s control over them. They communicated the fusion of the imperial and natural powers, thereby lending legitimacy to Yongle’s rule. By constructing the great halls in his new capital out of nanmu, Yongle set the standard for all subsequent reconstructions. This placed an enormous burden on the emperors after Yongle because as time went on, large nanmu trees growing close to the waterways became increasingly difficult to find and transport. This forced the scope of timber collection to move further and further away from the lower reaches of the Jinsha River in southern Sichuan, the locus of timber procurement in the Yongle reign, and into Guizhou, Hunan, and even Guangdong. The timber officials and laborers also had to go deeper and deeper into the mountains, increasing their hardships. Although later emperors were still able to obtain nanmu, the individual logs they harvested were much smaller than those used in the Yongle reign. The emperors and their officials were aware of this fact and, as a consequence, the Yongle period came to be considered the golden age 86

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of timber procurement. Considering the enormous difficulties involved in obtaining large timbers for construction, it is remarkable that Yongle went to such great lengths to do it in the first place and perhaps even more astonishing that his successors continued the practice even as the natural resources dwindled. Their actions speak to the perceived importance of nanmu not only as an ideal construction material but also as a symbol of imperial power and an established rule that had to be followed, even though the practice of constructing large-scale buildings in nanmu had only begun in the Yongle reign. Despite the continued desires of the emperors to obtain nanmu for their imperial constructions, the devastating social and environmental impacts ultimately rendered the procurement of nanmu timbers, and thus the construction of large-scale nanmu buildings, unsustainable.

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becoming zhenwu The Imperial Turn at Mount Wudang

Between the years 1412 and 1424, as his palaces were being built in the capital, Yongle (r. 1402–1424) was deeply engaged in another massive architectural project: the reconstruction of dozens of temples dedicated to the deity Zhenwu (Perfect Warrior), also known as Xuanwu (Dark Warrior), on Mount Wudang, a range in present-day Hubei (fig. 3.1).1 The sacred landscape of Mount Wudang took shape in the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), when Daoist monks living on the mountain established numerous sacred sites and linked them to events described in Zhenwu’s sacred biography. As a result of their efforts, by the Ming era (1368–1644) Mount Wudang had become the most famous site of Zhenwu worship in China. When Yongle ascended the throne, most of the temples on Mount Wudang lay in ruins after being destroyed in the civil wars that ended the Yuan. In his own words, Yongle had made the decision to reconstruct the temples immediately after he rose to power but had to wait a few years until conflicts with the Mongols had settled down in order to begin.2 Yongle claimed that by rebuilding the temples on Mount Wudang, he was thanking Zhenwu for his help during the “Pacification of Crisis,” a euphemism for Yongle’s usurpation. According to a legend that likely originated at the Yongle court, in 1399, before initiating a rebellion against his nephew, Yongle, then the Prince of Yan, consulted his primary spiritual adviser, the Buddhist monk Daoyan (1335–1418), regarding the proper time to begin advancing his armies. Daoyan told the prince that he must wait until his “master” (shi) arrived to assist him. Later, during a military ceremony (jidao) held on the day Daoyan selected to begin the attack, an apparition of a male figure with long unbound hair and a sword appeared in the sky before the prince. When the prince asked Daoyan to identify the 89

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Figure 3.1. Mount Wudang, Hubei. Author’s photograph, 2017.

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mysterious figure, Daoyan replied that it was his master, the deity Zhenwu. In response, the prince unbound his own hair and grasped his sword in imitation of the vision he had just seen.3 The implication is that in this instance Zhenwu transferred the Mandate of Heaven to Yongle, thereby sanctioning his rule. Despite the obvious apocryphal nature of this story, we can be certain that Yongle’s selection of Zhenwu was no accident. Zhenwu’s history dates back at least to the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), when he was associated with the north and symbolized by a black tortoise entwined by a snake. By the Song dynasty (960–1279) he had developed into an anthropomorphized martial god, represented with long hair, golden armor, and a sword, often with the vestige of his former self, a snake and tortoise, at his feet (fig. 3.2).4 By this time Zhenwu had become closely associated with imperial power. For example, the Song emperor Zhenzong (r. 998– 1022) constructed a temple to Zhenwu in Bianliang after the miraculous appearance of a tortoise and a snake, and the Yuan emperor Khubilai Khan (r. 1260–1294) built two temples dedicated to Zhenwu after a similar apparition in Dadu.5 During the Yuan dynasty, Zhenwu’s title was changed to emperor (di).6 By the Ming, Zhenwu had become considered a guardian figure who could confer the mandate to rule upon righteous rebels. In a text compiled in the late Yuan, for example, Zhenwu is said to have aided King Wu of the Zhou dynasty (ca. 1046–256 BCE) in a rebellion against the last emperor of the Shang dynasty (1600–ca. 1046 BCE).7 It is likely that chapter 3

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Yongle knew about these associations and was also drawn to Zhenwu on account of their shared connections with the north and with the military.8 In addition to claiming that Zhenwu had helped him during his usurpation, Yongle promoted the idea that Zhenwu was protecting the northern borders from Mongol invaders.9 In the same edict in which Yongle announced his intention to reconstruct the temples on Mount Wudang to thank Zhenwu, he stated that the project was also meant to honor the souls of Yongle’s mother and father in heaven—the very same reason he gave for building the magnificent Porcelain Pagoda in Nanjing.10 The reconstruction of the temples on Mount Wudang can thus be considered a grand political gesture that communicated not only Yongle’s possession of the Mandate of Heaven but also his legitimacy as the son of Empress Ma and the successor to his father’s throne.11 On a more personal level, Yongle evidently hoped the reconstruction of the temples would lead him to the famed twelfth-century Wudang Daoist master Zhang Sanfeng, whom Yongle could entice into becoming Becoming Zhenwu

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Figure 3.2. Statue of Zhenwu (ca. 1416–39). Bronze, height 133 cm. British Museum, London.

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his personal spiritual adviser at court.12 Although very little is known about the historical Zhang Sanfeng, according to Ming lore, Zhang had achieved immortality through “inner alchemy” (neidan), a rumor that sparked the emperor’s interest. He sent at least two letters to Wudang addressed to Zhang Sanfeng, in which he flattered the immortal and told him that he was constructing a temple dedicated to him on the mountain.13 Under Yongle’s orders the official Hu Ying and others spent more than a decade trying to locate Zhang Sanfeng all over the country, although some scholars believe that the mission to find him may actually have been a pretext to search for Yongle’s nephew, who was rumored to still be alive. Most of Yongle’s involvement with Mount Wudang occurred between the tenth (1412) and the sixteenth (1418) years of his reign. During this time more than a dozen edicts and memorials were sent between the court and Mount Wudang, revealing that the project took shape via a constant dialog between the emperor and his advisers. Although Mount Wudang’s ingenious built program was rooted in Yuan dynasty precedents, under Yongle the mountain achieved a newfound level of thematic and architectural coherency that enabled pilgrims to be guided through the sacred biography of Zhenwu’s life. The “new” mountain was promoted through a number of different channels, including local gazetteers, woodblock-printed illustrations, and painted handscrolls. These functioned as portable replications of the architectural project, materializing claims to religious and imperial power in a manner analogous to the buildings themselves. In the centuries after Yongle’s takeover, Mount Wudang inspired copies in numerous different forms, indicating that the architecture on the mountain had come to be considered an authentic and efficacious trace of Zhenwu. Mount Wudang eventually helped forge within popular memory close connections between Yongle and Zhenwu, and by extension Beijing and the mountain, thereby knitting the imperial and the local aspects of the empire more closely together.

The Formation of Mount Wudang’s Sacred Landscape in the Yuan Dynasty The majority of the sacred landscape on Mount Wudang took its present shape during the Yuan dynasty. The history of the mountain during this time can best be understood through a three-volume record called Collection of Comprehensive Truths Concerning the Blessed Land of Wudang (Wudang fudi zongzhen ji), written in 1291 by the Daoist master Liu Daoming. Considered to be Mount Wudang’s first gazetteer, the record contains valuable information on the mountain’s topographic and architectural features, its animals and plants, the famous Daoist masters who lived there, and the tale of Zhenwu’s life.14 Its compilation and widespread circulation during this time solidified Mount Wudang’s status as the leading site of Zhenwu worship in China. 92

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According to Collection of Comprehensive Truths, the Wudang mountain range spanned eight hundred li and encompassed seventy-two peaks, thirty-six cliffs, twenty-four ravines, as well as many caves, marshes, springs, and other natural features.15 Embedded within this landscape were nine large temples, known as “palaces” (gong), eight more modest temples (guan), as well as many smaller hermitages (an) and rock shrines (yan).16 The three largest temples on the mountain were Five Dragons Palace (Wulong Gong), Purple Skies Palace (Zixiao Gong), and Southern Cliff Palace (Nanyan Gong). The temples were constructed with funds raised by the resident Daoist priests, although Mongol emperors, particularly Renzong (r. 1311–1320), provided some support as well.17 The mountain’s highest peak, Heaven’s Pillar Peak (Tianzhu Feng, 1612 meters above sea level), was capped with a miniature hall made of copper, which was dedicated to Zhenwu (fig. 3.3). This hall was cast in Wuchang (now Wuhan) with donations provided by devotees from several provinces around Mount Wudang and sent to the mountain by boat.18 Paths linking the mountain’s sacred sites were also established in the Yuan period, allowing pilgrims much better access to the otherwise vast and impenetrable terrain.19 Becoming Zhenwu

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Figure 3.3. Yuan dynasty copper hall, Mount Wudang, Hubei. Zhang Jianwei, Zhongguo gudai jinshu jianzhu yanjiu, 321. Line drawing courtesy of Zhang Jianwei.

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It was also during the Yuan dynasty, and specifically through the publication of Collection of Comprehensive Truths, that the mountain became more closely linked to the tale of Zhenwu’s life. Although Zhenwu’s biography circulated in many forms since at least the Song dynasty, varying considerably in length and detail, the narrative in all its versions contains a number of standard elements.20 As the story goes, Prince Zhenwu was born on the third day of the third month into the Kingdom of Quiet Joy (Jingle Guo). He was an intelligent and brave young boy, memorizing the classics by the time he was ten. Instead of inheriting his father’s position as king, Zhenwu chose to devote himself to self-cultivation in order to assist the Jade Emperor (Yu Di) in saving and protecting all living beings. Zhenwu left home at age fifteen, despite resistance from his parents, and entered the Wudang mountains to practice Daoism. After forty-two years he reached enlightenment and ascended to heaven, where he continued to perform marvelous deeds as the Guardian of the North.21 Beginning in the Yuan dynasty, episodes from Zhenwu’s life became firmly embedded into specific places and things on the mountain. In Collection of Comprehensive Truths, Liu Daoming purported that Zhenwu’s birthplace, the Kingdom of Quiet Joy, was located in the actual walled city of Junzhou, thirty-five kilometers from Mount Wudang’s base. He claimed that Heaven’s Pillar Peak was the site of Zhenwu’s apotheosis and ten of the other seventy-two peaks on the mountain were places where Zhenwu had trained to become an immortal.22 Even the local betel-nut plum (langmei) trees indigenous to the mountain were infused with a backstory incorporating them into the Zhenwu legend.23 The historian Shin-yi Chao has convincingly argued that the blurring between myth and reality that we see in the Yuan period was a direct result of the great efforts made by the resident Daoist masters to promote Mount Wudang as the “central stage” of Zhenwu’s life.24 Not only was the tale of Zhenwu’s life associated with Mount Wudang textually in Collection of Comprehensive Truths, events in Zhenwu’s life were also fixed spatially on the mountain through architecture. For example, several versions of the Zhenwu legend tell the story of the Needle Grinding Ravine (Mozhen Jian) (map 3.1). In this story, once while living on Mount Wudang, Zhenwu became frustrated with his Daoist practice and decided to return home. As he was walking down a ravine, he met an old woman grinding an iron pestle on a stone. He asked her what she was doing, and the woman replied that she was making a sewing needle. At the very moment Zhenwu was telling her that it was impossible to form a needle out of an iron pestle, he realized that he was being taught a lesson: to remain steadfast in his Daoist practice. As a testament to his newfound dedication, Zhenwu grafted a branch of a plum tree onto a dead betel-nut tree and predicted that the tree would bear fruit when he reached his enlightenment. Sure enough, the hybrid betel-nut-plum trees on the mountain flourished and eventually an old immortal man looked after the trees. In the Yuan period a Shrine to the Immortal Old Man of the 94

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Quiet Joy Palace

Xuanyue Gate

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Jade Void Palace

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Encountering Truth Palace

uim

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Danjiangkou Reservoir

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Five Dragons Palace

Purple Skies Palace

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Southern Cliff Palace

Beetlenut Shrine Golden Hall Heaven’s Pillar Peak

Map 3.1. Pilgrimage paths and main sites on Mount Wudang. Redrawn by Ani Rucki after Wudangshan Zhi Bianzuan Weiyuan Hui, Wudangshan zhi, 301–302.

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Betel-Nut Plum (Langmei Xianweng Ci) was constructed at the site of the betel-nut tree. It is said that for those who pray at the shrine, betel-nut plums, otherwise too high to reach, will fall from the trees.25 Borrowing the words of the historian John Lagerwey, we can conclude that on Yuan dynasty Mount Wudang every built aspect of the mountain was “integrated into the dramatic tale of a single god.”26 Just as Mount Wudang was incorporated into the tale of Zhenwu’s life through its natural and built features, the tale was also given substance on the mountain: by visiting the mountain’s various sites, pilgrims could see and reenact the scenes of Zhenwu’s life for themselves, much like Christian and Muslim pilgrims do today in Jerusalem and Mecca.

From Wudang to Taihe: Yongle’s Takeover Most of what we know about Mount Wudang during Yongle’s time comes from the twelve-volume Gazetteer of the Imperially Commissioned Mountain of Supreme Harmony (Chijian dayue Taihe shan zhi) published in 1431.27 The gazetteer was written by the Daoist master Ren Ziyuan (d. 1431). In 1413, Yongle appointed Ren as superintendent (tidian) of Jade Void Palace (Yuxu Gong), the largest temple on Mount Wudang, with the intention that Ren would compile a gazetteer that promoted the new building project.28 Earlier, Ren had been involved in the production of both the Yongle Encyclopedia, published in 1408, and the Daoist Canon, which was initiated under Yongle in 1406 but not completed until 1445 during the Zhengtong reign.29 All three texts helped glorify Yongle, and in this respect Ren seems to have been an important spokesman for the emperor. As was common in the compilation of gazetteers, Ren Ziyuan based a great deal of his information, in many cases verbatim, on Liu Daoming’s Collection of Comprehensive Truths.30 As a result, the claims made by Liu Daoming became more firmly established in the historical consciousness. Later, both records were included within Yongle’s Daoist Canon, which helped further solidify their influence and authority. Because Ren Ziyuan lived on the mountain during the entire reconstruction process, his gazetteer includes a considerable amount of information on Yongle’s architectural project not found in other primary sources. This includes a number of edicts sent down from the capital and memorials sent up from the mountain, through which the following history of Yongle’s architectural project has been pieced together. In the fourth year of his reign (1406), Yongle summoned the Daoist priest Jian Zhongyang from Mount Wudang to the capital to teach him about the “traces” (shiji) of Zhenwu on the mountain, which Jian was said to have recounted in detail.31 The construction project did not really get under way until the tenth year of Yongle’s reign (1412), when the emperor issued an edict assigning two of his most trusted officials, the Marquis of Longping (Longping hou) Zhang Xin and the commandant-escort (Fuma 96

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Duwei) Mu Xin, as managers of the project.32 Their jobs were to care for the soldiers, civilians, and craftsmen in the building process, and to provide them with proper food and medical attention. The emperor granted Zhang and Mu the power to punish individuals who disregarded these policies.33 In the same year that Yongle appointed Zhang and Mu as project managers, he dispatched over two hundred thousand laborers to the mountain to carry out the construction.34 This is approximately the same number of workers who built Yongle’s palaces in Beijing, illustrating the enormous scale of the project. An undated stele, “Stele of the Officials for the Imperially Commissioned Temples” (Chijian gongguan bazong tidiao guanyuan bei), preserved in Ren’s gazetteer lists 416 men in charge of the project.35 At the end of the list are the names and trades of sixty-three master craftsmen, including excavators (tugong jiang zuotou), carpenters (mu jiang), stonemasons (shi jiang), tile workers (wa jiang), painters (youqi jiang), muralists (hua jiang), sculptors (niesu jiang), bell casters (zhu jiang zuotou), bell engravers (diaolian jiang zuotou), iron smiths (tie jiang), bronze smiths (tong jiang), and tin smiths (xijiang zuotou). Such an extensive record of the people involved in the restoration project demonstrates how enormous and well organized an undertaking it was. It also reinforces the bureaucratic nature of the Ming craft system.36 In terms of construction materials, Ren’s gazetteer only documents that Jin Chun, the Minister of Works, managed the procurement of wood.37 Yongle had dispatched Jin to Huguang in 1406 to procure large timbers for the imperial palaces in Beijing. For the Wudang project, Jin purchased one hundred thousand logs at a port in Junyang, Sichuan, along the Han River, and had them sent to the mountain by boat. According to local records, other construction materials, such as glazed roof tiles, were produced southeast of Mount Wudang and were also brought to the mountain by way of the Han River.38 An interesting memorial submitted to the throne in 1423, following the completion of the whole project, suggests that eventually many of the building materials needed for temple repairs were produced on site. In the memorial, Hu Ying, the Minister of Works, requested that a workshop be established at the base of the mountain for the production and storage of bricks, roof tiles, and timbers. Hu argued that if the temple structures were regularly repaired with the stored materials, they could “remain sturdy and complete forever.” Yongle agreed to fund the workshops.39 In an edict dated to the third month of the tenth year of his reign (1412), Yongle announced his plan to reconstruct the four largest temples on Mount Wudang: Jade Void Palace, Purple Skies Palace, Southern Cliff Palace, and Five Dragons Palace.40 The edict was addressed to Sun Biyun (1345–1417), an important Daoist master who later served as the abbot of Southern Cliff Palace.41 In the edict Yongle instructed Sun to carefully investigate the mountain’s topography to determine the scale of the project and then to report this information back to the court so that an auspicious date could be divined for the start of the construction.42 The project Becoming Zhenwu

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officially commenced on the ninth month of the tenth year (1412).43 Less than a year later, in the eighth month of the eleventh year (1413), the largest temples, as well as several smaller ones, were completed.44 Upon their completion, the temples were granted incense, candle wax, lamp oil, and bolts of fabric, and Daoist masters were assigned to manage them.45 The second major construction project on Mount Wudang was the installation of new a hall made of brass, called simply the Golden Hall (Jin Dian), on the summit of Heaven’s Pillar Peak (see map 3.1). To make way for Yongle’s hall, the more modest Yuan dynasty bronze hall had to be moved to a peak below, where it still stands.46 The components of the Golden Hall were first cast in Beijing, and then, in 1416, on Zhenwu’s birthday (the ninth day of the ninth month), were shipped to Nanjing for export up the Yangzi and Han Rivers. The emperor instructed that the hall be sent on a clear day and in a clean boat escorted by a court official.47 While the clear weather and smooth water were meant to prevent danger and material damage, the clean boat protected the purity of the shrine. The hall was completed in 1418, meaning that the process of transporting the metal parts to and up the mountain and assembling them on the summit took about two years. In 1419, Yongle ordered the construction of a massive stone wall around Heaven’s Pillar Peak. He instructed that the wall follow along the natural contours of the mountain, be as tall as was necessary to prevent anyone from scaling it, and strong enough to last as long as “Heaven and Earth.”48 The Golden Hall was thereby physically set apart from the rest of the temples and symbolically rendered the most important structure on the mountain. The third and final project on the mountain was the construction of Quiet Joy Palace (Jingle Gong) in the walled city of Junzhou.49 This temple represents the Quiet Joy Kingdom, where Zhenwu was supposedly born and lived as a child.50 The construction of Quiet Joy Palace began in 1418, when the emperor issued an edict to move the ancient Junzhou prefectural government office (shu) to the southeast corner of the city so that the temple could be built in its place.51 Inside Quiet Joy Palace, Yongle ordered the construction of Purple Cloud Pavilion (Ziyun Ting), so named because Zhenwu was said to have emerged out of a purple cloud at birth. Two other sites on the mountain, Crown Prince Boulder (Taizi Yan) and Crown Prince Slope (Taizi Po) (see map 3.1), were also furnished with statues of Zhenwu as a young boy.52 Yongle requested that Zhang and Mu submit detailed drawings of these statues for his approval before they were made.53 This reveals the very high degree to which Yongle monitored the cultural production on Mount Wudang. At the same time as the temples were being rebuilt, Yongle undertook a large-scale renovation of the roads and paths leading to and up the mountain.54 One of the most significant new additions was a wide thirtyfive-kilometer stone road linking the ancient town of Junzhou to the base of Mount Wudang. This new paved road, which could accommodate the

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use of carriages, became the primary means of access to the mountain.55 Two paved pilgrimage paths connecting the sacred sites were also created during this time.56 The paths followed along the riverbeds of the Pangxie Jianzi and Jian Rivers, which flow down the western and eastern sides of the north face of the mountain, respectively, revealing just how closely the architecture was integrated into the existing landscape (see map 3.1). Upon the completion of the principal buildings on the mountain, Yongle officially renamed Mount Wudang the Great Mountain of Supreme Harmony (Dayue Taihe shan), thereby solidifying his claim to it.57 He also ordered an imperial seal bearing the mountain’s new name to be carved in the capital and delivered to the mountain.58 The seal was sent in response to a memorial by Ren Ziyuan, which argued that although the Daoist Mount Longhu, Mount Mao, and Mount Gezao had all received seals in the Hongwu reign (1368–1398), the “number one mountain under heaven,” Wudang, had not yet been officially recognized. According to the historian Pierre-Henry de Bruyn, Yongle’s granting of the seal marked Mount Wudang’s formal introduction into the country’s “sacred geography.”59 From this point on, it was the most important Daoist mountain in China.

Yongle’s Reordering of the Sacred Landscape Although the Yuan Daoist masters established Mount Wudang’s conceptual framework by linking its sacred sites to events in the mythical life of Zhenwu, under Yongle the mountain was transformed into a much more spatially cohesive site. Following the reconstruction, the mountain could be divided into three registers based on the Zhenwu legend.60 The first register is the human realm, located in the walled city of Junzhou at the bottom of the mountain. The main temple in this section is the Quiet Joy Palace, representing the kingdom where Zhenwu was born. The second register symbolizes the sacred mountain on which Zhenwu practiced Daoism for forty-two years. It constitutes the bulk of the mountain and contains most of its temples. The third register is the heavenly realm, located atop Heaven’s Pillar Peak, indicating the place where Zhenwu ascended to heaven. The main building in this section is the Golden Hall. The distances between the three “realms” possess a ratio of 3:2:1.61 From bottom to top, the space on Mount Wudang thus becomes increasingly dense and important. Whereas in the Yuan dynasty the western path leading to Five Dragons Palace—where Liu Daoming and many other important Daoist masters lived—was the main pilgrimage route, in the early Ming the primary pilgrimage route shifted to the eastern path. The official starting point of the pilgrimage was the massive Jade Void Palace (see map 3.1) at the base of the mountain.62 From there pilgrims would begin their ascent up the long and winding eastern mountain path. Along the way they would stop at two

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of Wudang’s most important temples, Purple Skies Palace and Southern Cliff Palace, as well as many smaller temples, cave shrines, large rocks, and outdoor altars.63 After Southern Cliff Palace the eastern path joins with the western path and a single, very steep route leads to the summit crowned by the Golden Hall. Throughout the entire eastern pilgrimage route, the Golden Hall, a symbol of Zhenwu’s enlightenment, is visible, disappears, and then reappears in the distance, encouraging the pilgrims to persist until they reach the summit.64 Once at the Golden Hall, the pilgrim would come into contact with Zhenwu through a series of rituals.65 We can uncover three layers of metaphor with regard to pilgrimage at Mount Wudang: the pilgrim’s difficult climb up to Heaven’s Pillar Peak parallels Zhenwu’s arduous journey of self-cultivation to reach his apotheosis, which in turn parallels the Daoist practitioner’s lifelong striving toward enlightenment. Instead of being scattered and fractured on the mountain as they were in Yuan times, after Yongle’s reconstruction the sacred sites on Mount Wudang led pilgrims up the mountain in a linear progression through the space and time of Zhenwu’s life. The new roads and paths played a particularly important role in manifesting Zhenwu’s sacred biography by setting the individual buildings into a narrative to be followed by the pilgrim. Yongle’s project possessed several advantages that contributed to its overall success. First, whereas prior to the Ming the sacred sites were built piecemeal over hundreds of years, the reconstruction of the temples and other sites under Yongle were completed in toto within a decade. In this respect, Yongle’s Mount Wudang also differs from China’s most famous Buddhist mountain, Wutai, which was built up over a period of centuries and has no ostensible overarching architectural order.66 Second, while the earlier temples were mainly constructed with donations solicited locally by the Daoist priests, those in the Yongle reign were funded exclusively by the imperial court.67 Finally, by the time Yongle took over the mountain, the close connections between the Zhenwu legend and the sacred sites on Mount Wudang had already been firmly established. As a result of these factors, before the reconstruction, Yongle was able to get a sense of the big picture of the mountain in a way that would have been impossible earlier.68 Shin-yi Chao has argued that although Yongle possessed the political power necessary to rebuild the temples on the mountain, he did not possess “the symbolic capital to redesign the mountain’s landscape.”69 While Chao’s claim is in some ways true, evidence suggests that Yongle and his advisers did not simply accept the existing configuration of the sacred sites on Mount Wudang; rather, they worked hard to grasp them and make necessary changes. Perhaps the most significant Yongle-period contribution to Mount Wudang’s architectural landscape was the addition of Quiet Joy Palace in Junzhou, which represented the Kingdom of Quiet Joy where Zhenwu was born and lived as a child. Not constructed until 1419, this temple was one of the final architectural additions to the mountain com100

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position. As the primary symbol of Zhenwu’s earthly life, it introduced to the mountain a component of the legend that had been absent in the Yuan period. Without it, the pilgrim’s journey up Mount Wudang would have lacked the experience of a pivotal transformation in Zhenwu’s life: his decision to renounce the mundane world and devote himself to Daoism. Therefore it can be said that a completely new conception of the mountain was generated through Yongle’s reconstruction.

Standardization in Wudang’s Imperial Architecture The high degree of planning and organization that went into the spatial composition of the sacred sites on Mount Wudang can also be seen in the buildings themselves. In all, Yongle constructed nine “palaces” and eight temples, as well as many hermitages, shrines, cliff temples, pavilions, incense burners, open-air altars, paths, and bridges on Mount Wudang.70 These buildings once exhibited remarkable consistencies with regard to material, structure, and decoration that integrated the mountain together into a uniform whole. They indicate that the standardized Ming court architectural system was projected on Wudang’s mountainous landscape, helping to communicate Yongle’s absolute authority far outside the imperial capital. Among the nine palaces constructed on Mount Wudang, only one original large-scale hall, at Purple Skies Palace, survives today (fig. 3.4).71 Purple Skies Palace is situated at 804 meters, almost exactly halfway up the mountain. In the Yongle reign it was the third largest temple complex on the mountain.72 Considered to be a model of fengshui design, an excavated S-shaped creek winds in front of it and it is backed at the north by Expanding Banner Peak (Zhanqi Feng). The temple is built against a steep mountainside and looks south over a number of other forested mountain peaks.

main hall

main gate

stele pavilion

Parents Hall

Worship Hall

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Figure 3.4. Section of Purple Skies Temple. Hubei sheng jianshe ting, Wudangshan gujianzhu qun, 95.

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The main buildings, which ascend up the central axis, include a main gate, two stele pavilions, Worship Hall (Chaobai Dian), with glazed tile incense burners on either side, the main hall, and Parents Hall (Fumu Dian).73 Despite having undergone several major renovations, the main hall of Purple Skies Palace still preserves most aspects of its original structure from 1412 (figs. 3.5 and 3.6).74 The hall is situated on a two-tiered marble platform framed with balustrades, capped with a double-eave hip-andgable roof covered in glazed turquoise tiles. The footprint of the building is five-by-five bays, but at 26.27 meters wide and 18.38 meters deep, is not square (fig. 3.7).75 The central bay of the hall is very wide (8.37 meters), signifying the building’s high status.76 The four central-most pillars and the twelve pillars supporting the upper roof eaves are all of uniform height (10.33 meters); the twenty pillars supporting the lower roof eaves are about half the height (5.25 meters) of the interior pillars (fig. 3.8).77 Although the roof frame consists of eleven purlins, the largest cross-beam spans only five purlins, on top of which is a three-purlin beam bearing a short post that supports the ridge purlin. An elaborately painted lattice ceiling with a central coffer has been installed inside the hall. As we might expect given that imperial craftsmen built it, the main hall of Purple Skies Palace exhibits many features of the official Ming architectural style, including the arrangement of the pillar grid into two concentric rings as well as the seven-step brackets on the upper eaves and the five-step brackets on the lower eaves.78 The uneven spacing of the intercolumnar bracket sets is also representative of the official Ming style.79 Becoming Zhenwu

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Figure 3.5. (opposite) Main hall of Purple Skies Temple (1413). Author’s photograph, 2012. Figure 3.6. Front elevation of Purple Skies Temple main hall. Hubei sheng jianshe ting, Wudangshan gujianzhu qun, 95.

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0

Figure 3.7. Ground plan of Purple Skies Temple main hall. Hubei sheng jianshe ting, Wudangshan gujianzhu qun, 95.

W 5

10m

Figure 3.8. Side section of Purple Skies Temple main hall. Hubei sheng jianshe ting, Wudangshan gujianzhu qun, 95.

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During a reconstruction of the hall in 1992, a Yongle-era diagram used for the painted decoration of the interior timber members was discovered underneath one of the eave beams, indicating that the architectural painting originally followed an official pattern brought from the capital.80 The 1992 reconstruction revealed that some local building methods were incorporated into the otherwise imperial structure, suggesting that local and imperial craftsmen worked together on the projects.81 Although none of the main halls of the other large temples on the mountain survive, a sense of their original appearances can be gleaned from early fifteenth-century visual records, discussed later in this chapter (see fig. 3.23). These images indicate that the main halls of the palaces once closely resembled each other. They were all either five-by-five or sevenby-five bay structures situated on two-tiered marble platforms and capped with double-eave hip-and-gable tiled roofs. Moreover, from the images we can see that their tiled roofs originally all followed the “black glaze, green trim” (hei liuli lü jianbian) method, in which most of the roof tiles were glazed in black, but those along the edges were glazed in dark green, framing the black.82 The “black glaze, green trim” tiled roofs can be still seen in some smaller buildings on the mountain (fig. 3.9) and in several imperial Ming buildings in Beijing. It has been suggested that black roof tiles were selected for the Wudang project because of the color’s associations with Zhenwu.83

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Figure 3.9. Incense burner with “black glaze, green trim” (hei liuli lü jianbian) roof tiles. Author’s photograph, 2017.

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Figure 3.10. Stele with tortoise base at Southern Cliff Palace. Author’s photograph, 2017.

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During the reconstruction the pilgrimage paths connecting the temples were paved with granite and their thousands of stairs were set at regular heights. A standard style of balustrade, typical of imperial buildings in the capital, was deployed mountainwide.84 Furthermore, the dozens of bridges on the mountain were made of huge square slabs of granite that was obtained from a quarry in Xiangyang Prefecture, Hubei, and the method in which they were constructed was analogous to that of contemporaneous bridges built in the capital.85 As the historian Dagmar Schäfer has pointed out, the bridges at Mount Wudang are good examples of how the “transfer of technical concerns was achieved by human interaction and migration.”86 From the surviving fifteenth-century artifacts on the mountain, we know that some of the same furnishings were fabricated for all the main temples on Mount Wudang and then distributed to them en masse. For example, the entrances to Quiet Joy Palace, Jade Void Palace, Purple Skies Palace, Southern Cliff Palace, and Five Dragons Palace were each marked with two massive stelae atop tortoise bases, one inscribed with a Yongle edict from 1413 and the other with a Yongle edict from 1418 (fig. 3.10). Not only are the inscriptions on these stelae identical in terms of their content and script style, the stone slabs themselves are also almost exactly the same

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Figure 3.11. Imperial edict plaque from the eleventh year of Yongle’s reign (1413). Painted ginkgo wood, 129.50 × 113.20 cm. Courtesy of Hubei Museum of Art.

dimensions, indicating that they were created at the same time and in the same workshops.87 Furthermore, at each of these five temples hung the same large (1.30 × 1.13 meter) ginkgo wood imperial edict plaque (shengzhi) from 1413, painted red with inscriptions in gold (fig. 3.11).88 These plaques praise the resident Daoist priests and warn that if pilgrims to the monastery hinder the priests’ spiritual practice, they will be punished. Archaeological investigations revealed even more precise similarities among the temple halls. A recent survey of the pillar hole spacing in the foundations of the now destroyed Southern Cliff Palace and Jade Void Palace main halls, for instance, demonstrated that the widths of the bays in these two halls were nearly identical to those at Purple Skies Hall. According to the architectural team that surveyed these three halls, the analogous bay widths may indicate that a standard module size was used to calculate the dimensions of all the halls on Mount Wudang.89 The team also found that the dimensions of the marble foundation, the arrangement of Becoming Zhenwu

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Figure 3.12. Main hall of Southern Cliff Palace (reconstructed in 2004). Author’s photograph, 2017.

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the pillar grid, the sizes of the pillar remains, and the heights of the walls at Southern Cliff Palace’s main hall were identical to those at Purple Skies Palace.90 Based on these similarities, Purple Skies Palace’s main hall was chosen to serve as the model for the 2004 reconstruction of Southern Cliff Palace’s main hall, and the presence of the twin halls on the mountain was thus restored (fig. 3.12). The main hall of Purple Skies Palace also served as the template for three halls at Quiet Joy Palace, which was completely reconstructed in the city of Danjiangkou after being submerged by the reservoir in the 1950s.91 Because not enough of the original architectural data from the temple was recorded before it was flooded, the builders based a number of the structural and decorative aspects of the new Quiet Joy Palace—including the proportions of the timber members, the distance of the projection of the roof eaves, the treatment of the central ceiling coffer, and the bracket-sets in the interior ceiling—on the main hall of Purple Skies Palace.92 Therefore, unlike Southern Cliff Palace’s main hall, at the new Quiet Joy Palace faithfulness to the main hall of Purple Skies Palace only survives in fragments. The fact that these contemporary reconstructions are all modeled on the main hall of the Purple Skies Palace indicates that even though the history of the mountain predated Yongle’s intervention and many monuments were added and rebuilt after his time, Yongle’s reign is still considered the golden age of architecture on Mount Wudang. chapter 3

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The Golden Hall: Crown of the Summit The Golden Hall is the only other original Yongle-era main hall on the mountain besides the Purple Skies main hall (fig. 3.13). It is located at the summit of Heaven’s Pillar Peak, a powerful juncture connecting Heaven and Earth, and represents the site of Zhenwu’s ascendance. Although the Golden Hall’s architectural style echoes the rest of the buildings on the mountain, the fact that the hall was created in metal makes it unique.93 Given the grand scale and spectacle of the reconstruction project, it is not surprising that Yongle chose to create his own Golden Hall instead of leaving the Yuan dynasty metal hall to crown the summit.94 Whereas the Yuan hall is a simple building without bracket-sets or a ceiling on the interior, the Golden Hall is a very high-ranking structure that follows the official architectural style of the capital. Moreover, while the Yuan hall was made of copper, lending it a dark brown color, the Golden Hall was instead made of brass, which made it appear much more like gold—only fitting for the jewel of Yongle’s grand architectural project.95 Although it is unclear why exactly these halls were created in metal, the choice may have been based on descriptions of immortals’ golden palaces in Daoist texts.96 Metal is, of

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Figure 3.13. The Golden Hall (1418). Photograph courtesy of Zhang Jianwei.

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Figure 3.14. Heaven’s Pillar Peak from above. Drone photograph courtesy of Zhang Jianwei.

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course, also a much more expensive and valuable construction material than wood, which would have immediately communicated the importance of the hall in relation to the others on Mount Wudang. The Golden Hall is approached through the south gate—the only one of the four gates that actually opens—of the 1.25-meter-thick, 2.50-metertall, and 344-meter-long stone wall that surrounds the summit (fig. 3.14).97 The hall is situated upon a gray-brown marble platform enclosed with a carved balustrade and faces east toward the rising sun. A platform (yuetai) extends from the front of the hall, with staircases located at the front, left, and right sides (fig. 3.15). Originally the Golden Hall would have stood alone on the mountaintop, emphasizing its singular importance, but in the Qing dynasty small timber halls were constructed at its sides and rear.98 In 1590, Daoist devotees from Yunnan donated 148 bronze poles inscribed with the donors’ names and requests for blessings, which were connected to form a protective fence around the exterior of the hall.99 The hall is three-by-three bays but slightly wider (4.40 meters) than it is deep (3.20 meters), and is 5.54 meters in height (fig. 3.16 and 3.17).100 The small size of the hall belies its high rank, which is instead expressed through its double-eave, hipped roof (the only one of its kind on Mount Wudang), and the remarkable ten sets of intercolumnar brackets in the central bay, more than any other building that survives from the early Ming period.101 Inside the hall is a 1.86-meter-tall gilt-brass statue depictchapter 3

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0

.75

1.5

3m

N

ing Zhenwu seated on a throne with long unbound hair and a tortoise and snake at his feet (fig. 3.18).102 It is considered the most exquisite statue on the mountain.103 Flanking the Zhenwu statue are brass statues of a Celestial Official (on the left) and a Jade Maiden (on the right), both of which are approximately 1.5 meters tall. The composition of the metals used to make these statues is very similar to that of the Golden Hall, indicating that they all may have been produced at the same time and in the same place.104 Considering that Yongle reviewed the plans of statues of young Zhenwu for Prince Boulder and Prince Slope, it is possible that he oversaw the process of creating these statues as well. The brackets used on the upper eaves are all nine-step, double-tier, double-false-cantilever sets (fig. 3.19).105 This was the highest-rank bracket type used in the Ming dynasty, and only two other buildings, the Sacrificial Hall and the main hall at the Ancestral Hall employ it.106 Rather than being cast together in clusters, each component of the bracket-set was made individually and then fitted together, as would have been done in a timber building. Moreover, the bracket-sets all bear a structural function, helping to support the roof eaves.107 This means that the builders of the Golden Hall did not simply mimic the way a timber hall looked but were actually faithful to the mechanics of construction. As a result, they instilled a certain level of architectural authenticity into the structure. However, as the architectural historian Zhang Jianwei has noted, some aspects of the Golden Hall’s bracket construction must have differed from that of a timber building because the bronze parts fit seamlessly together in a manner that reveals a much higher level of artistry than can be found in Becoming Zhenwu

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Figure 3.15. Ground plan of the Golden Hall. Line drawing courtesy of Zhang Jianwei.

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Figure 3.16. (top) Front elevation of the Golden Hall; (bottom) front section of the Golden Hall. Line drawings courtesy of Zhang Jianwei.

Probably a structure of roof surface boards

Sealed by ceiling boards; the structure above remains unknown Internal structure unknown

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Figure 3.17. Side section of the Golden Hall. Line drawing courtesy of Zhang Jianwei.

Internal structure unknown

Depth of lower part of column plinths unknown

timber structures.108 It is possible that the process of casting the bracket parts in molds, which could produce identical copies, lent itself to a much greater degree of precision than did carving each individual member out of wood.109 A high degree of ingenuity can also be seen in the way the load of the upper eave is supported. In timber buildings with two roof eaves, the load of the upper eave is traditionally supported by either pillars inside the hall Becoming Zhenwu

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Figure 3.18. Bronze image of Zhenwu inside the Golden Hall. Hubei Museum of Art. Courtesy of Zeng Pan.

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or short posts (tong zhu) atop diagonal corner tie-beams (mojiao liang) or grid tie-beams (jingzi liang).110 However, in order to create as much open space inside the small Golden Hall as possible, neither interior pillars nor corner or grid tie-beams were used. Craftsmen instead figured out how to support the upper eave load with the rear tails of the lower-eave liujin bracket-sets, which transfer the weight of the load to the lower-eave pillars. This technique demanded the prefabricated parts fit perfectly together, so carpenters likely constructed a full-scale model, or at least a partial model, of the hall in wood before the metal parts were cast to ensure that the sizes and positions of the mortise and tenon were exact.111 Because a ceiling has been installed inside the hall, the beam structure above it cannot currently be understood.112 Many aspects of the Golden Hall were thus constructed just as a timber hall would have been: the parts were prefabricated and then assembled together, and consideration was given to resolving typical architectural problems, such as how to create more interior space without surrendering structural integrity. However, the method in which the roof was made differs from the process of making the pillars, brackets, and beams. In the case of the roof, the craftsmen sometimes sacrificed fidelity to timber construction in favor of a pleasing appearance. For example, instead of fabricating all the independent parts necessary for an actual roof, which would have looked too crowded and furthermore was probably unnecessary structurally, the designers of the Golden Hall created the impression of a roof by fusing parts that would normally be separate entities together into larger units (fig. 3.20).113 It is thus likely that the Golden Hall was the product of collaboration between metal smiths, who were familiar with casting different alloys, and carpenters, who were equipped with structural knowledge.114 The Golden Hall can therefore be considered both sculptural and architectural.

Figure 3.19. Golden Hall upper eaves brackets. Author’s photograph, 2017.

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layer of roof tiles and drip tiles

layer of flying rafters and roof sheathing

layer of eave rafters, “wooden” strips in between two layers of rafters, and roof sheathing

The Golden Hall eventually became an icon of Mount Wudang and of the Zhenwu cult more broadly.115 One reason for this was that the hall represented the site of Zhenwu’s ascendance, and hence the true image of Zhenwu himself. The architectural features of the hall likely also contributed to its iconicity. This includes not only the hall’s uniqueness in comparison to the other relatively uniform main halls on the mountain but also its sculpture-like qualities, including its metal material, its compact size, and its abbreviated form. These attributes must have made it easier for people to hold the image of the Golden Hall in their minds and also reproduce it in two- and three-dimensional forms.

Figure 3.20. Method of the Golden Hall’s roof construction. Line drawing courtesy of Zhang Jianwei.

Visual Records of Auspicious Responses at Wudang As soon as they started rebuilding the temples on Mount Wudang, Yongle and his advisers looked for signs of Heaven’s approval. On the morning of the eleventh day of the seventh month of the tenth year (1412) of his reign, Zhang Xin and Mu Xin, at the emperor’s behest, formally announced the start of the reconstruction project to the deity Zhenwu.116 Later that day, Yongle reported that wind, clouds, thunder, and lightning were coming in from the southwest (the location of Mount Wudang in relation to Beijing) suddenly yet calmly, without intimating a threat. Naturally, the emperor took this as evidence for Zhenwu’s favorable response to the project.117 In the seventh month of the eleventh year (1413) of his reign, upon the completion of the first group of temples, Yongle announced that Zhenwu had repeatedly revealed his response (ying) in the form of rainbow light as well as manifestations of the deity’s form itself to hundreds of thousands of awestruck witnesses.118 In the sixteenth year of his reign (1418), the emperor declared: “From the beginning of the construction project until the day of

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its completion, the Deity has repeatedly manifested himself. Auspicious light illuminated the skies, the mountain peaks soared with radiance, and the grasses and trees intensified in color. [Zhenwu’s] mysterious energy (qi) collected and dispersed, transforming into myriad forms.”119 Not only were any miraculous occurrences on the mountain immediately reported to the emperor, they were also documented in the form of illustrated texts.120 In the sixth month of 1413, for example, the official Zhang Xin announced the appearance of five-colored clouds in the sky above Heaven’s Pillar Peak. Illustrations were made of the event and taken to the capital, where the emperor showed them to all his ministers.121 In the next month, in an edict addressed to the Celestial Master Zhang Yuqing, who was living on the mountain, Yongle claimed that Heaven had repeatedly revealed its favor for the architectural project by illuminating the sky with globes of light and causing the betel-nut plum trees on the mountain to bear fruit. An illustrated record was made of these auspicious images and brought, together with the betel-nut plum fruit, to the Ming court.122 Similarly, in the eighth month of the twenty-first year of the Yongle reign (1423), Minister of Works Hu Ying submitted illustrations of auspicious light (ruiguang tu) appearing above the Golden Hall, along with betel-nut plum fruit and lingzhi fungi, to the court.123 Because our textual sources use the word “illustration” (tu) when referring to these records, it is difficult to know what types of images they describe. However, based on material evidence, they came in two forms: woodblock-printed albums and painted handscrolls. The best known of the few surviving illustrated records is Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses of the Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven of the Great Ming Dynasty (Da Ming Xuantian shangdi ruiying tulu).124 This was most likely compiled between 1413 and 1418 by Daoist masters or court officials stationed on Mount Wudang.125 Today it is preserved both in Ren Ziyuan’s gazetteer (text only) and in the Zhengtong Daoist Canon (text and images).126 The record contains seventeen entries, each of which bears a title and, at least in the version printed in the Daoist Canon, is accompanied by its own woodcut illustration. The first six entries in Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses recount miracles that occurred during the first phase of the reconstruction.127 One of these stories, “Divinely Grown Great Timber,” is particularly interesting because it pertains to architecture (fig. 3.21). This event took place in the eleventh month of the tenth year of the Yongle reign (1412), when Zhang Xin and Mu Xin were purchasing timbers for the project along the bank of the Hankou River. As they passed the city of Wuchang by boat, the officials supervising the transport of the timber materials, including the assistant minister of the Department of Works, Guo Jin, and the secretary-general of the Department of Works, Zhuge Ping, noticed a massive log, standing upright like a pillar, within the river in front of the Yellow Crane Pagoda (Huanghe Ta). Although the current was flowing at a great speed, the log did not budge. They turned their boat around to exam116

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Figure 3.21. Detail of woodblock print depicting “Divinely Grown Great Timber” from Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses of the Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven of the Great Ming Dynasty (1444–45). Woodblock print, ink on paper, 35 × 11.3 cm (each page). Bibliothèque National de France, Paris, Chinois 9546.

ine the timber further and discovered that it was floating. They affixed the timber to the boat with little effort and brought it back to Jade Void Palace, where it was eventually used as a roof beam. All who witnessed the event assumed that the timber had been divinely grown for the purpose of Yongle’s reconstruction project.128 The other eleven entries in Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses constitute brief reports of Zhenwu’s appearances in the sky at various times throughout the eleventh year of the Yongle reign (1413), when the first phase of construction was still ongoing (fig. 3.22). As we see from the illustrations, most of these apparitions took place atop Heaven’s Pillar Peak. Because the Golden Hall was not completed until 1418, it seems Becoming Zhenwu

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Figure 3.22. Detail of woodblock print depicting Zhenwu appearing over the Golden Hall from Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses of the Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven of the Great Ming Dynasty (1444–45). Woodblock print, ink on paper, 35 × 11.3 cm (each page). Bibliothèque National de France, Paris, Chinois 9546.

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logical to conclude that the building depicted is the Yuan dynasty copper hall. However, the double-eave structure elevated on a marble platform is undoubtedly meant to be the Golden Hall, not its more modest predecessor, which only possessed a single-eave roof and no bracket-sets. This suggests that the illustrations were added to the record several years after the miraculous events occurred. The anachronistic insertion of the Golden Hall into the illustrations indicates just how symbolic of Yongle’s Wudang the hall had become. The same set of events recorded in Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses can be found in another early Ming illustrated record, Pictures of Joyful Celebrations on Wudang (Wudang Jiaqing tu), published in the seventh year of the Xuande reign (1432). Pictures of Joyful Celebrations on chapter 3

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Wudang contains seventy-eight entries, the first seventeen of which are identical to those recounted in Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses.129 According to the preface, written by a certain Zhao Bi, the record was intended to promote Zhenwu’s miraculous manifestations on Mount Wudang to the world. Zhao goes on to say that in doing so, the author of the record, Xu Yongdao, hoped to reveal the virtue of the Ming dynasty and to bless it with as long a life as Mount Wudang itself.130 Although the woodcut illustrations in the Pictures of Joyful Celebrations on Wudang differ in style from those in Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses, they too inaccurately depict the Golden Hall atop Heaven’s Pillar Peak instead of the Yuan bronze hall. Both illustrated records indicate that Yongle’s architectural project, symbolized by the Golden Hall, was being promoted almost immediately after the reconstruction was completed. Two other surviving illustrated records were undoubtedly designed for a much smaller audience: the emperor himself. These two records are painted albums and therefore were limited to a single copy, unlike woodblocks, which could be printed many times. The first album of paintings, Illustrated Album of Zhenwu’s Efficacious Responses (Zhenwu lingying tuce), was sold to a private collector in 1998, so not much is known about it beyond what the scholar Wang Yucheng was able to assess before it was sold.131 The album was likely created between 1418 and 1453, shortly after Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses, but before the Daoist Canon was published in 1445.132 It contains eighty-three entries, the final five of which are identical in content to those in Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses, although the illustrations differ.133 The album is elaborately painted with gold and color pigments.134 The second painted record examined here, Auspicious Images on Mount Taihe (Taihe shan rui tu), presents a much different view of the mountain (fig. 3.23). This handscroll, in color pigments on silk, is currently in the possession of White Cloud Temple (Baiyun Guan) in Beijing and was supposedly given to the temple by the Yongle emperor.135 On account of its inaccessibility, Auspicious Images on Mount Taihe has also received very little academic attention. It comprises fifteen images, although, to my knowledge, only certain scenes have been published, never the whole handscroll in its entirety. The illustrations depict Zhenwu’s manifestations above Mount Wudang either in the form of radiant, multicolored clouds or, in at least one case, in anthropomorphic form. Each scene is accompanied by a title and the place and month in which the miraculous event occurred.136 As noted by the art historian Stephen Little, Auspicious Images on Mount Taihe is particularly interesting for its detailed bird’s-eye view renderings of many of the Yongle-era buildings.137 Of the eight images available to me via various textual and digital sources, it is possible to identify many temple complexes—including Jade Void Palace, Southern Cliff Palace, and Purple Skies Palace—several open-air altars atop steep mountain peaks, and even old trees framed with marble balustrades. The main halls Becoming Zhenwu

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Figure 3.23. Details from Auspicious Images on Mount Taihe (fifteenth century), showing Zhenwu appearing over an open air altar and circular rainbow light above one of the temples on Mount Wudang. Handscroll, ink and color on silk, 56 × 85 cm (each section). White Cloud Temple (Baiyun Guan), Beijing. Little and Eichman, Taoism and the Arts of China, 304.

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of the temples are all painted red, capped with double-eave, hip-and-gable roofs with black tiles framed in green. The subsidiary buildings are covered in blue roof tiles. Each of the sacred sites is embedded within a blue-andgreen landscape surrounded by swirling clouds and giant concentric circles of multicolored light. The illustrations clearly emphasize the built over the natural features of the mountain. Auspicious Images on Mount Taihe bears strong similarities with another painted silk handscroll from the Yongle era, Illustrations of Auspicious Responses at the Temple of the Sacred Valley (Linggu si ruiying tu) (see fig. I.4). The subject matter of that handscroll is the Mass of Universal Salvation, a Tibetan Buddhist rite performed by the Fifth Karmapa at the Yongle court in Nanjing in 1407.138 Illustrations of Auspicious Responses at the Temple of the Sacred Valley depicts many auspicious images, including rainbow light, swirling clouds, floating relics, flower blossoms, and cranes, appearing in the sky above important imperial architectures in the city, including the Karmapa’s temporary residence, Temple of the Sacred Valley, and the tomb of Yongle’s parents, over a period of several months.139 As the art historian Patricia Berger has argued, the fact that miraculous images appeared above all these sites indicates that they “were somehow equivalently sacred.”140 In the same respect, Auspicious Images on Mount Taihe’s depiction of magical clouds and rainbow light above many of the sacred sites at Mount Wudang, from its largest temples to its isolated open-air altars, suggests that all the buildings on the mountain were considered equally auspicious. This presentation of Wudang seems to contradict the other surviving illustrated records, in which the Golden Hall atop Heaven’s Pillar Peak constituted the center, and even became an icon, of the entire mountain. Along with the gazetteers written about Mount Wudang, especially that of Ren Ziyuan, the illustrated accounts of Zhenwu’s miracles promoted Yongle’s restoration project by documenting it visually and texchapter 3

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tually. Produced by many of the same officials who oversaw the temple planning and construction, they helped confirm the legitimacy of Yongle’s rule by making claims about Zhenwu’s positive responses to the project. These records can thus be viewed not merely as comments on the reconstruction but as parallels to it.

Representing Yongle’s Taihe After its completion Yongle’s reconstruction project was promoted through a number of different channels. These included the gazetteers and illustrated records as well as the countless pilgrims to the mountain, who shared their experiences orally, through travel diaries, in poetry, and in paintings.141 The new imperial mountain, as well as the representations of it, inspired copies in multiple different forms. Underlying these replications was the assumption that the layout and buildings of Mount Wudang were necessary not only to the sacredness of the site but also to the authenticity of Zhenwu’s biography. Like footprints of the Buddha, they had been recognized as true traces of the deity. Mount Wudang also helped shape popular perceptions of Yongle, in that the emperor came to be closely associated, even equated, with Zhenwu in the centuries following the rebuilding project. A major testament to Yongle’s influence is a “replica” of Mount Wudang on Mount Qiyun, the center of a regional Zhenwu cult in present-day Anhui.142 In the decades after Yongle’s reconstruction, Daoist priests living on Qiyun began to deliberately model their mountain’s sacred landscape after that of Mount Wudang. For example, between 1515 and 1523, following his return from Mount Wudang, a Qiyun priest established several versions of its temples, including Jade Void Palace and Southern Cliff Palace, at Mount Qiyun.143 In addition, many of Qiyun’s peaks, rocks, and caves were named after those at Wudang.144 There is even a record of a priest planting two betel-nut plum trees at Qiyun grown from seeds he had collected at Wudang.145 As can be gathered from these examples, Yongle’s reconstruction helped transform Mount Wudang into a template that could be studied and copied. The reason why the Golden Hall was not re-created at Mount Qiyun can be explained by the fact that it had to remain unique, both at Mount Wudang and elsewhere, because it represented the singular site of Zhenwu’s ascendance. Around the same time that Daoist priests were re-creating Mount Wudang on Mount Qiyun, miniature models of Wudang were also being made. A well-known example is a 1.21-meter-tall bronze sculpture now in the possession of the British Museum (fig. 3.24). This sculpture depicts Zhenwu being escorted by five dragon kings to his apotheosis atop a craggy Heaven’s Pillar Peak capped by the Golden Hall.146 A similar sculpture, dated to the fourteenth year of the Wanli reign (1616), is described in a 2004 gazetteer of Mount Wudang. The sculpture is 1.31 meters tall Becoming Zhenwu

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and made of bronze. It depicts Heaven’s Pillar Peak, onto which are cast numerous triangular forms meant to represent the other seventy-one peaks of Mount Wudang. A pilgrimage path lined with balustrades winds up the peak and at the summit is a small building bearing a signboard inscribed with the Chinese characters for “Golden Hall.”147 The existence of these statues corroborates earlier observations of visual records: that in the post-Yongle period, the Golden Hall had become the primary identifying feature of Mount Wudang. More broadly, the statues indicate that people believed the sacred power of Mount Wudang could be replicated in devotional objects. The Golden Hall itself inspired several duplicate projects. Beginning in the seventeenth century, numerous metal halls were constructed atop sacred Daoist and Buddhist mountains throughout China. In at least four cases the textual records accompanying these halls explicitly reference Yongle’s Golden Hall. For example, according to a stele inscription accompanying a metal hall constructed on Mount Mingfeng in Yunnan in 1602, Chen Yongbing, the provincial governor of Yunnan, “cast copper for the hall and the ‘golden body’ [jin shen] of Zhenwu” in imitation of the “Purple Forbidden City built on the central peak of the seventy-two peaks of Mount Wudang.”148 Not only was a stone wall constructed around the Mount Mingfeng summit like the one around Heaven’s Pillar Peak, the temple was even named Palace of Supreme Harmony, after the temple on Mount Wudang. It is important to note, however, that the two halls actually look nothing alike, suggesting that Chen only heard about but never personally saw the Golden Hall.149 Three other metal halls—on Mount Tai in Shangdong, Mount Emei in Sichuan, and Mount Huo in Shanxi— were also constructed with Yongle’s Golden Hall in mind.150 These examples demonstrate that by the early seventeenth century, the Golden Hall had come to be considered a kind of prototype, even though Yongle took the idea to create his hall from the preexisting Yuan metal hall on Mount Wudang. Another aftereffect of the reconstruction project on Mount Wudang was the emergence of popular legends that suggested physical connections between Yongle and statues of Zhenwu. Perhaps the most widely circulated of these stories can be found in the late Ming vernacular novel Journey to the North (Beiyou ji), which was written around the thirtieth year of the Wanli reign (1602).151 The first twenty-three chapters of Journey to the North concentrate on the events leading up to Zhenwu’s apotheosis, but in the final chapter Yongle becomes the center of the narrative. Chapter 24 begins with an episode very similar to the one recounted earlier, in which Zhenwu aided Yongle in his usurpation.152 In the Journey to the North version, Zhenwu appears in the sky to rescue Yongle and his armies during a battle against Tartar rebels in the third year of his reign (1405). Celestial Master Zhang Yuqing instructed Yongle to repay Zhenwu for saving his life by making a pilgrimage to the “original” Zhenwu temple on Mount

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Figure 3.24. Zhenwu being escorted by the Five Dragon Kings (sixteenth century). Bronze, 117 × 112 cm. British Museum, London.

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Wudang. Upon entering the temple, Yongle was overjoyed to encounter a statue of Zhenwu, whose face looked identical to his own. Yongle thereupon ordered Zhang Xin and Mu Xin to recruit hundreds of thousands of laborers to construct seventy-two temples on Mount Wudang along with a Golden Hall containing a golden image of Zhenwu. The emperor then bestowed Daoist masters, incense, lamps, and great amounts of farmland upon the temples and ordered that rites be performed to Zhenwu for eternity.153 A second legend popular on Mount Wudang today, which has roots going as far back as the Jiajing reign (1521–1567), offers an explanation for the longhaired and barefooted type of Zhenwu statue present at Mount Wudang and elsewhere.154 According to the story, once the Mount Wudang temples were completed, Yongle ordered craftsmen to make a statue of Zhenwu that was “true to life.” Having never seen the deity themselves, the craftsmen did not know how to do this. Still, they produced a number of brave and heroic images. However, the emperor was not satisfied with any of them and one by one, beheaded, imprisoned, or banished the craftsmen. Later, the emperor heard of a skilled sculptor from Korea surnamed Ji and summoned him to make the statue. Knowing the fate of the other craftsmen, Ji could not help being very nervous. When Ji arrived for an audience with Yongle at the Ming capital, the emperor had just gotten out of the bath. His hair was wet and he was barefoot. Ji studied Yongle’s appearance and, based on the hints the emperor was giving him, suddenly realized that he should model his Zhenwu statue on Yongle himself. Ji subsequently created a sculpture of gilt bronze. When Yongle saw it, he could not stop praising it. The emperor even shaved off his own beard and attached it to the statue’s face. The legend concludes by stating that from that point on, “Yongle was at once the king of humans and the god of the heavens.”155 The longhaired and barefoot statue of Zhenwu had been the type favored by the imperial court since at least the Song dynasty, not created in the Yongle reign, as the legend suggests.156 Furthermore, the statue type did not really resemble the emperor, nor is there any historical evidence to suggest that Yongle ever served as the model for any Zhenwu statues. Despite being apocryphal, these two legends nonetheless are important because they demonstrate that in the centuries after Yongle’s death, Mount Wudang was closely associated with Yongle to the point that the emperor was identified with Zhenwu. From this it is possible to infer that Yongle and the “real” Zhenwu were thought to possess other shared traits, and it would not be too much of a stretch to say that in the minds of many people, the two were somehow interchangeable. The final line in the legend popular on Mount Wudang, in which Yongle is said to be both a king and a god, is strong evidence for this claim. In both stories Yongle’s reconstruction project on Mount Wudang factors heavily, suggesting that it was the main catalyst behind the creation of these legends. Beginning in the late the sixteenth century, the architectural complex on Mount Wudang began to be understood as a kind of parallel to Yongle’s 124

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imperial palaces in Beijing. In particular, the walled compound at the summit of the mountain in which the Golden Hall was located became designated the Purple Forbidden City (Zijin cheng) after Yongle’s other famous walled architectural complex in Beijing.157 It is possible that Yongle himself envisioned Mount Wudang and the Beijing palaces as twin architectural projects. He made the connections between the two sites explicit by constructing a temple dedicated to Zhenwu, now called the Hall of Imperial Peace, in a prominent position at the center of the inner court of the Forbidden City in 1420. The Hall of Imperial Peace was one of the only “new” buildings—or, in other words, without a counterpart in Nanjing—in the palace city, and it disrupted the otherwise strict adherence to the Confucian architectural spaces based on the plans of Hongwu’s capitals. Zhenwu was the only deity enshrined in one of the main halls along the central axis of the Forbidden City, a position that implicitly designated him as the guardian-protector of Beijing and, by extension, of Yongle’s entire empire.

Conclusion Between 1412 and 1419, Yongle and his advisers reorganized the design of Mount Wudang’s architecture so that the layout of the buildings became much more conceptually coherent with regard to the story of Zhenwu’s life. Furthermore, following Yongle’s reconstruction, the mountain’s built environment formed a standardized and integrated system that reflected the new Ming official architecture that had just reached maturity in the capital. Although it was part of the same architectural system, the Golden Hall, because it was made of metal, stood out from the other buildings and thus eventually became symbolic of the mountain as a whole. Mount Wudang, represented largely by the Golden Hall, was subsequently reproduced in local gazetteers, printed albums, and painted handscrolls. These records both highlighted the new architecture on the mountain and perpetuated stories about Zhenwu’s positive responses to it. The records can be considered portable replications of the architectural project in their own right, functioning to materialize the same claims to religious authority as the buildings and other sacred sites. Yongle’s rebuilding of the temples on Mount Wudang eventually generated many copycat projects. Implicit in these copies was the belief that Mount Wudang’s architecture was inherent to the sacredness of the site; it represented the true trace of Zhenwu and was hence efficacious. The mountain continued to shape the popular perception of Yongle well after his death. Eventually, the emperor’s identity became closely intertwined with and equivalent to that of Zhenwu, and the architectural project on Mount Wudang came to be considered an important counterpart to the palaces in Beijing.

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From Mandala to Palace Transforming Space and Site at Gautama Monastery

The fervency with which Yongle (r. 1402–1424) patronized the Daoist cult of Zhenwu on Mount Wudang was matched, if not surpassed, by his support of Tibetan Buddhism in the capitals and beyond. The Tibetan Buddhist temple that he supported the most heavily, Gautama Monastery (Qutan Si), is located not in the capital but rather in an isolated mountainous region near Ledu, Qinghai, in Amdo (northeastern Tibet) (see map I.1). In Tibetan the temple is known as Drotsang Dorjéchang (T. Gro tshang rdo rje ’chang) after Vajradhāra, the ultimate primordial Buddha within the Tibetan traditions of Kagyüpa (T. Bka’ brgyud pa) and Gelukpa (T. Dge lugs pa), to whom the temple was dedicated.1 The monastery took its present shape over the course of about forty years as a series of additive constructions.2 In all, it received support from four of the first five Ming rulers (Hongwu, Yongle, Hongxi, and Xuande), although imperial involvement reached its height under Yongle. During their reigns these emperors issued many edicts to the monastery, most of which are carved onto bilingual (Chinese and Tibetan) stelae still located in situ. They also sent craftsmen from the court to manage the construction and decoration of the Buddha halls, as well as a great number of precious objects crafted in court workshops, which, along with the buildings and murals, are still well preserved. For these reasons Gautama Monastery is a quite extraordinary site. Yongle’s support of Gautama Monastery must be understood in light of his broader patronage of Tibetan Buddhism. During his reign the emperor hosted in succession three very high-ranking Tibetan hierarchs, one from each of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, in his capitals. The first and most important was the leader of the Kagyü order, the Fifth

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Karmapa, Deshin Shekpa (T. De bzhin gshegs pa, 1384–1415), who stayed in Nanjing from 1407 to 1408.3 He was followed by the head of the Sakya (T. Sa skya) order, Kunga Tashi (T. Kun dga’ bkra shis, 1349–1425), who stayed from 1413 to 1414. The last to visit was Sakya Yeshé (T. Sa skya ye shes, 1354– 1435) of the Geluk order, who stayed from 1415 to 1416.4 In contrast to both Deshin Shekpa and Kunga Tashi, who were personally invited to the Ming court, Sakya Yeshé went on behalf of his teacher, Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), founder of the Geluk order, who had himself declined Yongle’s invitation.5 At court Yongle bestowed upon these hierarchs the eminent title King of the Dharma (Fawang) and showered them with precious gifts, including finely crafted gilt-bronze Buddha images and illustrated Tibetan Buddhist scriptures, the most important of which was the 108-volume Tibetan Kanjur, printed for the first time under Yongle.6 In exchange, the lamas served as the emperors’ personal Buddhist masters and performed for him powerful esoteric initiations and rituals. For Yongle the most significant of these patriarchs was undoubtedly the Fifth Karmapa, Deshin Shekpa. Less than a year after he had ascended the throne, Yongle dispatched the official Hou Xian to Tibet to invite the Karmapa to the Ming capital.7 While in Nanjing, the Karmapa conducted elaborate funerary rites for Yongle’s parents, which were documented in Illustrations of Auspicious Responses at the Temple of the Sacred Valley (see fig. I.4). During his stay he also gave a series of esoteric empowerments to Yongle and Empress Xu. These involved, among other things, the creation of twelve mandalas, each of which was associated with a different deity, and initiations for the emperor and empress based on each one.8 The teachings given by Deshin Shekpa to Yongle formed the subject of the eighteenth-century Portrait of the Fifth Karmapa, which depicts the emperor in a position of deference to the lama (see fig. I.2). In fact, in Tibetan biographies of the Fifth Karmapa, both Yongle and Empress Xu are listed among his disciples.9 As many scholars have suggested, the main reason why Yongle invited these hierarchs to the capital was that he was hoping one of them would become his long-term Tibetan Buddhist adviser, similar to that of the Sakya hierarch Phagpa (T. ’Phags pa) (1235–1280), who had served the first emperor of the Yuan dynasty, Khubilai Khan (r. 1260–1294).10 In this “priest-patron” relationship, called choyon (T. mchod yon), the emperor plays the role of the Cakravartin, or Buddhist king, financially supporting the religion, while the spiritual adviser plays the role of the Buddha, providing religious guidance, in a system of mutual support and benefit.11 Although none of the hierarchs invited to the Ming court ever stayed long enough for Yongle to secure a permanent spiritual adviser, in the Tibetan histories Yongle was still considered one of the two (along with Khubilai) greatest imperial patrons of Tibetan Buddhism in China.12 This was due to the great favor Yongle showed not only to the three patriarchs mentioned above but also to hundreds of other lesser-ranking Tibetan lamas that

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came to his court, upon whom he granted titles and bestowed precious gifts. In exchange, the lamas no doubt offered blessings for Yongle’s reign, thereby implicitly sanctioning his rule. Understanding Yongle’s reasons for patronizing Gautama Monastery is somewhat complicated. On the one hand, he seems to have been personally drawn to the monastery’s head lama on account of their shared connections to the Fifth Karmapa. By constructing elaborate halls and filling them with gilt bronze images and other ritual objects, Yongle was demonstrating his devotion not only to the lama but also the Karmapa and his teachings. On the other hand, Yongle’s patronage of Gautama Monastery can explained by the temple’s location in the politically turbulent Sino-Tibetan frontier. Under Yongle the monastery became a wealthy and powerful outpost from which the Ming court could control various religious institutions and regional trade and transportation networks—the most significant of which was the horse trade—in which Tibetan lamas played a key role.13 The imperial support of Gautama Monastery resulted in a magnificent, palatial architectural complex that would have rivaled even the grandest temples in the capital. This caused the region in which the monastery was located to take on a new selfidentity, one that was closely aligned with the Ming court. At the same time, a number of the monastery’s architectural and artistic features suggest that accommodations needed to be made on account of its location in the frontier. As a result, the “imperial” became localized and the “local” became imperialized through the establishment of the monastery. Gautama Monastery is thus an important case study in the ability of Ming imperial architecture to both transform and adapt to the complicated setting of a borderland region.

Hongwu and Sanjé Tashi Gautama Monastery was founded by a Tibetan Buddhist lama named Sanjé Tashi (T. Sangs rgyas bkra shis) (d. 1414). Sanjé Tashi was well known in Amdo for having persuaded the disbanded followers of a Yuan loyalist and Ming enemy in Gansu to submit to the Ming regime, thereby helping to stabilize the northwestern frontier, which, after the fall of the Yuan dynasty, had become inhabited by a number of different ethnic groups who were fighting with each other.14 He had also gained a sizable local religious following by practicing Buddhism for several years on an island in the middle of what is now Qinghai Lake (T. Tsongon po), earning him the nickname Lama of the Sea (Hai Lama).15 In order to escape Mongolian tribes that had invaded the lake region, Sanjé Tashi was eventually forced to lead his followers east and resettle in the mountainous area of Nianbo. According to local lore, as he was fleeing from the Mongol bandits, Sanjé Tashi happened upon a clear spring and stopped to drink from it,

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mysteriously losing his horse whip in the process. Taking this as a sign that he was meant to stay in the area, the lama established a small temple at the site of the spring, in what is now Ledu.16 Ming imperial involvement with Gautama Monastery began in 1393, during the Hongwu reign. In this year Sanjé Tashi traveled from Ledu to Nanjing, bearing horses as tribute, to request imperial protection for his newly established temple. Understanding the lama’s important position as a peacekeeper in the northwest, Hongwu pledged his support for his temple and granted it a new name, Gautama Monastery. This name was carved onto a signboard that still hangs from the monastery’s founding hall, Gautama Hall (Qutan Dian), completed in 1393, signifying the court’s recognition (fig. 4.1).17 At this time Hongwu also issued an edict in which he deeply praised Sanjé Tashi for his devotion to Buddhism: Since the time of the Buddha, all those who have encountered him look upon him with reverence. Even the terrible and ignorant have respectful belief towards him. Turning the bad into good: such is the power of the Buddha’s vow! The Tibetan lama Sanjé Tashi lived in the Western Lands his whole life and closely followed the way of the Buddha. He had a large number of acquaintances and received contributions. He collected funds and with them established a Buddhist temple. Recently, he received an audience at the capital. I admired the honesty of his inclinations towards good deeds and his emulation of good actions. I therefore grant him an edict of imperial protection. I order that nobody should disturb or bother [the temple] and that they must adhere to [the lama’s] unrestrained teachings. Those that counter him will be held accountable. With this, I issue the imperial command.18 Less than a month after this edict was issued, Hongwu appointed Sanjé Tashi to the position of Supervisor (Dugang) of the newly founded Xining Prefectural Buddhist Registry (Senggang Si), a branch of the National Buddhist Registry (Senglu Si) established under Hongwu in 1392 as a means to Figure 4.1. Signboard (1393) hanging from the front eaves of Gautama Hall with the name of the monastery (Qutan Si) written in Hongwu’s calligraphy. Author’s photograph, 2009.

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manage the country’s Buddhist monks.19 In addition to his support of Sanjé Tashi, Hongwu granted the title State Preceptor to several high-ranking lamas in the area who had submitted to the Ming court—a practice he adopted from the Yuan rulers, who had granted the heads of Tibetan tribes incorporated into the Yuan the title Imperial Preceptor (Dishi). Hongwu’s support of Buddhism at the Sino-Tibetan frontier reveals his awareness of its potential for exercising political control.20 His other policies intended to help stabilize the northwestern frontier included moving large groups of people from China’s southeast to farming garrisons, establishing military guards, and, following Yuan precedent, granting minority chieftains who had pledged their allegiance to the Ming the power to manage local territories under the title of “local ruler” (tusi).21

A Mandalic Plan: Gautama Hall The early architecture of Gautama Monastery had little in common with the imperial Chinese palace architectural style for which it eventually came to be known. An eighteenth-century Tibetan-language history of Amdo, History of the Dharma in Amdo (T. Mdo smad chos ’byung), explains that the original form of the temple constituted seven buildings arranged into a mandala-like plan, with a Buddha hall at the center, stupas at the four corners, and small halls on either side: In the four directions were erected earth-subduing stupas, and the principal images in the hall at the center were the Buddhas of the Three Ages and their close disciples. In the left-flanking Hall of the Protectors were statues of Four-Armed Mahākāla together with attendants. In the wall paintings were Six-Armed Mahākāla and Pañjaranātha Mahākāla with attendants residing here together with the blessed image of Dharmarāja. . . . In the right-flanking chapel was the Great Sakya stupa. In the paintings on its sides was Vajradhāra inside each of the four gates which themselves resembled stupas.22 While it may be tempting to question the accuracy of this Tibetan textual record written centuries after the temple was built, the basic architectural scheme it describes is in fact still present at the monastery (fig. 4.2). The hall mentioned in the text is Gautama Hall, the temple’s founding hall, located in the center of the composition (fig. 4.3). At its four corners stand (reconstructed) Tibetan-style stupas and flanking it, but slightly in front, are subsidiary halls (fig. 4.4). Because the main hall is oriented to the southeast, the stupas are indeed located in the cardinal directions, as the text suggests. The mandala-like arrangement of buildings at Gautama Monastery can be also found at Samye, the oldest monastery in Tibet, established From Mandala to Palace

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Figure 4.2. Plan of Gautama Monastery (1393–1427). a. main gate. b. stele pavilions. c. Vajradhāra Hall. d. Tibetan-style stupas. e. subsidiary halls. f. small bell and drum towers. g. Gautama Hall. h. Hall of Jewel Light. i. subsidiary halls. j. large bell and drum towers. k. Hall of Dynastic Prosperity. l. monks’ living quarters. Line drawing courtesy of Tianjin University Department of Architecture

k l 1427 j

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in the eighth century (fig. 4.5). At Samye the four pagodas, painted green, black, red, and white, are located at each corner of the central hall, and, as at Gautama Monastery, correspond to the cardinal directions. Textual sources explain that the buildings at Samye are arranged in a schematic representation of the Buddhist cosmos—a mandala—with Mount Meru at the center.23 The associations with Mount Meru are particularly intriguing given that this sacred mountain is often represented in the form of a central stupa with four smaller stupas at either corner, such as at the famous Mahābodhi temple in Bodgayā, India, and its various replicas across Asia.24 132

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Figure 4.3. Gautama Hall (1393), Gautama Monastery, Ledu, Qinghai. Author’s photograph, 2010. Figure 4.4. One of four Tibetan-style stupas located at the corners of Gautama Hall. Author’s photograph, 2017.

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Figure 4.5. Detail of a mural depicting of Samye Chökhor from an unidentified chapel in the eastern section of the Utse, or central building (eighteenth or nineteenth century), Lhasa, Tibet. Photograph courtesy of Michael Henss.

The stupa type exemplified by the Mahābodhi temple is known as Diamond Throne (Jingang Baozuo, Skt. Vajrāsana), referring to the seat upon which the Buddha reached enlightenment in Bodghaya, now the site of the Mahābodhi temple.25 The five-fold cluster also alludes to the Five Tathāgatas of the so-called Diamond World (Jingang Jie, Skt. Vajradhātu).26 Although it is difficult to say for certain from where the early architectural layout of Gautama Monastery came, it is clear that its mandalic ordering held important and long-standing significance within the Tibetan Buddhist art and architectural tradition. Gautama Hall constitutes a modest Chinese-style timber structure situated on a short gray brick plinth and capped with a double-eave, hip-andgable roof of unglazed gray-brown roof tiles. In plan, the hall is five bays 134

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Figure 4.6. Front elevation of Gautama Hall without portico (top) and with portico (bottom). Line drawing courtesy of Tianjin University Department of Architecture.

(25.19 meters) wide, four bays (15.28 meters) deep, and 11.69 meters tall, including the base.27 During a late eighteenth-century renovation a roofed porch was added to the front of the hall, which significantly increased the depth of the building and disrupted its sense of symmetry with the buildings around it (fig. 4.6). The roof frame is a simple structure constructed without brackets consisting of seven-purlin, five-purlin, and three-purlin transverse beams piled up with “camel’s hump” blocks and vertical struts in between them (fig. 4.7). From Mandala to Palace

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Figure 4.7. Side section of Gautama Hall. Line drawing courtesy of Tianjin University Department of Architecture.

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Under the lower roof eaves is a one-bay-wide corridor that wraps around three sides, providing a place for religious devotees to circumambulate the hall (fig. 4.8).28 The inside of the corridor is covered with murals of the Thousand Buddhas (on the left and right walls) and Sakyamuni preaching the law (on the rear wall). The corridor is entered through a door on the left side of the interior of the porch and exited through a door at the right side, making it invisible from both the inside and the outside of the hall. The outer wall was probably added at the same time as the front porch, possibly to protect the murals.29 Like the four stupas, the corridor can be linked to Tibet, where designated paths for circumambulation were integral elements of all Buddhist monasteries. The corridor likely fulfilled the ritual needs of the devotees, who interacted with sacred architecture by encircling it.30 Consistent with the sculptural program described above, the Buddhas of the Past, Present, and Future (San Shi Fo) are enshrined within the hall (fig. 4.9). Although the current statues are modern replacements, the ornate gilt wood thrones upon which they are seated are original, as are the rich paintings on the interior walls of the hall. At the center of the lattice ceiling inside the hall is an elaborate octagonal coffer painted with a mandala. Compositionally, the murals on the left and right walls are mirror-images of each other. They can be divided into three registers. The upper register depicts small Buddhist deities; the middle register depicts large-scale paintings of each of the Five Tathāgatas; and the lower register depicts small-scale scenes of the “53 visits of Sudhana” from the Avatam . saka sutra. Four-Armed Mahākāla (protector of the Kagyü order) chapter 4

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0

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and Pañjaranātha Mahākāla (protector of the Sakya order) are also painted inside the hall.31 Important new research by the art historian Chung Tzu-yin has revealed that among the many Buddhist deities represented on Gautama Hall’s interior is a complete set of the forty-three deities of the Mañjuvajra mandala from the Diamond Garland (Skt. Vajrāvalī) text. Diamond Garland is a collection of Esoteric teachings compiled by the famous eleventh-century Indian Buddhist master Abhayākaragupta. Diamond Garland teachings were widely transmitted in Tibet, and its imagery is generally associated with fourteenth- through sixteenth-century thangkas (paintings on cloth) of the Sakya order in central Tibet. Remarkably, the deities of the Mañjuvajra mandala on the walls of Gautama Hall are the earliest From Mandala to Palace

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Figure 4.8. Ground plan of Gautama Hall. Line drawing courtesy of Tianjin University Department of Architecture.

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Figure 4.9. Interior of Gautama Hall showing Buddhas of the Past, Present, and Future (San Shi Fo) on gilt wood thrones. Line drawing courtesy of Tianjin University Department of Architecture.

evidence of the imagery and associated teachings of Diamond Garland in Amdo.32 Moreover, no visual or textual evidence of the Mañjuvajra mandala has been found anywhere east of Amdo, such as Beijing, Nanjing, or even Shanxi, the locus of the Tibetan Buddhist Mount Wutai.33 Although the depictions of the teachings from the Diamond Garland text on the walls of the hall suggest strong connections between this monastery and central Tibet, this imagery actually took a far more circuitous path to the borderland temple.

Yongle and Palden Zangpo Yongle’s first engagements with Gautama Monastery can be dated to an edict issued in the fifth month of the sixth year of his reign (1408).34 In the edict he appointed Sanjé Tashi’s nephews, Palden Zangpo (Dpal ldan bzang po) and Dönyö Zangpo (Don yod bzang po), to the position of abbots (zhuchi) of Gautama Monastery: In the past Sanjé Tashi resolved to propagate Buddhist doctrine and loyally submitted to the [Ming] court. My father, the Great Emperor Taizu, bestowed upon him this monastery and a signboard that read “Gautama Monastery.” Today his nephews, Palden Zangpo and Dönyö Zangpo, follow the way of the Thuscome One [the Buddha]; understand the expositions of the true Mahāyana; have, with compassion, guided the region and have, with goodness, liberated its people; and have inherited the faith of their uncle, Sanjé Tashi. I extend my blessings to them. Now, I appoint them the abbots of Gautama Monastery.35 138

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In this edict Yongle emphasizes that by appointing Sanjé Tashi’s nephews to the position of abbot, he was following in the footsteps of his father. But it is important to mention that Yongle’s “appointment” of Palden Zangpo and Dönyö Zangpo was probably just a nominal recognition of a post that they would have inherited anyway: following Tibetan tradition, the position of abbot passed from uncle to nephew for at least the first few generations at Gautama Monastery and nothing suggests that this necessarily depended on the imperial court.36 Prior to sending the 1408 edict, Yongle had in fact already become personally acquainted with Palden Zangpo, the elder of Sanjé Tashi’s nephews. In the tenth month of the fifth year of Yongle’s reign (1407), Palden Zangpo had traveled to the court in Nanjing bearing tribute of horses in exchange for which he was granted silks and paper money.37 Two months after the edict was issued, he returned to the court—this time with offerings of local goods, for which he was given silver, silks, and paper money.38 Palden Zangpo was probably motivated to visit the Ming capital (then Nanjing) in 1407 and 1408 because this was when the Fifth Karmapa, Deshin Shekpa, resided there, and many important Buddhist activities were thus held. Palden Zangpo likely received teachings from the Fifth Karmapa while at the Ming court.39 Yongle must have been aware of the teacher-disciple relationship between the Fifth Karmapa and Palden Zangpo, which undoubtedly sparked his interest in Gautama Monastery, as only a few months later the emperor issued his first edict to the temple. Over the next few years Yongle deepened his relationship to Palden Zangpo. In the eighth year of his reign (1410), Yongle bestowed upon the lama the illustrious title Completely Awakened Vastly Beneficial Great State Preceptor (Jingjue Hongji Da Guoshi).40 Just two years later, in first month of the tenth year of his reign (1412), Yongle promoted Palden Zangpo to Anointed Completely Awakened Vastly Beneficial Great State Preceptor (Guanding Jingjue Hongji Da Guoshi) and banqueted him at the Ming court.41 A few months after this, Yongle granted him a gilt silver seal inscribed with his new title.42 In the tenth month of the tenth year (1412), Yongle bestowed upon another of Sanjé Tashi’s nephews, Sönam Gyaltsen (T. Bsod nams rgyal mtshan), the title Anointed Extensively Wise Vastly Kind State Preceptor (Guangding Guangzhi Hongshan Guoshi) and gave him an ivory seal.43 History of the Dharma in Amdo records that although the emperor granted both of Sanjé Tashi’s nephews seals, he particularly favored Palden Zangpo and sent him letters “one after another” praising him.44 The most eminent title that Yongle granted upon the Tibetan lamas during his reign was King of the Dharma, followed, in decreasing order of importance, by Anointed Great State Preceptor (Guanding Da Guoshi), Great State Preceptor (Da Guoshi), State Preceptor (Guoshi), Teacher of the Dhyana (Chanshi), and Supervisor (Dugang).45 As mentioned, Yongle granted the title King of the Dharma to two of the Tibetan hierarchs From Mandala to Palace

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who visited his court: Deshin Shekpa and Kunga Tashi.46 This means that Palden Zangpo was awarded the second highest-ranking title after these illustrious patriarchs. According to Ming Veritable Records, Palden Zangpo was only the fifth Anointed Great State Preceptor appointed by Yongle, and the first one from Amdo.47 Moreover, the first four Anointed Great State Preceptors were all disciples of the Fifth Karmapa, Deshin Shekpa, who had accompanied their teacher to the Ming capital. This information suggests that through the granting of the eminent title Anointed Great State Preceptor, Yongle was officially recognizing Palden Zangpo as a disciple of the Fifth Karmapa.48 A decade passed before Yongle sent another edict to Gautama Monastery. In the second edict, dated to the first month of the sixteenth year of his reign (1418), Yongle praised the people of the Western Lands for their devotion to Buddhism and bestowed a name, Jewel Light (Baoguang), on a newly completed hall at Gautama Monastery.49 Three months later, Yongle sent a third edict, titled the “Stele of Gautama Monastery’s Golden Buddha Image Created Under the Order of the Emperor” (Yuzhi Qutan Si Jin Foxiang Bei), to be inscribed onto a stele at the monastery. In the edict Yongle bestows upon Palden Zangpo a gilt bronze statue for the new Hall of Jewel Light. The inscription on the stele can be roughly divided into five sections, the first four of which are translated below (the final part, a poem composed by Yongle in praise of the Dharma, is not discussed here). These four sections concern the Buddha, Yongle’s creation of the gilt Buddha image, Palden Zangpo, and King Udayāna, a legendary Indian monarch who was known throughout the Buddhist world for commissioning the first image of the Buddha: The Buddha has reincarnated billions of times. His benevolence is universal. He sympathetically aids those in the three different depths of hell. He accomplishes skillful means. [Such] goodness! He is sovereign to the masses, elevating them on the path of realization. He is the boat and bridge [across] the seas of trouble and the sun and moon of the netherworld. He is able to perform Buddhist deeds that help all. Therefore, the men and devas of the three divisions of the universe all revere him. His perfumed air fills and spreads; his teachings are ample. The territories of this whole nation are all lands purified by Buddhism. They possess the enlivening spirit and fully achieve salvation for the masses. I [the Yongle Emperor] am sovereign to all on earth. I have compassion for the people and vastly embody benevolence. Putting forth a joyful heart I cast gold to form a Buddha image that will benefit all living creatures. At first I ordered a model to be made, yet it was not completed for a long time. One day when the workers went out for a bite to eat, quietly the model completed itself while no one was around. There was nobody who did not gasp in 140

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surprise and admiration and consider it a rare thing. It is said that Buddhas and Bodhisattvas respond to the prayers being recited. Sure enough, in one cast it was finished. It possessed a special and beautiful fragrance that did not dissipate for a long time. Completely Awakened Vastly Beneficial Great State Preceptor Palden Zangpo took refuge in the Western Lands and brought salvation to the people there. He achieved countless successes and increased innumerable great fortunes, causing good weather, causing there to be bumper harvests each year, causing people’s lives to be abundant and fully provided for, and causing old and young alike to be healthy and peaceful. Disaster and calamity disappeared, all was auspicious, and the people of this region forever encountered the Buddha’s benevolence. Alas! The Buddha’s suchness [Skt. Tathātā, Ch. ruru] is true and eternal, quiet and calm. For these reasons, there are no requests that do not receive an efficacious response. In the past King Udayāna made a sandalwood Buddha image. It was an exquisitely wonderful and rare work of art, especially beautiful and exceptionally fine. It benefited everyone without end. Today I use this image cast in gold to give this kind of efficacious response again, so that my statue’s benefits will again be like those of King Udayāna’s statue. 50 In the four sections translated here, Yongle first creates a connection between himself and the Buddha through both the content and the formal composition of the text. The initial sentences of the first and second sections follow similar patterns in which the subject (either the Buddha or Yongle) is presented as a powerful sovereign who shows compassion for all sentient beings and vows to help them through skillful means. In other words, Yongle is portraying himself as a benevolent Cakravartin.51 Yongle explicitly compares his own actions in commissioning a Buddha image with those of the legendary King Udayāna. This analogy extends to include the images that they both created: in the past King Udayāna’s sandalwood Buddha statue brought good fortune to everyone; now, in the present, Yongle’s golden Buddha image will do so. The efficacy of Yongle’s newly created Buddha image is communicated through its miraculous creation story. This story follows a long tradition of narratives of self-arisen Buddha images dating back to at least the sixth century in China.52 These stories were intended to demonstrate that Buddha statues were not merely inanimate objects, but rather were imbued with vital energy and numinous power. Yongle’s statue can also be viewed in the context of Tibetan art, in which self-arisen statues formed a particularly auspicious category of Buddha image, known as rangjung (T. rang ’byung).53 In the miracle story recounted by Yongle, not only is the Buddha From Mandala to Palace

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statue itself efficacious, but because Yongle was responsible for creating it, he too must possess a divine power. Yongle’s flattery of Palden Zangpo within the edict can be understood in light of the lama’s relationship with the Fifth Karmapa. It can also be read as a way for him to once again assert his legitimacy as emperor. In the edict Yongle sets up a twofold relationship between Hongwu and Sanjé Tashi and himself and Palden Zangpo. The implication is that just as Palden Zangpo was the rightful inheritor of the position of abbot from Sanjé Tashi, Yongle was the rightful inheritor of the position of China’s emperor from Hongwu. In the eleventh year of his reign (1413), five years before he sent the miraculously arisen statue to Palden Zangpo, Yongle had also sent a golden Buddha image via the envoy Hou Xian to the Fifth Karmapa in Tibet. The statue was accompanied by a letter, the last in a long series of letters the emperor had written to the Karmapa following his return to Tibet from Nanjing. In the letter Yongle explains that one night, as he was “seated properly” (duanzuo) in his palace in the middle of the night, he had a vision of a golden image of Śākyamuni bearing the thirty-two major (Skt. dvātrim. śadvaralaks. an. a) and eighty minor (Skt. anuvyañjana) physical marks, emerging from a blossoming Bodhi tree before him. He subsequently ordered his craftsmen to create the same image and had it blessed by a high-ranking Tibetan lama. The emperor claimed that he later found out that his vision had occurred on the same day that the admiral Zheng He had supposedly managed to obtain a tooth relic of the Buddha—a long-standing mark of legitimacy—from the king of Sri Lanka.54 Like the nanmu timber that uprooted itself (see chapter 2) and the timber that would not sink (see chapter 3), Yongle used the miraculously created Buddha images to symbolize Heaven’s sanction of his emperorship. It probably goes without saying that he possessed considerable respect for the Fifth Karmapa; the stele inscription just examined reveals that the emperor greatly admired Palden Zangpo as well. By granting both the Fifth Karmapa and Palden Zangpo miraculous Buddha statues, Yongle was not only trying to claim spiritual connections between himself and these two religious figures but was also showing off his special power to them. More broadly, his support of Gautama Monastery can be understood as a means to generate merit for himself and bring good fortune to his reign. In the second edict the emperor sent to the monastery, Yongle made this intention clear by instructing the monastery’s monks to “pray for and extend blessings on behalf of the court.”55

Taming the Frontier Yongle was no doubt fully aware of the political advantages of supporting Gautama Monastery. On account of his frequent battles with the Mongols and his inability to secure horses from Mongolia, he was particularly desperate for Tibetan horses, supplied by the lamas who visited the 142

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Ming court. Although the Chinese sources use the term “tribute” (gong) to describe these lamas’ donations, in reality, what took place were essentially commercial transactions in which the court paid the lamas for the horses directly with silver, silks, and paper money. Despite the great number of lama missions made to the capital, their supply of horses could not keep up with the state’s demand. As a result, many “tea-and-horse” markets (chama si), in which Chinese teas were traded for the Tibetan horses, were erected in the frontiers during this time. The markets established in the regions of Hezhou, Taozhou, and Xining around Gautama Monastery were especially large and may have been a factor in Yongle’s patronage of the temple.56 The political authority that Yongle granted to Gautama Monastery is evident in the concluding passage of the first two edicts he issued to the temple: [Those who encounter Gautama Monastery] must arouse their faith, respect the Dharma, and heed the unrestrained teachings of the local monks. At the same time, they are not permitted to disturb or mistreat the monastery’s land, mountains, forests, property, or domestic animals. The people are not allowed to invade and occupy [the monastery] or desecrate it. [If you heed my advice] the Buddha’s teachings will be abundant and the door to enlightenment will be expansive. The people of this area will be able to live peacefully and happily and engage in the path to goodness. If you do not obey my orders; do not respect the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha; intentionally cause trouble; or harass, disturb and hinder those who are practicing [Buddhism], you will be punished without pardon.57 By 1408, Gautama Monastery possessed a considerable amount of property, including “land, mountains, forests, gardens, material wealth, and various kinds of domestic animals.” In this edict the emperor gives the monastery’s resident lamas the power to control this property along with the people living within the temple’s jurisdictions, which on some level guaranteed them immunity from Ming law. At the same time, Yongle cautions that those who intentionally disobeyed the lamas or disturbed the monastery’s property would “be punished without pardon.” This indicates that Gautama Monastery and its environs ultimately remained subordinate to Ming law. The historian Elliot Sperling has made the point that while many of Gautama Monastery’s lamas were useful to the Ming along the border, these lamas also sought support and protection from the Ming court.58 Indeed, it is clear that Gautama Monastery remained under constant threat of being attacked. In fact, when the final hall at the monastery was completed in the early Xuande reign, fifty-two soldiers were sent by the court to guard it, meaning that it also functioned as a kind of military garrison.59 By patronizing Gautama Monastery, Yongle wanted to both strengthen his control over and help bring greater peace and stability From Mandala to Palace

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to the Sino-Tibetan frontier. Judging from the language of his edicts, Buddhism was the means by which he believed it could be done.

The Hall of Jewel Light

Figure 4.10. The Hall of Jewel Light (1418), Gautama Monastery, Ledu, Qinghai. Photograph courtesy of Karl Debreczeny.

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In 1418, Yongle issued the edict in which he formally bestowed the name Hall of Jewel Light upon the second hall constructed at Gautama Monastery and sent a miraculously created gilt bronze Buddha image to be housed in the hall (fig. 4.10). According to a set of records of donations to the monastery still located in situ, at this time Yongle dispatched the director of Imperial Accoutrements, a eunuch named Meng Ji, to the monastery to help oversee the construction of the hall as well to erect stelae at the monastery, indicating that the emperor wanted his edicts to be read and remembered.60 Within the painted and sculptural program of this new hall, we can finally grasp the significance of Palden Zangpo’s experiences with the Fifth Karmapa at the Ming court. At five bays wide (20 meters) and four bays (19 meters) deep, and 16 meters tall, the Hall of Jewel Light is slightly larger in scale than Gautama Hall (fig. 4.11).61 From the front of the hall extends a platform and, to the left

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and right of the entrance, brick walls intersect at a perpendicular angle.62 Like Gautama Hall, the Hall of Jewel Light is capped with a double-eave, hip-and-gable roof, which shelters an open circumambulation corridor, entered and exited via short staircases, around the sides and rear of the hall (fig. 4.12). Remains of paintings on the exterior of the hall indicate that the corridor was once covered with murals. Similar to Gautama Hall, the timber-frame structure of the Hall of Jewel Light is relatively simple and does not employ bracket-sets. The interior pillars support seven-purlin, five-purlin, and three-purlin roof beams (fig. 4.13). As at Gautama Hall, a lattice ceiling with an elaborate eight-sided coffer is installed inside. The murals and sculptures on the interior bear strong consistencies with those in Gautama Hall. For instance, the main statues enshrined are the Buddhas of the Past, Present, and Future. On the left and right interior walls is the first ring of ten deities from the forty-three-deity Mañjuvajra mandala—an echo of the more complex iconographic program in Gautama Hall—and flanking the main entrance are Four-Armed Mahākāla and Pañjaranātha Mahākāla.63 By far the most remarkable feature of the murals in this hall is the representation of Kagyü patriarchs on the rear wall above the main statues. These include a Karmapa and a Shamarpa (T. Zhwa dmar pa), distinguished by their headgear, who sit facing each other in a standard depiction of a teacher-disciple relationship, as well as a more personalized portrait of a lama (fig. 4.14).64 They likely represent the Fifth Karmapa, Deshin Shekpa, the Second Shamarpa, Khachö Wangpo (T. Mkha’ spyod dbang po, 1350–1405), and Palden Zangpo. From Mandala to Palace

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Figure 4.11. Front elevation of the Hall of Jewel Light. Line drawing courtesy of Tianjin University Department of Architecture.

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Figure 4.12. Ground plan of the Hall of Jewel Light. Line drawing courtesy of Tianjin University Department of Architecture.

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According to the fifteenth-century Tibetan history Blue Annals (T. Deb ther sngon po), from the time the Fifth Karmapa was four years old, the Second Shamarpa had instructed him in the teachings of Abhayākaragupta’s Diamond Garland text.65 As mentioned, it is likely that Palden Zangpo had also received teachings from the Fifth Karmapa while they were both in Nanjing. Considering the prominence of the Mañjuvajra mandala within the painted programs at both Gautama Hall and the Hall of Jewel Light, that teaching was undoubtedly Diamond Garland. This would indicate that the murals in both Gautama Hall and the Hall of Jewel Light were painted at the same time under the patronage of Palden Zangpo. Indeed, the murals inside these halls bear strong signs that they were the work of Ming court painters versed in both Tibetan and Chinese painting styles.66 A Yongle reign date written in Tibetan in one of the paintings of the aforementioned “Fifty-three visits of Sudhana” confirms that the paintings in Gautama Hall were painted by artists from the Yongle court.67 146

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Figure 4.13. Side section of the Hall of Jewel Light. Line drawing courtesy of Tianjin University Department of Architecture. Figure 4.14. Image of the Fifth Karmapa painted on the rear wall of the Hall of Jewel Light. Photograph courtesy of Chung Tzu-yin.

The central statue once housed within the Hall of Jewel Light was the “self-arisen” golden Buddha image that Yongle sent to Gautama Monastery along with the edict examined earlier in this chapter. Sadly, along with most other early Buddhist statues in the monastery, it was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). However, we can get some sense From Mandala to Palace

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Figure 4.15. Standing bodhisattva with Yongle reign inscription (not visible in photograph) on top of lotus base. Gilt bronze, 145 cm. Qinghai Provincial Museum. Author’s photograph, 2017. Photo edited by Jane Cassidy.

of what it may have looked like from a gilt bronze standing bodhisattva image now housed in the Qinghai Provincial Museum (fig. 4.15). This was probably one of eight bodhisattvas that once stood on either side of the miraculously arisen Buddha image in the Hall of Jewel Light. It is the most valuable remaining original statue from the monastery. At 145 centimeters, the statue is tall, but not quite life-size. The image adopts a relaxed body position, bearing slightly more weight on the left foot than on the right, and a gentle facial expression, with heavy-lidded eyes and a slight smile. It is copiously adorned with jewelry and holds a lotus flower in each of its 148

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Figure 4.16. Marble incense burner with Yongle reign inscription in Chinese, Tibetan, and Sanskrit at the top (inscription not visible in photograph). Author’s photograph, 2009.

delicate and finely crafted hands.68 Cast onto the lotus base is an inscription that reads “Bestowed in the Yongle Reign of the Great Ming Dynasty” (Da Ming Yongle nian shi) in Chinese, Tibetan, and Sanskrit. An identical trilingual inscription can be found on a number of other surviving ritual objects at Gautama Monastery, including a massive marble incense burner now in the Hall of Jewel Light that had to be shipped from the capital in pieces (fig. 4.16). It is thus possible to weave together a history of Gautama Monastery during Yongle’s reign. In 1407, Palden Zangpo traveled to the Ming court in Nanjing. While there, he met the emperor and received a teaching of the Diamond Garland text from the Fifth Karmapa. Upon Palden Zangpo’s return to Qinghai, Yongle appointed him abbot of Gautama Monastery and over the next four years granted him illustrious titles along with silver, silks, and paper money. The lama likely used these funds to construct a new Buddha hall, the Hall of Jewel Light, at Gautama Monastery. Yongle dispatched From Mandala to Palace

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court craftsmen to help carry out the project as well as an official to oversee it. At this time Palden Zangpo ordered the teachings of the Diamond Garland text, as well as a portrait of himself with the Fifth Karmapa and Second Shamarpa, to be painted on the walls of Gautama Hall and the Hall of Jewel Light. The emperor sent a miraculously created Buddha image to be installed inside the Hall of Jewel Light accompanied by an edict about its creation. He sent many other statues and ritual objects to the temple, including the standing bodhisattva image—all of which were engraved with the phrase “Bestowed in the Yongle Reign of the Great Ming Dynasty.”

Inscribed Objects During the Yongle reign many Tibetan lamas undertook the long journey to the Ming court to meet with the emperor. Upon the most important of these lamas the emperor would bestow finely crafted gilt bronze Buddha statues. In other cases the emperor would send these Buddha statues, via envoys, to monasteries in Tibetan regions. Now known as the “Yongle bronzes” (Yongle zaoxiang), the statues constitute a distinct category of Buddha image in China (fig. 4.17). Although the Yongle bronzes vary in terms of the deity they depict, they share much in common technically and stylistically. For instance, the statues are all created using the lost-wax technique and are rather modest in size, probably because they had to be transported great distances. The back of the statues is executed with as much care as the front, meaning that they were intended to be viewed from all sides, and the rear is equipped with an opening for consecration objects.69 According to the art historian Heather Karmay, the Yongle bronzes were all executed in a “richly mature, full blown Tibetan style,” which can be seen in the distinctive treatment of their lotus thrones, crowns, jewelry, and drapery.70 Although this new style was rooted in the Nepalese style favored by the Yuan dynasty court, it was reworked to suit the contemporary mode of representing Buddhist deities in Tibet.71 Perhaps most intriguing, the Yongle bronzes bear the same exact inscription, “Bestowed in the Yongle Reign of the Great Ming Dynasty,” which was invariably located in a prominent position at the top and front of the lotus base. The Chinese characters could either be accompanied by Tibetan and Sanskrit, as we see on the objects at Gautama Monastery, or stand alone, which was usually the case. What makes the inscriptions on Yongle’s bronzes so remarkable is that the five characters are almost always written horizontally and from left to right, following the direction of the Tibetan script, rather than vertically and from right to left, the way Chinese was written. Although the majority of the Yongle reign date inscriptions survive on bronze Buddha images, a wooden model of the Mahābodhi temple complex discovered in 1936 at the Narthang monastery

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Figure 4.17. Statue of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī bearing the inscription “Bestowed in the Reign of Yongle of the Great Ming Dynasty” in Chinese on the lotus base. Gilt brass, lost-wax casting, 19.1 cm × 12.1. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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in Tibet (see fig. I.5) indicates that the practice was more widespread.72 Yongle was the first Chinese emperor to inscribe the objects created in his workshops.73 The practice was continued by Yongle’s successors and, as the art historian Craig Clunas has pointed out, as a result time took on a much more “visual presence” in the Ming.74 However, after the Yongle reign secular types of court art (including lacquerware, ceramics, and ink stones) were inscribed, not Buddha images. Furthermore, the post-Yongle objects employ the character zhi 製 “produced” rather than shi 施 “bestowed” and the inscription was written the standard Chinese way, from right to left.75 The high quality of the Yongle bronzes as well as the direction in which the Chinese characters were written indicates that when producing these objects, the Yongle court showed great sensitivity toward catering to the tastes and habits of the Tibetan recipients. In other words, the statues were not simply one of the standard gifts, such as silks or porcelains, given by the Chinese court upon its tributaries; rather, they were specially created for a particular audience. At the same time, by branding these statues with his reign date, Yongle was projecting his imperial power throughout space and over time. Today the Yongle bronzes are still considered among the most, if not the most, treasured items of many monasteries scattered across the Tibetan frontier, and they continue to function in important ways. First, they reflect a particular historical relationship between the Yongle court and the Tibetan institutions at the peripheries: the presence of the reign date inscriptions on these objects enables them to be immediately associated with the person of the Yongle emperor. Second, because the bronzes originated in the “center” (the capital) and ended up at the “periphery” (Tibetan areas), they communicate the connections that existed between these two regions. Finally, collectively the bronzes serve as evidence for the great power of the Yongle court to extend its reach into even the most remote corners of the empire.

From Mandala to Palace The set of records of donations to the monastery mentioned above documents that Meng Ji was instructed to manage not only the construction of the Hall of Jewel Light but also of a third hall along the monastery’s axis called the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity (Longguo Dian). Although this hall was not finished until 1427 under Yongle’s grandson, Xuande, what matters for the current discussion is that it was part of Yongle’s grand architectural vision for the monastery. The construction of the Hall of Jewel Light behind Gautama Hall was an important moment in the architectural history of the monastery because it shifted the ground plan from the squarish mandala-like arrangement to a traditional Chinese palace form, in which the main halls are aligned along a central axis (see fig. 4.2). The establishment of the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity at the rear of the central 152

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axis completed the design of the traditional palace form. The new spatial order brought about through Yongle’s patronage altered the overall meaning of the monastery: from that point on it became closely associated with the Ming court. Today, Gautama Monastery comprises three courtyards that slope gently upward against the foot of the mountain. The temple is entered through a main gate installed with two large wooden doors with six rows of nine metal billets, denoting its imperial patronage. Beyond the main gate lies the first courtyard containing two stelae pavilions and beyond that the modest Vajradhāra Hall (Jingang Dian), which houses large guardian statues. The second courtyard contains Gautama Hall, the Hall of Jewel Light, four subsidiary halls, and four Tibetan-style stupas. The third courtyard is elevated much higher than the second and contains only the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity. Covered arcades surround both the second and third courtyards, atop which are two sets of bell and drum towers, small ones in the second courtyard and large ones in the third courtyard. These elements link the second and third courtyards and serve as a gallery for more than four hundred square meters of exquisite Ming and Qing dynasty murals of the Buddha’s life executed in a Chinese blue-and-green landscape manner (fig. 4.18). From Mandala to Palace

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Figure 4.18. Detail of blue-and-green painting of the life of the Buddha in the covered corridors that surround the monastic complex. Author’s photograph, 2009.

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The Hall of Dynastic Prosperity is one of the best preserved early buildings in the official Ming style left in China (figs. 4.19 and 4.20). It is situated on a 2.3-meter-tall plinth with a large platform lined with balustrades extending in front (fig. 4.21). The plinth is accessed via stairs at the sides but unusually not at the front. When approaching the hall from below, its position at the top of the slope and elevated on a high plinth makes the building appear very imposing. It is covered with an eminent double-eave hipped roof covered in unglazed roof tiles. The roof’s lower eaves shelter a one-bay-wide open peristyle around the sides of the building. Unlike at Gautama Hall and the Hall of Jewel Light, however, this peristyle was never intended for circumambulation because the covered arcades terminating at either side of the hall prevent access to the rear. The hall measures seven bays (33.30 meters) across the front, five bays (19.20 meters) in depth, and 19 meters in height, including the plinth (fig. 4.22).76 This means that it is almost exactly half the width and a third of the depth of the 66.90 × 29.30–meter Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb discussed in chapter 2. This indicates that there existed an underlying proportional relationship among the ground plans of the large-scale buildings constructed in the early Ming. The ratio of width to depth at the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity is much greater than it is at the near-square Gautama Hall and the Hall of Jewel Light. In contrast to the two earlier halls, therefore, the ground plan of the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity is widened in a way that highlights the building’s frontality.77 The central bay across the façade of the hall measures 6.60 meters in width, much narrower than either that of the Sacrificial Hall (10.30 meters) or Purple Skies Hall on Mount Wudang (8.37 meters), revealing that the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity is the lowest rank of the three (fig 4.23). Consistent with the official Ming architectural style, the width of the bays decreases from the center outward. There are four clusters of intercolumnar brackets in the central bay, two in each of the flanking bays, and none in the side-most bays. The intercolumnar brackets in the upper eaves are single-projection, seven-step, double-pretend-cantilever types, and the ones in the lower eaves are five-step, double-pretend-cantilever types. These are the same types used in Ming Buddha halls in Beijing and at Purple Skies Hall, which is consistent with these buildings’ rank as religious halls. All these aspects of the building reveal that Yongle’s court architectural style remained standardized even across great distances. Many of the decorative aspects of the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity also belong to the official Ming architectural system. For example, the hall possesses some very important original architectural paintings, as do the large bell and drum towers and the covered arcade (fig. 4.24). The pattern they employ was once characteristic of official Ming buildings in Beijing, but surviving examples are very scarce; among them, those at Gautama Monastery are thought to be the oldest and best preserved.78 The main difference between the paintings at Gautama Monastery and the ones in the capital is that they use black paint instead of blue.79 The walls inside the From Mandala to Palace

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Figure 4.19. The Hall of Dynastic Prosperity (1427) with bell (left) and drum (right) towers flanking it, Gautama Monastery, Ledu, Qinghai. Author’s photograph, 2017. Figure 4.20. Elevation of the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity with bell (left) and drum (right) towers flanking it. Line drawing courtesy of Tianjin University Department of Architecture. Figure 4.21. Side section of the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity. Line drawing courtesy of Tianjin University Department of Architecture.

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hall are covered with large murals of Buddhist deities that are analogous to those in the Hall of Jewel Light, suggesting that they were painted by the same artists.80 To understand the true significance of the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity’s architecture, we must consider the relationship of this building to the covered arcades and the bell and drum towers on either side of it (see fig. 4.20). This tripartite form (central hall, sloping corridors, and flanking storied-towers) has a long history in China of being employed for the highest-rank buildings in the imperial palaces, such as the Hall of Enfolding Vitality (Hanyuan Dian) and Great Bright Palace (Daming Gong) of the Tang dynasty (618– 907) capital at Chang’an. The eighth-century Great Imperial Audience Hall (J. Daigoku Den) in Nara, Japan, which was modeled after the Hall of Enfolding Vitality, also adopted this plan.81 Most important for the present discussion, this was also the form of the Hall of Revering Heaven, the foremost hall in Yongle’s Forbidden City. Given the similarities between the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity and the Hall of Revering Heaven, the architectural historian Wu Cong has suggested that the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity followed the “blueprint” of the Hall of Revering Heaven.82 Whether this was the case, the decision to build the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity in this great palatial style certainly speaks

Figure 4.22. Ground plan of the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity. Line drawing courtesy of Tianjin University Department of Architecture.

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to the importance of Gautama Monastery to the Yongle court. The two towers to which the corridors at the Hall of Revering Heaven once led, the Civil Tower (Wenlou) and the Military Tower (Wulou), were even covered with the same rare hipped roofs that we see on the bell and drum towers at Gautama Monastery. The architectural form of a central hall with two flanking corridors was an important index for “palace” in two-dimensional representations. These include the eighth-century Pure Land paintings in the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang and the palace in the Song dynasty Emperor Huizong’s (r. 1100–1126) famous painting Auspicious Cranes (fig. 4.25). Key to the significance of the representations of this structural form is the implication of the viewer’s vantage point at the front and center, because it underscores the building’s bilateral symmetry, one of most fundamental design principles of Chinese architecture. In fact, with this in mind, we may even consider the possibility that the architectural form stands in for an entire palatial complex, the whole embodied in the part. The underlying message of this iconic form is that the emperor exists at its center, the center of the universe. While the circumambulation corridors of the two early Buddha halls (Gautama Hall and the Hall of Jewel Light) demand engagement from the devotee on all sides of the building, the palatial Hall of Dynastic Prosperity was intended to be viewed from the front and center, adopting what the architectural historian Mitsuo Inoue has termed a “pictorial composition.” According to Inoue, buildings with a “pictorial composition” resembled “pictures” in that they lacked depth and were meant to draw attention to the façade. They can be contrasted to buildings adopting a “plastic composition,” which were instead designed to be symmetrical on all sides

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Figure 4.23. Front section of the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity. Line drawing courtesy of Tianjin University Department of Architecture.

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Figure 4.24. Ming official architectural painting on the beams of the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity. Author’s photograph, 2009.

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and highlight the object enshrined within, such as at Gautama Hall.83 Whereas the architecture in the earliest iteration of the monastery was closely tied to religious teaching and practice, the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity was instead undoubtedly meant to awe and overwhelm the viewer with the splendor of the Ming imperial court. Yongle’s architectural vision therefore transformed Gautama Monastery from a small-scale temple consisting of a close-knit cluster of buildings laid out in a mandalic plan, to a foreign, monumental, and palatial monastery projected onto the local landscape. At the same time, the imperial craftsmen faced a number of difficulties when building this grand hall at the northwestern frontier. Although the plinth and balustrades at the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity belong to the official Ming court style, instead of traditional marble, they are made of a local pink sandstone, indicating that the laborers were unable to deliver marble to this remote region. Even the plinth of the Golden Hall on the top of Heaven’s Pillar Peak at Mount Wudang was made of marble, underscoring the relative remoteness of Gautama Monastery. Likewise, unlike at Mount Wudang, where local kilns supplied the Daoist temples with brilliant glazed tiles, those at Gautama Monastery are unglazed and appear chapter 4

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to be made of a lower-fired local gray-brown clay and in many cases are stamped with Sanskrit letters (fig. 4.26).84 The wood used to construct the temples also does not seem to be of a particularly high quality, especially in contrast to nanmu, and was undoubtedly sourced locally.85 For most of the monastery’s history an earthen fortress (chengbao) surrounded the monastery and the entryway constituted a defensive structure (wengcheng) that forced visitors to enter at a right angle, rather than from straight on.86 These nonimperial aspects of Gautama Monastery helped integrate this foreign typology more seamlessly into both the local landscape as well as with the buildings from the first phase of construction. It is therefore possible to conclude that the architecture of the Hall of Dynasty Prosperity was “localized” in terms of much of its decorative program and the material used to construct it.

Figure 4.25. Detail of Song emperor Huizong’s Auspicious Cranes (1112). Handscroll, ink and color on silk, 51 × 138.2 cm. Liaoning Provincial Museum. Wikimedia Commons.

Gautama Monastery as Lineage Temple When Yongle died in 1424, Gautama Monastery was still unfinished. The project was continued under his successors Hongxi (r. 1424–1425) and Xuande (r. 1425–1435) and completed just a few years later, in 1427. Hongxi and Xuande framed their contributions to the monastery as acts of filial piety toward Hongwu and Yongle and, as a result, Gautama Monastery took on the role of a lineage temple. Despite the successive patronage of From Mandala to Palace

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Figure 4.26. Roof tiles of covered corridors bearing Sanskrit letters. Author’s photograph, 2017.

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all four of these Ming rulers, it was Yongle who ultimately became most strongly associated with the monastery. The Hongxi emperor sent an edict to Gautama Monastery in 1425, the only year of his short reign, which is preserved on a stele in Chinese and Tibetan located in the monastery’s front courtyard. Hongxi begins the edict by saying that “Xining borders India,” when in fact it is situated approximately two thousand kilometers away from the northeastern Indian border, even farther than the distance between Beijing and Xining.87 This indicates that the Ming emperors actually had very little understanding of the geography of the region in which Gautama Monastery was situated and simply believed that it was part of the distant and undifferentiated Tibetan Buddhist West. The focus of his edict is the patronage of Gautama Monastery under Hongxi’s grandfather, Hongwu, and his father, Yongle. Hongxi presents Hongwu and Yongle as moral and benevolent Buddhist rulers whose generous support of the monastery in the form of constructing Buddha halls greatly benefited the people of the Western Regions.88 Xuande sent two more edicts to the monastery in 1427, in the first and second month of the second year of his reign. The later of the two edicts was carved into a bilingual stele, while the earlier was carved into a large wooden signboard that hung from the monastery’s main gate throughout chapter 4

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most of the twentieth century, but which no longer survives.89 In the stele inscription Xuande echoes the sentiment of the Hongxi edict, explaining that Gautama Monastery was patronized by Hongwu, Yongle, and Hongxi and that by constructing another Buddha hall at the monastery he was “following the intentions of his ancestors.”90 Xuande explicitly states that when he inherited the throne, he was continuing an imperial lineage (Hongwu, Yongle, Hongxi) that had been mandated by Heaven.91 Curiously, in the edict inscribed onto the wooden signboard, Xuande does not mention Hongxi, suggesting that only he, Hongwu, and Yongle took part in the successive construction of the monastery.92 Earlier we determined that Yongle evoked Hongwu in the “Stele of Gautama Monastery’s Golden Buddha Image” to legitimize his own right to rule. In the same vein, by mentioning both Hongwu and Yongle’s patronage of Gautama Monastery in the edicts examined, Hongxi and Xuande implicitly reinforced Yongle’s claim to the throne. The legitimacy of these two emperors depended of course on the legitimacy of Yongle. It was thus in their own best interest to promote the “proper” dynastic lineage established by Yongle’s usurpation. The massive stelae in the monastery’s first courtyard play an important role in materializing and displaying this lineage for posterity and in this respect function much like the inscribed tablets within an ancestral temple. By successively patronizing Gautama Monastery, the Ming emperors undoubtedly believed that its resident lamas would pray for the stability and longevity of their dynasty. The monastery’s role as a lineage temple is expressed in the name of its most important building, the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity, and the most important object housed within it: the Emperors’ Long Life Tablet.93 This two-meter-tall tablet made of precious nan wood marked the completion of the construction of the hall in the second year of the Xuande reign. The front of the tablet is inscribed with the phrase “Long Live the Emperor” (huangdi wanwansui), written vertically from right to left in Tibetan, Chinese, and Sanskrit, while the rear records the completion date and the names of the three eunuchs, including Meng Ji, who supervised the project.94 Gautama Monastery was not the only “royal temple” patronized in the Tibetan region. Around the same time that the monastery was being completed, Xuande was engaged in the construction of another great monastery in nearby Minzhou, Gansu. Xuande’s monastery was dedicated to a Tibetan lama named Palden Tashi (T. dPal ldan bkra shis), who was born in Minzhou, not far from Ledu. Palden Tashi was influential in the courts of Hongxi, Yongle, and Xuande.95 In 1428 and 1429 he performed the Mahācakra and the Nine Deities of Amitāyus empowerments for Xuande, and upon the emperor’s death in 1435, the lama erected a stupa adorned with one hundred thousand molded clay images of the Buddha for the emperor, indicating that the two had a close relationship.96 The only surviving material records of Xuande’s monastery for Palden Tashi are two stelae located at the former site of the monastery, From Mandala to Palace

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one in Chinese and the other in Tibetan, inscribed from an edict issued by Xuande in 1429. In the edict Xuande praises the power of the Buddha and states that all generations of rulers in China have upheld the Buddhist faith. Xuande goes on to describe the temple in detail and grants it the name Great Monastery of Sublime Teachings (Dachongjiao Si).97 Based on the surviving textual descriptions of this monastery, it likely would have been on par with, if not more lavish than, Gautama Monastery.98 The fact that Xuande branched off to patronize his own monastery for Palden Tashi reinforces the argument made above: that Xuande’s main reason for becoming involved with Gautama Monastery was to complete the project initiated by his grandfather, Yongle. Xuande’s devotion to completing Gautama Monastery on behalf of Yongle was evidently so important to the history of the temple that it eventually entered into a myth preserved in the Tibetan-language History of the Dharma in Amdo. This myth centers on the origins of a gilt bronze statue of Vajradhāra, purported to weigh roughly twenty-five hundred pounds, that Xuande sent to the monastery to be enshrined as the central image within the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity.99 According to the record, following the completion of the murals inside the hall, all sorts of spectacular sights, including rainbows and Wheels of the Law, appeared in the sky. From among them a golden statue of Vajradhāra flew in from the sky and landed before the hall. We are told that the Chinese people who witnessed the event took the flying Buddha image to be a relic—in other words, a kind of distillation of the physical body—of the deceased Yongle emperor. According to the legend, they believed that Yongle had appeared in response to the pious devotion of his grandson Xuande in carrying out the completion of his architectural project.100 Importantly, the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity is still locally referred to as “Yongle Hall.” This story bears striking similarities to the afterlife of Yongle’s Daoist architectural complex on Mount Wudang. Following the completion of both of these projects, miraculous images appeared in the sky, revealing Heaven’s favor. Whereas at Mount Wudang, most of the omens appeared above Golden Hall, at Gautama Monastery, the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity served as the setting of the auspicious occurrences. Both the Golden Hall and the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity (the “Yongle Hall”) enshrined statues of the primary deity to whom the site was devoted, Zhenwu in the case of the Golden Hall and Vajradhāra in the case of the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity. Therefore these buildings can be considered the centers of sacred power at their respective sites. It is no coincidence that the Golden Hall and the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity were also the most architecturally significant buildings at their respective sites. Perhaps most intriguing, just as popular legend purported that the statue of Zhenwu housed in the Golden Hall was modeled on Yongle, in the story recounted above, the Vajradhāra statue inside the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity was considered to be a “relic” of Yongle. Both legends imply that Yongle and the resident deity, either Zhenwu or Vajradhāra, were one and the same. 162

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Another comparison can be made between Gautama Monastery and Mount Wudang in that, like the Golden Hall, Gautama Monastery eventually came to be understood as a counterpart to the Forbidden City: today the people of Ledu still refer to the monastery as “Little Forbidden City,” and there is a saying that if you have been to Gautama Monastery, you do not need to go to the Forbidden City.101 It was undoubtedly the patronage of Ming rulers, especially Yongle, as well as the monastery’s imperial architecture, especially the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity, that led to this association. The connections made between these sites indicate that in the minds of the locals, the two are analogous and perhaps even equally as impressive, even though in reality the Forbidden City was constructed on a scale many times larger and more elaborate than Gautama Monastery. The establishment of Gautama Monastery not only significantly altered the self-image of this part of the Sino-Tibetan frontier in the minds of the people who lived there, but also, in the same way as Mount Wudang, helped draw these two distant and distinct parts of the empire closer together. A number of objects at Gautama Monastery inscribed with the reign dates of later Ming emperors reveal that imperial patronage continued throughout the rest of the Ming dynasty, although it never again reached the glory it had in the early Ming.102 But by the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Gautama Monastery had fallen into significant decline—though we still see some evidence, such as the Qing period blue-and-green murals in the covered corridor, that imperial patronage continued sporadically. One of the main reasons for the monastery’s decline was the growing competition from the monasteries of Tsongkhapa’s Geluk sect, which began to overshadow the influence Gautama Monastery had held in this region a century earlier.103 In the late Qing the monastery experienced devastating attacks, first from the Tibetans of Qinghai Lake in the mid-sixteenth century then from Hui Muslims between 1862 and 1872 and again in 1895. Gautama Monastery’s most difficult times began in 1885, when a nearby temple, originally a subtemple of the monastery, declared its independence along with claims to ownership of the surrounding forest and its resources. This led to a lawsuit drawn out for almost two decades in which Gautama Monastery demanded repossession of the lands that had previously fallen under its jurisdiction, ultimately exhausting the monastery’s wealth and ending in its defeat.104 At its height in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Gautama Monastery had more than five hundred monks, in the Qing this was reduced to around three hundred, and in 1915 a meager sixty or so monks were left.105 It was not until modern times that the monastery was revived and opened for tourism.

Conclusion Four early Ming dynasty emperors supported Gautama Monastery in succession, sending edicts, craftsmen, eunuch managers, and precious objects From Mandala to Palace

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inscribed with Ming reign dates to the borderland temple. The motivations of the Ming rulers in supporting the monastery were to bring peace to and also control this politically tumultuous region as well as to use it as a lineage temple in which the lamas could pray for the long life of the dynastic line. Under Yongle the monastery was transformed from a smallscale cluster of buildings whose iconographic and architectural programs were more closely linked to Tibet than to China, to a grand palace-like monastery that communicated intimate associations with the Ming court. In terms of the way in which Gautama Monastery was remembered, Yongle’s singular architectural vision mattered more than the patronage of the other three early Ming emperors. His successors, particularly Xuande, were instrumental in this process by promoting his contributions over their own. The image ultimately created of Yongle through his patronage of Gautama Monastery was overwhelmingly positive: he was even purported to be intertwined with Vajradhāra, the highest deity in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon, thereby reaching a near apotheosis. Gautama Monastery is thus another example of the remarkable capacity of Yongle’s great construction projects both to manipulate the historical memory in his favor and to completely reshape the identity of a particular place.

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conclusion Architecture as Empire

The discussions in this book have centered on two interrelated questions: How did architecture define Yongle’s emperorship? And how did Yongle’s emperorship define architecture? Throughout the premodern world, rulers used architecture to establish their political authority by connecting themselves to the divine.1 For Yongle this was especially necessary because he had usurped the throne and thereby disrupted the heavenly mandate transmitted from the Hongwu emperor to the Jianwen emperor. By burning the palaces during the war with his nephew, he had also destroyed the first Ming capital in Nanjing established by his father. To take control of the architecture that supported his rule, Yongle constructed a numinous new imperial city in Beijing and erected sacred Daoist and Buddhist temples throughout his empire. Within the ritual halls both inside and outside the capital, priests from across the realm conducted ceremonies that ensured the longevity of the dynasty and its living ruler. The uniform courtyards and standardized timber structures of these imperial buildings framed holy rites, housed religious leaders, received millions of devout worshipers, honored the deities whose statues stood in their splendid halls, and served as the setting for miraculous occurrences that sanctioned the emperor’s rule. The sacred authority of Yongle’s architecture extended and endured in a profusion of texts and images, described in imperial edicts and official histories, carved onto woodblocks and stone stelae, and illustrated in printed books and painted handscrolls—all paying tribute to the sanctity of the sites. Not mere adjuncts to the buildings, these visual and textual records instantiated the same claims to religious authority as the sacred sites themselves.

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Figure C.1. Late nineteenthcentury map of China during the Yongle reign. Wikimedia Commons.

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If Yongle’s architectural projects constituted a “vertical” axis that linked the ruler to the cosmos, they also created a “horizontal” axis that connected the emperor to the distant regions of his empire.2 In her discussion of globalism and eighteenth-century Chinese visual culture, the art historian Cheng-hua Wang has suggested that court paintings of the distant people and places within the Qing empire gave the Qianlong emperor a strong sense of what Wang calls “territoriality,” or a “consciousness of the vast territory under his reign.” 3 A similar point can be made about Yongle’s architectural projects. The numerous edicts and memorials sent back and forth between the building sites and the throne undoubtedly helped Yongle better conceive of the various places within his empire and his possession of them. Unlike Qianlong’s paintings, which were unilateral in the sense that they brought only the empire to the emperor, Yongle’s architecture was bilateral because it allowed the emperor to establish a physical presence in regions outside the capital, thereby transforming local sites into imperial ones that he could control. Architecture can therefore be considered a strategy employed by Yongle to lay claim to his territory. An important example of this is the Temple to Eternal Peace, established by the eunuch Ishikha at the behest of Yongle in the Jurchen region of Nurgal (see map I.1). Although the temple fell into disrepair not long after it was constructed, it nonetheless continued to define conceptions of Ming territory for centuries afterward. In figure C.1, for example, a late-nineteenth-century German cartographer extended the borders of the early Ming empire far to the northeast to include Nurgal. For Yongle, his domain expanded even beyond Nurgal, because he was the Son of Heaven, who governed on behalf of all humankind as the supreme ruler of All Under Heaven. The anthropologist Mary Helms has argued that a king’s acquisition of precious goods and natural resources from faraway lands signified the prosperity of his realm as well as his own morality.4 This is certainly true with regard to the hundreds of thousands of nanmu trees that Yongle harvested from Sichuan for the palaces in his Northern Capital. According to the narrative presented in court-sponsored records, the nanmu trees were offered up by the spirits of the forest on account of the emperor’s great virtue. Nanmu thus not only represented the wealth of Yongle’s empire but also provided testimony of his benevolent governance. Because the trees, rocks, and soil of the emperor’s realm bore out his legitimacy and supported his rule, Yongle increased rather than restrained his exploitation of the natural resources. In addition to wood, he extracted massive amounts of stone, earth, metal, and more for his monumental construction projects. The overpowering scale of these extractions can be seen in Zou Ji’s “Memorial on the Hall of Revering Heaven Disaster,” in which he complained that “when the court needed minerals to make colored pigments, hundreds of thousands of people were ordered to find them.”5 The delivery of these natural resources to the imperial construction sites required complex infrastructural projects, including the creation of roads and the conclusion

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extension of waterways. These engineering works signified the power of the emperor to impose order onto the chaotic natural landscape, thereby laying claim to it. Yongle’s architectural vision was realized through the efforts of millions of his subjects, from the corvée laborers who procured the timbers, to the skilled master craftsmen who oversaw the construction, to the officials who promoted the projects through the written word. Like the rich natural resources they collected and transformed into monumental architecture, these laborers represented the prosperity of Yongle’s empire. And just as the abundance of natural resources betokened the cosmic legitimacy of Yongle’s rule, the recruitment and management of myriads of laborers proved his abilities as a ruler, extending from the obedient contributions of conscript laborers to the superior talents of select officials. Yongle ensured the coherence of his monumental architecture by employing the same officials in several grand projects. Jin Chun, for instance, was placed in charge of procuring timbers for both Beijing and Mount Wudang. The Hanlin scholar Hu Guang wrote both the frontispiece to Eight Views of the Northern Capital and the inscription for the stele on the Mountain of Sacred Trees in Sichuan. These officials in turn oversaw the implementation of the empire’s artisan registry system, applying the country’s material and technical knowledge to Yongle’s architectural projects. Stelae erected at Mount Wudang and the Temple to Eternal Peace list master craftsmen by their trades within the artisan registry—including carpenters, painters, stonemasons, iron smiths, and tile workers—manifesting in writing as well as in building a continuous and unified regime of skills and knowledge across the empire. The court-centered craft system under Yongle’s command created a new official Ming architectural style, simpler and more standardized than the imperial architecture of earlier periods. This architectural style was developed during the construction of the first three Ming capitals but was employed for the first time on a massive scale under Yongle. Although the buildings constructed throughout his empire differed in their ornamentation, a close examination reveals that their timber frames follow the same structural principles. Hence, they all abided by a strict set of building codes, despite the fact that no official government construction manual was ever issued in the Ming period.6 This uniform building system was deployed by Yongle across the vast extent of the Ming empire, in the service of a wide array of deities, from Zhenwu to Vajradhāra. It enabled Yongle to speak to subjects of many different faiths and ethnicities with the same rhetoric, to convince one and all of the legitimacy of his rule. No matter where it was erected, this new imperial architecture indexed the capital, where it had originated, and thus the emperor himself. In their order and perfection the architectural forms represented Yongle’s absolute power, as his power had amassed the materials and conscripted the builders responsible for their construction.

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Yongle’s own attitude toward the utility of architecture in defining his empire can be gleaned from his announcement of the completion of the palaces within his new capital: “Since the beginning of the construction, soldiers and civilians from all over the country have taken an active part in it. By the grace of Heaven and support of the people, the palaces are now complete.”7 In this statement Yongle emphasized that the erection of the imperial palaces was made possible through the contributions of military and civilian laborers from across his realm and with the gracious support of Heaven. Implicit is his claim that he presided over an expansive, orderly, and prosperous empire filled with millions of subjects at his service and blessed by the heavenly mandate to rule. It was through the construction of the emperor’s splendid palaces that these claims were made manifest. Architecture was thus a critical means by which Yongle consolidated his role as emperor and confirmed the legitimization of his rule, thereby contributing to the empire-wide imaginary of imperial power that shaped his remarkable legacy.

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Chinese Character Glossary an 庵 Anduo zhengjiao shi 安多正教史 ang 昂 Baiya Shan 白崖山 Baiyun Guan 白雲觀 Bandida 班迪達 banwa 板瓦 Bao’en Si 報恩寺 Baoguang Dian 寶光殿 Baohe Dian 保和殿 Baohua Shan 寶華山 baoxiang 包鑲 baozuo 寶座 Bei zang 北藏 Beijing bajing tu 北京八景圖 Beiping 北平 Beiyou ji 北遊記 Bianliang 汴梁 Bishu Shanzhuang 避暑山莊 Bixia Ci 碧霞祠 Biyun Si 碧雲寺 Cai Xin 蔡信 cai (a standard unit in Chinese construction) 材 cai (steps, or projections perpendicular to the building’s façade, within bracket-sets) 踩 caifen 材分 caimu 采(採)木 Caiyun tu 采運圖 cao 槽 chama si 茶馬司 Changning 常寧 Changping Xian 昌平縣 chanhui 懺悔 Chanshi 禪師 Chaobai Dian 朝拜殿 chashou 叉手 Chen Xuan 陈瑄 Chen Yongbing 陳用賓 chengbao 城堡 Chengtian Dian 承天殿 Chijian Gongguan bazong tidiao guanyuan bei 敕 建宮觀把總提調官員碑 Chongfu Si 崇福寺 Chongwen Men 崇文門 Chongzhen 崇禎 Chuxiu Gong 儲秀宮 ci 祠 cijian 次間

Cining Gong 慈寧宫 Ciqing Gong 慈慶宫 Cisheng 慈聖 cun 寸 Da Guoshi 大國師 Da Ming Xuantian shangdi ruiying tulu 大明玄天 上帝瑞應圖錄 Da Ming Yongle nian shi 大明永樂年施 Da Zhong Si 大鍾寺 dacai jiang 搭材匠 Dachongjiao Si 大崇教寺 Daci zhenru bao Dian 大慈真如寶殿 Daming Gong 大明宮 Damu Chang 大木廠 Danbo Jingcheng Dian 澹泊敬誠殿 dancai 單材 Daning Gong 大寧宮 danqiao chong’an qi cai liujin 單翹重昂七踩溜金 Dao zang 道藏 Daoyan 道衍 Dayue Taihe Shan 大岳太和山 Dayue Taihe Shan zhi 大岳太和山志 denggan 燈干 Di 帝 Di Tan 地壇 diantang 殿堂 diaolianjiang zuotou 雕鑾匠作頭 Dishi 帝師 dishui 滴水 Dong Si 東寺 dougong 斗栱 doukou 斗口 duanzuo 端坐 Dugang 都綱 Dumu dao 督木道 Dumu tongzhi 督木同知 Emei Shan 峨眉山 Fahai Si 法海寺 Fangshan Xian 房山縣 Fangzhuan Chang 方磚廠 Fawang 法王 feichuan 飛椽 fen 分 Fengtian Dian 奉天殿 Fengtian Dian zai kuan xu zhao 奉天殿災寬恤詔 Fengtian Dian zai shu 奉天殿災疏 Fengtian Men 奉天門 173

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Fengxian Dian 奉先殿 Fengyang 鳳陽 foshen 佛身 fuke yijiu 弗克易就 Fuma duwei 駙馬都尉 Fumu Dian 父母殿 furenzhuan 斧刃磚 fushou 斧手 gong (palace; large Daoist temple) 宮 gong (the arm of a bracket-set) 栱 gong (tribute; contribution) 貢 Gong Hui 龔煇 Gongbu gongcheng zuofa 工部工程作法 Gongcheng 宮成 Gongjie feng chigao daibei xiangchuan qingong dice 貢節奉敕誥代輩相傳親供底冊 goutou 勾頭 Gu Pu 古樸 guan 觀 Guanding daguoshi 灌頂大國師 Guanding jingjue hongji daguoshi 灌頂净覺弘濟 大國師 guanlin 官林 guanshi jianzhu 官式建築 guanxiang 官像 Gui Youguang 歸有光 Guo Jin 郭進 Guo Yangzheng 郭养正 Guoshi 國師 Hai Lama 海喇嘛 Haixi 海西 Handong 罕東 Hanyuan Dian 含元殿 hei liuli lü jianbian 黑琉璃綠剪邊 Heilong Jiang 黑龍江 heiwa 黑瓦 heiyaojiang 黑窯匠 Heiyun ganying 黑雲感應 Hezhou 河州 hongguan 宏觀 Honghua Si 弘化寺 Hongwu 洪武 Hou Xian 後顯 Hu Guang 胡廣 Hu Ying 胡濙 Huagai Dian 華盖殿 huagong 華栱 huajiang 畫匠 Huangbang rong hui 黃榜榮輝 Huangcheng 皇城 Huangdi wanwansui 皇帝萬萬歲 Huangdu dayitong fu 皇都大一統賦 Huanghe Ta 黃鶴塔

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Huangji Dian 皇極殿 huangmu 皇木 Huangtu Shan 黃土山 Huitong He 會通河 Huo Shan 霍山 huwei 虎尾 Ji 姬 jiaang 假昂 Jian He 劍河 Jian Zhongyang 簡中陽 jianghu 匠戶 Jiangnan 江南 Jianwen 建文 jianzhuzao 減柱造 Jiaoshe zongmiao yi 郊社宗廟議 jidao 祭纛 Jimen yanshu 薊門煙樹 Jiming Shan 鸡鸣山 Jin Chun 金純 Jin Dian 金殿 Jingang Baozuo 金剛寶座 jingang chi 金剛持 Jingang Dian 金剛殿 Jingang Jie 金剛界 Jingang Zuo 金剛座 Jingjue hongji daguoshi 净覺弘濟大國師 Jingle Gong 靜/淨樂宮 Jingle Guo 靜/淨樂國 Jingnan 靖難 jingshi 京師 jingziliang 井字梁 jinheng 金桁 jinjian 盡間 Jinsha Jiang 金沙江 jinshen 金身 Jinshen Dian 謹身殿 Jinshui Qiao 金水橋 jinsi nanmu 金絲楠木 Jintai xizhao 金台夕照 jinzhu 金柱 jinzhuan 金磚 jiuli 舊例 Jizu Shan 驥足山 Ju jin you bo 巨浸㳺波 juanpeng ding 卷棚頂 jujiang 鋸匠 Junyang 均陽 Junzhou 均州 Juyong diecui 居庸疊翠 Kaifeng 開封 kan 堪 Kuai Xiang 蒯祥 Kunning Gong 坤寧宮

chinese character glossary

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langmei 榔梅 Langmei cheng rui 榔梅呈瑞 Langmei Xianweng Ci 榔梅仙翁祠 Ledu 樂都 Li ji 禮記 Li Shanchang 李善長 Li Xianqing 李憲卿 Liangyi Dian 兩儀殿 Lici xiugai Taihe gongbei ji 歷次修蓋太和宮碑記 Lidai Diwang Miao 歷代帝王廟 likoumu 里口木 Ling Yunyi 凌云翼 Ling’en Dian 祾恩殿 Ling’en Men 祾恩門 Linggu Si ruiying tu 靈谷寺瑞應圖 lingjing 靈境 Linhao 臨濠 Linqing 臨清 Linzhou 藺州 Liu Daoming 劉道明 Liu Gong 六宮 Liu Guan 劉觀 liujin 溜金 liuli jiang 琉璃匠 Liuli Ta 琉璃塔 liuli wa 琉璃瓦 Long’en Dian 隆恩殿 Longfu Gong 隆福宮 Longguo Dian 隆國殿 Longping Hou 隆平侯 Louguan bu 樓觀部 Lu Xian 陸賢 Lu Xiang 陸祥 Lu Zhonghua 盧重華 Lugou xiaoyue 盧溝曉月 lunban jiang 輪班匠 Luzhou Shi 瀘州市 Mahu Shan 馬湖山 Meng Ji 孟繼 miao 廟 Miaofeng 妙峰 Miaoyin Si 妙因寺 mie jiang 篾匠 Min 岷 Ming jian Fengxian Dian 命建奉先殿 Ming Shisan Ling 明十三陵 Ming Tang 明堂 Mingfeng Shan 鳴風山 mingjian 明間 Minhe 民和 Minzhou 岷州 Mituo Dian 彌陀殿 mojiaofu 抹角栿 mojiaoliang 抹角梁

Mozhen Jian 磨針澗 mu jiang 木匠 Mu Xin 沐昕 Mu Ying 沐英 muchang 木廠 Muling 慕陵 muzheng 木政 Nan zang 南藏 nanmu 楠木 Nanmu Dian 楠木殿 Nanyan Gong 南岩宮 Nei guanjian Ni Taijian shouzang ji 內官監倪太監 壽藏紀 neidan 內丹 Ni Zhong 倪中 Nianbo 碾伯 niesu jiang 捏塑匠 Pan Jian 潘鑒 Pangxie Jianzi He 螃蟹夾子河 Pingcheng 平成 Pingshan Xian 屏山縣 pingshenke 平身科 pusu jianzhuang 樸素堅壯 qi 氣 Qi Zhesun 祁者孫 Qianlin yingxiang 騫林應祥 Qianqing Gong 乾清宮 Qianqing Men 乾清門 Qiao Bixing 喬璧星 qicizhe 其次者 qilin 麒麟 qin 寢 Qin’an Dian 欽安殿 Qinghai Hu 青海湖 Qingwei Gong 清微宮 qingzhuan 青磚 Qinhuai He 秦淮河 Qinian Dian 祈年殿 Qinxian Xiaosi 欽先孝思 Qiongdao chunyun 瓊島春雲 Qiyun Shan 齊雲山 quanzhuan 券磚 Qutan Dian 瞿曇殿 Qutan Si 瞿曇寺 Ren Ziyuan 任自垣 Ri Tan 日壇 Ruan An 阮安 rui 瑞 ruiguang tu 瑞光圖 ruohua 弱化 ruru 如如

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San Dian 三殿 San Men 三門 San Shi Fo 三世佛 sanjiao 三教 Sanla 三剌 Sanluo 三羅 sanshier xiang 三十二相 Senggang Si 僧綱寺 Senglu Si 僧錄司 shan 杉 shanguo weiwan 善果未完 shaojian 梢間 Sheji Tan 社稷壇 Shen liu ju mu 神留巨木 shengde 聖徳 Shenggong Dian 省躬殿 Shengxue xinfa 聖學心法 shengzhi 聖旨 Shenmu Chang 神木廠 Shenmu Miao 神木廟 Shenmu Shan 神木山 shi (bestow; give) 施 shi (master; teacher) 師 Shi Daijin 史戴金 shi jiang 石匠 Shi Kui 師逵 Shi Zhongcheng 史仲成 shiji 事跡 Shouan Zhenguo Zhi Shan 壽安鎮國之山 shu 署 shuangqiao chong’an jiu cai 雙翹重昂九踩 Shui yong hong zhong 水涌洪鐘 Shuozhou 朔州 Sichuan tongzhi 四川通志 Sijianglin 司江林 Sinan Xian 思南縣 song 松 Song Li 宋禮 Suiyang 綏陽 Sun Biyun 孫碧云 Suzhou fu duzao 蘇州府督造 Taersi 塔爾寺 Tai Miao 太廟 Taige ti 台各體 Taihe Dian 太和殿 Taihe Gong 太和宮 Taihe Shan 太和山 Taihe Shan rui tu 太和山瑞圖 Taihe Shan Yuanguang tu 太和圓光圖 Taiji Dian 太極殿 Taiye Chi 太液池 Taiye qingbo 太液晴波 Taizi Po 太子坡 Taizi Yan 太子岩

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Tanzhe Si 潭柘寺 Tao Kai 陶凱 Taozhou 洮州 Tian Tan 天壇 Tianche yuejian 天車越澗 Tianshou Shan 天壽山 Tianxian jinque tongdian 天仙金闕銅殿 Tianzhu Feng 天柱峰 tidian 提點 tie jiang 鐵匠 tingjing lou 聽經樓 tingtang 廳堂 tong jiang 銅匠 tong tang yi shi 同堂異室 Tonghui He 通惠河 Tongjiang Xian 通江縣 tongwa 筒瓦 Tongyi dafu duchayuan zuo fudu yushi Li Gong xingzhuang 通議大夫都察院左副都御史李 公行狀 tongyou 桐油 tongzhu 童柱 tugong jiang 土工匠 tuofeng 駝峰 tuojiao 托腳 tusi 土司 wa 瓦 wa jiang 瓦匠 wadang 瓦當 walong 瓦壟 Wanfo Ge 萬佛閣 wangban 望板 wangban zhuan 望板磚 Wanshou Si 萬壽寺 Wansui Dian 萬歲殿 Wansui Shan 萬歲山 wengcheng 瓮城 Wenlou 文樓 Wu Sangui 吳三桂 Wuchang 武昌 Wudang fudi zongzhen ji 武當福地總真集 Wudang Jiaqing tu 武當嘉慶圖 Wudang Shan 武當山 Wujing sishu xingli daquan 五經四書性理大全 Wulong Gong 五龍宮 Wulong Xing Gong 五龍行宮 Wulou 武樓 Wumen 午門 wumian 屋面 Wuta Si 五塔寺 Xi cha hui cao 西槎彚草 Xia Taihe Shan Daoshi 下太和山道士 xiangdian 享殿

chinese character glossary

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Xiangyang 襄陽 Xiannong Tan 先農壇 xiansheng 顯聖 Xiaoling 孝陵 Xie An 謝安 xiegong 斜栱 Xigong 西宮 xijiang zuotou 錫匠作頭 Xingsheng Gong 興聖宮 Xining 西寧 Xining fu xuzhi 西寧府續志 Xishan jixue 西山霽雪 Xiyu ji 西域記 Xu Da 徐達 Xu Xian Qinghuan ji tu 徐顯卿宦跡圖 Xu Yongdao 徐永道 Xuan mu diao ya 懸木吊崖 Xuande 宣德 Xuantian Shangdi qisheng lu 玄天上帝啟聖錄 Xuanwu 玄武 Xuanwu Hu 玄武湖 Xuanyue Men 玄岳門 yanchuan 檐椽 Yang Qing 楊青 Yang Rong 楊榮 Yangshan 陽山 Yanjin Xian 鹽津縣 yanwa 檐瓦 Yao Guangxiao 姚廣孝 Yaocaotai Si 藥草臺寺 Yaotai 窯台 ye Nüzhen 野女真 Yibin Xian 宜賓縣 yihao 一號 ying 應 Yingtian Fu 應天府 Yingzao fashi 營造法式 Yishiha 亦失哈 yizhan 驛站 yizhuzao 移柱造 Yongle 永樂 Yongle dadian 永樂大典 Yongle Dian 永樂殿 Yongle zaoxiang 永樂造像 Yongning Si 永寧寺 Yongshan xian zhi 永善縣志 Youqi jiang 油漆匠 Yuanming Yuan 圓明園 yudao 御道 Yudi 玉帝 Yue Tan 月壇 yueliang 月梁 yuetai 月台 Yunfeng Shan 云峰山

Yuquan chuihong 玉泉垂虹 yuxi 玉璽 Yuxu Gong 玉虛宮 Yuzhen Gong 遇真宮 Yuzhi Dayue Taiheshan Daogong zhi bei 御制大岳 太和山道宮之碑 Yuzhi Qutan si jin foxiang bei 御制瞿曇寺金佛 像碑 Yuzhi Qutansi bei 御制瞿曇寺碑 Zhang Dedi 張德地 Zhang Sanfeng 張三丰 Zhang Xin 張信 Zhang Yuqing 張宇清 Zhanqi Feng 展旗峰 Zhao Bi 趙弼 zhaomu 昭穆 Zhaotong 昭通 zhaoxiang jiazhang 找廂架長 Zheng He 鄭和 Zhenguo Shan 鎮國山 Zhenjue Si 真覺寺 zhennan 楨楠 Zhenwu 真武 Zhenwu lingying tuce 真武靈應圖冊 zhenyan 真言 zhi (stiffiner added to the arm of a bracket-set) 栔 zhi (produce; manufacture) 製 Zhihua Si 智化寺 Zhong Guan 中觀 Zhong Shan 鐘山 Zhongcui Gong 種粹宮 Zhonghe Dian 中和殿 Zhou li 周禮 Zhu Biao 朱標 Zhu Di 朱棣 zhu jiang 竹匠 Zhu Yunwen 朱允炆 zhuaiyun fu 拽運夫 Zhuanglang 莊浪 zhuchi 住持 Zhuge Ping 諸葛平 zhujiang zuotou 鑄匠作頭 Zhuofo pusa miaoxiang ming hao jingzhuo 諸佛菩 薩妙相名號經咒 Zhushan Xian 竹山縣 zhuzuo jiang 住坐匠 Zi Gong 紫宮 Zijin Cheng 紫禁城 Zixiao Gong 紫霄宮 Ziyun Ting 紫雲亭 Zou Ji 鄒緝 zucai 足材 zuozu youshe 左祖右社

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Notes Introduction 1

Although these sites constitute the most important of Yongle’s architectural projects, dozens more buildings throughout the empire were reconstructed, refurbished, or furnished with imperial objects during his reign. 2 For more on Yongle’s invasion of Annam, see Baldanza, Ming China and Vietnam, 58–71; Wang Gungwu, “Ming Foreign Relations,” 314–19; and Whitmore, Vietnam, Ho Quy Ly, and the Ming. 3 For more on the Mongolian campaigns, see Farmer, Early Ming Government, 107–14; and Chao Zhongchen, Ming Chengzu zhuan, 339–93. 4 The last of the missions was carried out under Yongle’s grandson, the Xuande emperor. See Dreyer, Zheng He. 5 From the fragmentary personal information that survives on Ishikha in the Chinese histories, it is believed that he was a Haixi Jurchen who was captured in 1395 during a Ming-Jurchen battle. Once he was taken to the capital, Ishikha was castrated and served in the imperial harem. It was likely his abilities in the Jurchen language and knowledge of their customs that secured his appointment. Rossabi, “Two Ming Envoys to Inner Asia,” 6–7. 6 Tsai, Perpetual Happiness, 123. 7 Robinson, “Ming Court,” 33. 8 Thapar, “Translation of the Edicts of Aśoka: Appendix V,” 250–66; and Kern, Stele Inscriptions of Ch’in Shih-huang. 9 A second stele was erected in 1433 during the Xuande reign. In 1891 both steles were moved to Vladivostok and housed at the V. K. Arsenyev Primoye State Museum, where they remain today. For more on the inscriptions see Golovachev et al., Tyr Steles of the XV Century, 89–96. 10 Timothy Brook points out that the Tamil text is grammatically inaccuracte and incorporates words not found elsewhere. Brook, China and the World. 11 Wade, “Domination in Four Keys,” 22–23. 12 Hu Hansheng, Ming Shisanling yanjiu, 6. 13 Tsai, Perpetual Happiness, 169–70. 14 Wade, “Domination in Four Keys,” 21–23. 15 Archaeological excavations carried out in the twentieth century revealed circular roof tiles impressed with designs of dragons and protector guardians, indicating that the Temple to Eternal Peace was built in the Chinese style. Torii, Amūru to Kita Karfuto, 148. 16 Yang Yang, Ming dai Dongbei jiangyu yanjiu, 89. 17 Rossabi, “Two Ming Envoys,” 8. 18 See Yang Yang, Ming dai Dongbei jiangyu yanjiu, 96,

for the stele inscription recording the reconstruction of this temple. 19 Rossabi, “Two Ming Envoys,” 11. 20 Craig Clunas has also made this point with regard to the rubies and other gemstones acquired from Southeast Asia, which made their way into much of the royal ornamentation of the Ming courts. Clunas, “Chapter 27: Precious Stones and Ming Culture,” 240. 21 Yongle’s father had appointed his eldest son, Zhu Biao, as the heir-apparent to the throne, yet Zhu Biao died unexpectedly in 1392, leaving his eldest surviving son, Zhu Yunwen, as his successor. Chan, “Ming Taizu’s Problem with His Sons,” 46–47. 22 Dardess, Ming China, 34. For a detailed account of the civil war, see Chan, “Chien-wen, Yung-lo, Hong-hsi, and Hsüan-te Reigns,” 196–202. 23 For more on this issue, see Serruys, “Manuscript Version of the Legend of the Mongol Ancestry,” 19–61. 24 On the rewriting of history under Yongle, see Chan, “Chien-wen, Yung-lo, Hong-hsi, and Hsüan-te Reigns,” 214–18. 25 Zhu Ronghui, “Zhu Di yu Yangshan bei cai,” 72–81. 26 Wang Cheng-hua, “Material Culture and Emperorship,” 49. 27 For example, in the sixth month of the first year of his reign, Yongle presented posthumous title plaques and seals of the portraits of the Emperor Hongwu and Empress Ma. Ching, “Tibetan Buddhism and the Ming Imperial Image,” 334. 28 Ching, “Tibetan Buddhism and the Ming Imperial Image,” 334–35. 29 For an introduction to the Great Yongle Encyclopedia, see Wilkinson, Chinese History, 1082–83. 30 Translation from Tsai, Perpetual Happiness, 134. Ming Taizong shilu, juan 73. 31 Tsai, Perpetual Happiness, 136. 32 Wilkinson, Chinese History, 1092. 33 On the Daoist Canon, see Berling, “Daoism in Ming Culture,” 953–86; and Schipper and Verellen, Taoist Canon. Yongle’s Buddhist canon, completed between 1421 and 1440, was based on that of his father, but it was more comprehensive and of better quality. Hongwu’s cannon is known as the Southern Tripitaka (Nan zang) because it was published in Nanjing, while Yongle’s canon is known as the Northern Tripitaka (Bei zang) because it was published in Beijing. On the Buddhist Canon, see Yü Chun-fang, “Ming Buddhism,” 912. Yongle’s Kanjur was published around 1410, most likely to serve as gifts for the high-ranking Tibetan lamas who

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traveled to the Ming court. Two copies survive in Lhasa, Tibet. On Yongle’s Kanjur, see Silk, “Notes on the History of the Yongle Kanjur,” 153–200. 34 See Xiong and Zheng, “Daolun: ‘Zhufo Pusa Miaoxiang ming hao jing zhou’ muke banhua,’” 35–36. 35 Farmer, Zhu Yuanzhang and Early Ming Legislation, 63. 36 Dardess, Ming China, 36. 37 As Chan notes, this text was based heavily on the works of Song philosophical writings, particularly Zhu Xi. Chan, “Chien-wen, Yung-lo, Hong-hsi, and Hsüan-te Reigns,” 218–19. 38 Franke, From Tribal Chieftain to Universal Emperor and God, 52–53; and Berger, Empire of Emptiness. 39 Toh, “Tibetan Buddhism in Ming China,” 121; and Lu Rong, Shuyuan za ji, 1494. 40 The bell measured 6.94 meters in height, 3.40 meters in width at its opening. Weighing 46,500 kilograms, it was hung at Long Life Temple (Wanshou Si) in Beijing. Gao Kaijun points out that the fact that this particular sutra was cast onto the bell indicates that the undated bell must postdate 1417. Gao, “Guanyu Yongle Dazhong ruogan wenti de tantao,” 64 and 67. Arthur McKeown has pointed out that the dhāranī on the bell are related to the Sitātapatrā cult, which was particularly favored by the Mongol emperors. McKeown, “From Bodgayā to Lhasa to Beijing,” 133. 41 Chao, Ming Chengzu zhuan, 439. Rixia jiu wen kao, juan 99. 42 Dong Gu, Bili zacun, 19–20. 43 Clunas, Empire of Great Brightness, 12. 44 Liscomb, “Foregrounding the Symbiosis of Power,” 135–61; and Lin, “Gifts of Good Fortune,” 122–33. 45 Chao Zhongchen, Ming Chengzu zhuan, 391; and Tsai, Perpetual Happiness, 148–49. See Franke, From Tribal Chieftain to Universal Emperor and God, 42–46, for more on the seal. 46 Although the note was most likely first added to the Records of the Western Regions in Yongle’s Northern Tripitaka, published between 1421 and 1440, it now only survives in an early Qing edition of the Tripitaka, from 1676. Sen, “Diplomacy, Trade, and the Quest for the Buddha’s Tooth,” 35; and Su Bai, “Lasa Budala gong,” 42, have reproduced the note in English and Chinese, respectively. 47 Tansen Sen, following Su Bai, notes in “Diplomacy, Trade, and the Quest for the Buddha’s Tooth,” that a nearly identical account of the event of Zheng He obtaining the tooth relic appears in a letter Yongle wrote two years later to an important Tibetan hierarch. However, Sen incorrectly identifies the hierarch as Tsongkhapa, founder of the Géluk order; the actual recipient of the letter was the Fifth Karmapa, Deshin Shekpa. 48 At least eight full-scale replicas were created of the Mahābodhi temple: two in Burma, two in

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Thailand, one in Nepal, two in China, and one in Inner Mongolia. These mainly date between the thirteenth and late fifteenth centuries. Guy, “Mahābodhi Temple,” 362–66. 49 For more on the Narthang models, see Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, 92; and Guy, “Mahābodhi Temple,” 92–93. 50 Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, 92. A similar model, of black stone, is also housed at the Narthang Monastery, although it does not bear a Yongle inscription. For an image of this stone model, see Guy, “Mahābodhi Temple,” 363, fig. 19. 51 This assertion is supported by two letters also housed in Narthang Monastery, dated to the seventeenth (1420) and twenty-first (1423) years of Yongle’s reign, which record donations of colored silks and other gifts from the emperor to high-ranking Tibetan lamas. The letters make no mention of the models. See Wang Yi, Xizang wenwu jianwen ji, 60–61, for transcriptions of the letters. 52 Luo Zhewen, Wutasi, 1. Rixia jiuwen kao. The part that mentions the “Central Indian style” comes from Liu Tong’s Dijing jing wu lüe (1635). McKeown, “The Life and Times of Śāriputra,” 118 and 149. 53 The five Buddha images undoubtedly represented the Five Tathāgatas. See chapter 4 for more on the connection between the Five Tathāgatas and the Diamond Seat stupa type. 54 John Guy believes that models of the stupa were created between the tenth and the twelfth centuries in a workshop near Bodhgayā as souvenirs for pilgrims. Guy, “Mahābodhi Temple,” 362. It is possible that this model eventually made its way to Tibet after being inscribed with Yongle’s reign date. McKeown, “From Bodgayā to Lhasa to Beijing,” 156. 55 Śāriputra’s visit to Beijing is recorded Liu Tong’s, Dijing jing wu lue. For both a Chinese transcription and a translation of the text into English, see McKeown, “From Bodgayā to Lhasa to Beijing,” 115–18. 56 McKeown, “From Bodgayā to Lhasa to Beijing,” 165–67. 57 McKeown, “From Bodgayā to Lhasa to Beijing,” 167. 58 For a list of these buildings, see Guo Huayu, Ming dai guanshi jianzhu damuzuo, 190–92. 59 For recent studies of the Porcelain Pagoda in English, see Eng, “Porcelain Pagoda,” 178–88; Clunas and Harrison-Hall, Ming: 50 Years That Changed China, 220–23; and Watt and Leidy, Defining Yongle, 18–20. 60 Eng, “Porcelain Pagoda,” 178. 61 Wong, “Not Exactly the Same,” 248. 62 The Mongolian name for the temple is Tabun subury-a. Charleux, “Copies de Bodhgayā en Asie orientale,” 129–31. 63 Charleux, “Copies de Bodhgayā en Asie orientale,” 131.

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64 Many of these have been discussed in Chan, Legends of the Building of Old Peking. 65 Chan, Legends of the Building of Old Peking, 270–77. 66 Cheng-hua Wang, “Material Culture and Emperorship,” 3.

Chapter 1. Perfecting the Past Liu Chang, Beijing Zijincheng, 37; Taizong Wen Huangdi shilu, juan 231. 2 Ming shi, juan 24. 3 Yang Rong (Ming), “Huang du da yitong fu,” cited in Rixia jiuwen kao, juan 6. 4 For more on Beijing prior to the Ming dynasty, see Steinhardt, Chinese Imperial City Planning, 122–36 and 154–60; and Zhuge, Liao, Jin, Yuan shiqi Beijing chengshi yanjiu. 5 Pan, “Yuan and the Ming Dynasties,” 204. 6 Taizu Gao Huangdi shilu, juan 54. For more on the palaces of the Ming kings, see Clunas, Screen of Kings, 25–36. 7 See Taizu shilu, juan 127, for a description of the palace. 8 Taizu shilu, juan 60. As Bai Ying has pointed out, the Prince of Yan’s palace was criticized in a number of records for being too extravagant, and each record mentions that he “followed the plan of the former Yuan palaces.” Bai, “Yan Wangfu weizhi xinkao,” 26–27. 9 Taizong shilu, juan 16. 10 For more on this process, see Farmer, Early Ming Government, 115; and Aramiya, Pekin sento no kenkyū, 142–44. 11 Taizong shilu, juan 232. 12 Taizu shilu, juan 176. 13 Tsiang, “Changing Patterns of Divinity and Reform in the Late Northern Wei,” 232. Tsiang cites the Nan Qi Shu, juan 57. 14 Liu Chang, Beijing Zijincheng, 13–14; Bianliang yiji zhi, juan 1. Ge and Zhang, Gudu yu chengshi, 77; Rixia jiuwen kao, juan 29. 15 Powers, “Dialectic of Classicism in Early Imperial China,” 21. 16 For a description of this plan, see Steinhardt, Chinese Imperial City Planning, 33. 17 Steinhardt, Chinese Architecture in an Age of Turmoil, 48; and Lewis, Construction of Space in Early China, 177. 18 Wright, “Symbolism and Functions,” 672. 19 Wang Jianying, Ming Zhongdu yanjiu, 29; Taizu shilu, juan 31. 20 Wang Jianying, Ming Zhongdu yanjiu, 29–30. Regarding Hongwu’s reasons for making Linhao the Central Capital, see Taizong shilu, juan 44. 21 Wang Jianying, Ming Zhongdu yanjiu, 30–31; Taizu shilu, juan 99. 22 For more on this process, see Chang Xin, “Ming Qing Huangcheng yu Zijincheng yange juyao,” 63; and Chen Huairen, “Ming chu san du guihua 1

zhidu bijiao,” 234. Taizong shilu, juan 100; and Ming Huidian, juan 181. 23 Yang Xinhua, Nanjing Ming Gugong 47; Ming Taizu baoxun, juan 4. 24 Ming huidian, juan 181. 25 Yang Xinhua, Nanjing Ming Gugong, 76–88. 26 Taylor, “Official Religion in the Ming,” 852; Taizong shilu, juan 30. 27 Taylor, “Official Religion in the Ming,” 865; Ming shi, juan 51. 28 Wang Jianying, Ming Zhongdu yanjiu, 125; Ming shi, juan 51. 29 Wang Jianying, “Ming Zhongdu,” 63. 30 Regarding the reasons why Hongwu did not find the Ancestral Temple satisfactory, see Cheng-hua Wang, “Material Culture and Emperorship” 86–87. 31 In the third year of this reign (1371), Hongwu thus issued an edict, the Instructions on the Construction of the Hall for Honoring the Forebears (Ming jian Fengxian dian) (1371). 32 Taizu shilu, juan 59. 33 Wang Jianying, “Ming Zhongdu,” 63; and Shan, Gugong yingzao, 81. 34 Wang Jianying, Ming Zhongdu yanjiu, 125. 35 Yang Xinhua, Nanjing Ming Gugong, 100. 36 Ming shi, juan 51. 37 Chunming Meng yu lu, juan 18. See also the discussion in Cheng-hua Wang, “Material Culture and Emperorship,” 80. 38 Wu and Liu, “Ji yanjiu Mingdai Beijing yingjianshi de zhongyao zhishi,” 337–38. Origianlly from Ni Zhong’s epitaph “Grave Record of Eunuch Ni of the Directorate of Palace Eunuchs” (Nei guanjian Ni Taijian shoucang ji). 39 For the announcement of the start of construction, see Taizong shilu, juan 182; for the announcement of the completion of the project, see Taizong shilu, juan 231. 40 Taizong shilu, juan 57. 41 Ruitenbeek, Carpentry and Building in Late Imperial China, 16. 42 Shan, Shan Shiyuan ji, di si juan: shilun congbian yi, 6; and Ming shi, zhi 54. 43 Chen Shiqi, Cong Ming dai guan shougongye, 56. 44 As the original artisan registry system was inherited from the Yuan, no laws prevented the rotating craftsmen from being drafted at any time. Widespread opposition led to a major reform in 1385 under Hongwu, which stated that instead of being drafted when needed, rotating craftsmen should travel to the capital once every three years for three months at a time. Yet because there was not enough work to sustain all the rotating craftsmen coming to the capital, a second reform in 1393 redesigned the terms of labor to suit the demands of the type of service rendered. Chen Shiqi, Cong Ming dai guan shougongye, 52; Taizu shilu, juan 177, and Yingzong shilu, juan 153. 45 Pan, Zhongguo gudai jianzhu shi, 8.

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46 Chen Shiqi, Cong Ming dai guan shougongye, 51; and Ruitenbeek, Carpentry and Building in Late Imperial China, 17. Ming huidian, juan 189. 47 Most of the officials and craftsmen who constructed the palaces in Nanjing under Hongwu came from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Shan Anren was from Fengyang, Anhui; Zhang Ning, Li Xin, and Lu Xian, those responsible for the construction of the Nanjing palaces and Xiaoling (the tomb of Hongwu), were from Jiangsu and Anhui; Ji Fu and Ji Xiang, the supervisors of carpenters, were from Xiangshan in Suzhou; and Guo Jin, the Minister of Works, and Hu Fen, the Minister of Rites, were from Jiangsu and Anhui. Hubeisheng jianshe ting, Wudang shan gujianzhu qun, 56. 48 The biographies of these master craftsmen are reproduced in Shan, Ming Beijing gong yuan tukao, 325–28. 49 For more on this painting, see Yu Hui, “Painting of the Imperial Palace and Zhu Bang,” 56–67. 50 Nguyen An managed a number of different projects in Yongle’s capital as well as the Zhengtong-era reconstruction of the Three Halls. His biography is recorded the Ming shi and the Yingzong rui huangdi shilu. See Shan, Ming Beijing gong yuan tukao, 326–27. On Nguyen An being called the architect of Beijing, see Chan, Legends of the Building of Old Peking, 99; Tsai, Perpetual Happiness, 125; and Zhu Jianfei, Chinese Spatial Strategies, 28. 51 Taizong shilu, juan 57. 52 This was because during the Yuan and early Ming, transportation from the south to the north was generally either handled by sea or overland. Chan, Legends of the Building of Old Peking, 115; and Brook, Troubled Empire, 111. For more on Yongle’s reconstruction of the Grand Canal, see Tsai, Perpetual Happiness, 118–21; and Brook, “Communications and Commerce,” 579–603. 53 It is estimated that more than twenty million gray bricks were used for the courtyards and nearly eighty million bricks for the walls and platforms in the palaces. Yu Zhuoyun, Zhongguo gongdian jianzhu lunwenji, 125. 54 Wang Yun, “Ming Qing Linqing gongzhuan shengchan ji qi shehui yingxiang,” 62. 55 Assuming that each kiln could produce twenty-five hundred bricks a month and thirty-thousand a year, then three hundred kilns would be needed to produce a million bricks. This accords with surveys of the region conducted in the 1980s, when 384 kilns were identified. Wang Yun, “Ming Qing Linqing gongzhuan shengchan ji qi shehui yingxiang,” 67. 56 Song Lei, “Ming Shisan ling jianzhu yong zhuan kao,” 267. 57 These included arched bricks (quanzhuan), axeblade bricks (furenzhuan), square bricks (fangzhuan), and roof boarding bricks (wangbanzhuan). Wang Yun, “Ming Qing Linqing gongzhuan shengchan ji qi shehui yingxiang,” 64; Wanli Ming

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huidian, juan 190. On the different sizes of the gray brick in the Ming, see Song Lei, “Ming Shisan ling jianzhu yong zhuan kao,” 263. 58 Wang Yun, “Ming Qing Linqing gongzhuan shengchan ji qi shehui yingxiang,” 62. 59 Song Lei, “Ming Shisan ling jianzhu yong zhuan kao,” 267. 60 Wang Yun, “Ming Qing Linqing gongzhuan shengchan ji qi shehui yingxiang,” 71. 61 The Ming Huidian outlines several grades of metal brick based on their size, the largest possible of which was equivalent to 61.50 × 61.50 centimeters. Song Lei, “Ming Shisan ling jianzhu yong zhuan kao,” 264. 62 The process of making the golden bricks is described in the Wanli period Tiangong kaiwu by Song Yingxing. Song Lei, “Ming Shisan ling jianzhu yong zhuan kao,” 267 63 Song Lei, “Ming Shisan ling jianzhu yong zhuan kao,” 267. 64 Yu Zhuoyun, Zhongguo gongdian jianzhu lunwenji, 127. 65 Wu and Liu, “Fangshan Dashiwo yu Beijing Mingdai gongdian lingqin caishi,” 253. 66 Yu Zhuoyun, Zhongguo gongdian jianzhu lunwenji, 128. 67 Yu Zhuoyun, Zhongguo gongdian jianzhu lunwenji, 127. 68 Yu Zhuoyun, Zhongguo gongdian jianzhu lunwenji, 127. 69 Guo Qinghua, Chinese Architecture and Planning, 110; and Eng, Colours and Contrast, 38. 70 Eng, Colours and Contrast, 42–54. 71 Guo Qinghua, Chinese Architecture and Planning, 113. 72 Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 237; Taizong shilu, juan 80. 73 Cited in Zhou Qiwen, “Ming Qing nanmu caiban shi qiantan,” 139. 74 Lan Yong, “Ming Qing shiqi de huangmu caiban,” 93; and Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 244. 75 Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 244. 76 For more on these inspection tours, see Aramiya, Pekin sento no kenkyū, 155–222. 77 Wang Puzi, “Yan wangfu yu Zijincheng,” 76. 78 Zhu Xie, Ming Qing liangdai gongyuan jianzhu yange tukao, 12; Taizong shilu, juan 187. 79 Zhu Xie, Ming Qing liangdai gongyuan jianzhu yange tukao, 12–13; and Aramiya, Pekin sento no kenkyū, 199. 80 Zhu Xie, Ming Qing liangdai gongyuan jianzhu yange tukao, 12–13; and Aramiya, Pekin sento no kenkyū, 199. Taizong shilu, juan 187. 81 Li Xieping, Mingdai Beijing ducheng yingjian congkao, 210. 82 Lina Lin, “Gifts of Good Fortune and Praise-Songs for Peace,” 129–31. 83 Lina Lin, “Gifts of Good Fortune and Praise-Songs for Peace,” 129.

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84 Lina Lin, “Gifts of Good Fortune and Praise-Songs for Peace,” 129. 85 Yang Rong’s ode is cited in Liscomb, “Eight Views of Beijing,” 128. 86 Liscomb, “Eight Views of Beijing,” 129. 87 Liscomb, “Foregrounding the Symbiosis of Power,” 153 88 Lina Lin, “Gifts of Good Fortune and Praise-Songs for Peace,” 129. 89 Lina Lin, “Gifts of Good Fortune and Praise-Songs for Peace,” 129 90 Taizong shilu, juan 194. 91 Xu Pingfang, “Lun lishi wenhua mingcheng Bejing de gudai chengshi guihua ji qi baohu,” 69–71. 92 Wang Jianying and Wang Hong, “Lun cong Yuan Dadu dao Ming Beijing gongque de yanbian, 101–102; and Shan, Gugong yingzao, 79. 93 Chen Huairen, “Ming chu san du guihua zhidu bijiao,” 241. 94 Chen Huairen, “Ming chu san du guihua zhidu bijiao,” 240. 95 Xu Pingfang, “Lun lishi wenhua mingcheng Bejing de gudai chengshi guihua ji qi baohu,” 69–71. 96 See Wright, “Symbolism and Function,” for more on geomancy in Chinese city planning. 97 Shan, Gugong yingzao, 81. 98 Pan, “Yuan and the Ming Dynasties,” 205. 99 Chen Huairen, “Ming chu san du guihua zhidu bijiao,” 240. 100 For more on the architectural history of the Altar to Heaven, see Wang Guixiang, Beijing Tian Tan. 101 Fu Xinian, “Ming dai Beijing gongdian,” 129; and Chen Huairen, “Ming chu san du guihua zhidu bijiao,” 241. The palace in the Central Capital was slightly larger, measuring 875 meters from east to west, 965 meters from north to south. Wang Jianying, Ming Zhongdu yanjiu, 290 102 Wang Zilin, Zijincheng yuanzhang yu yuanchuang (shang), 14–15. 103 Yang Kuan, Zhongguo gudai ducheng zhidu yanjiu, 541; Taizu shilu, juan 60. 104 Wang Jianying and Wang Hong, “Lun cong Yuan Dadu dao Ming Beijing gongque de yanbian, 102. 105 A third hall, separated from the two front halls by a wall, was added at a later date to house the retired tablets of the emperors and empresses. Fu Xinian, “Mingdai Beijing gongdian,” 137. 106 The Hall for Honoring the Ancestors that survives today was rebuilt in the Kangxi period. Yang Xincheng, “Ming dai Fengxian dian jianzhu yange yu xingzhi buju chutan,” 67. 107 Although the temple stands in the same place where it was first established, the structure was rebuilt in 1535 during the Jiajing reign. Wang Zilin, “Zijincheng li de Zhenwu daguan Qin’andian,” 146–53; Chang Xin, “Zijingcheng Qin’an dian jianzao niandai chuyi,” 82–87; Li Jun and Wang Zilin, “Qin’andian yu Xuanjibaodian kao,” 76–83; and Ming shizong shilu, juan 180.

108 Rixia jiuwen kao, juan 34. 109 While Yongle’s placement of a Zhenwu temple within the palace walls was unprecedented, Ming support of Zhenwu was not: Hongwu had also established a temple to dedicated to Zhenwu, on Mount Jiming in Nanjing. Chang Xin, “Zijingcheng Qin’andian jianzao niandai chuyi,” 82. 110 Pan, “Yuan and the Ming dynasties,” 206. 111 See Meyer, Dragons of Tiananmen, 29–73; Wang Zilin, Zijincheng fengshui; and Yu Zhuoyun, Palaces of the Forbidden City, 26–28. 112 Liu Chang, Beijing Zijincheng, 47. 113 These legends circulated in north China and Mongolia from the seventeenth century on. Chan, Legends of the Building of Old Peking, 173–206. 114 Chan, Legends of the Building of Old Peking, 192–93. 115 McKeown, “From Bodgayā to Lhasa to Beijing,” 134. 116 Liang, Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture, 103. 117 Fu Xinian, “Shilun Tang zhi Mingdai guanshi jianzu,” 91. 118 Guo Huayu, Mingdai guanshi jianzhu damuzuo, 1–2. 119 For a list of the few buildings that survive from the Yongle reign in the Forbidden City, see Guo Huayu, Mingdai guanshi jianzhu damuzuo, 190–92. 120 A number of studies have been published on this text. See, for instance, Liang Sicheng, Liang Sicheng quanji, di qi juan; and Chen Mingda, Yingzao fashi da muzo yanjiu. 121 The most comprehensive studies of this work are Liang Sicheng, Qingshi yingzao zeli; and Wang Puzi, Gongcheng zuofa zhushi. 122 Qi, “Zhongguo gudai jianzhu niandai de jianding,” 8. 123 Brackets are the elements that transfer the weight of the roof onto the columns. They are the most complex structural components of a Chinese building, consisting of blocks and arms fit together into clusters. In the Song they were called puzuo. 124 For a clear explanation of the module system in English, see Ledderose, Ten Thousand Things, 134. 125 Guo Qinghua, “Yingzao fashi,” 6–9. 126 One Yingzao fashi cun is equal to approximately 3.175 centimeters. There are 10 cun in 1 chi and 100 fen in 1 cun. This fen 分 should not be confused with the fen of the modular system, which is often written as 分° to avoid confusion. Guo Qinghua, Visual Dictionary of Chinese Architecture, 24. 127 Qi, “Zhongguo gudai jianzhu niandai de jianding,” 33. 128 Qi, “Zhongguo gudai jianzhu niandai de jianding,” 33. 129 Ma, “Ming-Qing guanshi mugou jianzhu de ruogan qubie (shang),” 64. 130 Sun, Zhongguo gudai jianzhu shi, di wu juan: Qingdai jianzhu, 399. 131 Sun, Zhongguo gudai jianzhu shi, di wu juan: Qingdai jianzhu, 399. 132 Guo Huayu “Mingdai guanshi jianzhu dougong tedian yanjiu,” 199.

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133 The module of the Main Hall of the Purple Skies Palace on Mount Wudang (1412) is 3.30 cun; that of the Sacrificial Hall (1416) is 3–3.15 cun; and that of the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity (1427) at the Gautama Monastery is 3.50 cun. Bai, He, and Wang, “Wudangshan Nanyan Gong Xuandidian fuyuan yanjiu,” 91. 134 Qi, “Beijing Mingdai dianshi mu jiegou jianzhu goujia xinzhi chutan,” 326. 135 Guo Huayu, Mingdai guanshi jianzhu damuzuo, 59. 136 Guo Huayu, “Mingdai guanshi jianzhu dougong tedian yanjiu,” 200. 137 This includes the Hall of Preserving Harmony (Baohe dian, 1597) and the Hall of Central Harmony (Zhonghe dian, 1615). Guo Huayu, Mingdai guanshi jianzhu damuzuo, 59. 138 Qi, “Zhongguo gudai jianzhu niandai de jianding,” 8. 139 Guo Huayu, Mingdai guanshi jianzhu, 132; and Fu Xinian, Traditional Chinese Architecture, 247. 140 Guo Huayu, Mingdai guanshi jianzhu damuzuo, 11; and Zuo, Li, and Zhang, Shanxi Mingdai jianzhu, 224. 141 Zuo, Li, and Zhang, Shanxi Mingdai jianzhu, 9–10. 142 See Harrer, “Fan-Shaped Bracket Sets,” for an indepth discussion of angled bracketing. 143 The formula used to calculate the total number of steps in a bracket is twice the number of projections plus one (i.e., 3 transverse projections × 2 = 6 + 1 = a bracket of 7 steps). Harrer, “Fan-Shaped Bracket Sets,” 580. 144 An oblique arm is found often in nonofficial Ming architecture outside the capital and, in rare cases, in official projects that might have been influenced by the local tradition, such as the complex of Bao’en Temple in Pingwu, Sichuan. 145 Qi, “Beijing Mingdai dianshi mu jiegou jianzhu goujia xinzhi chutan,” 36. 146 Guo Qinghua, “Yingzao Fashi,” 7–11. 147 Lala Zuo, Diversity in the Great Unity, 12. 148 Guo Huayu, Mingdai guanshi jianzhu damuzuo, 173. 149 One of the exceptions is the Worship Hall of the Altar to Soil and Grain (1420), in which the pillars behind the central and flanking bays have been eliminated. Zuo, Li, and Zhang, Shanxi Mingdai jianzhu, 224. 150 Guo Huayu, Mingdai guanshi jianzhu, 14. 151 Guo Huayu, “Mingdai guanshi jianzhu dougong tedian yanjiu,” 201. 152 Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong jindian,” 89. 153 The most comprehensive study of Yuan architecture in English is Lala Zuo, Diversity in the Great Unity. 154 Fu Xinian, Traditional Chinese Architecture, 246–47. 155 Lala Zuo, Diversity in the Great Unity, 25; and Guo Huayu, Mingdai guanshi jianzhu damuzuo, 2. 156 Ming shi, juan 24.

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157 Zhao Zhongnan, “Yongle monian de fan qiandu fengbo ji qi yiyi,” 31–32. Translation after Tsai, Perpetual Happiness, 126–27. Ming shi, juan 164. See also Shan, “Ming dai yingjian Beijing sige shiqi,” 5; and Zhao Zhongnan, “Yongle monian de fan qiandu fengbo ji qi yiyi,” 31–32, for the memorial. 158 See Brook, Troubled Empire, 50–78.

Chapter 2. Great Pillars of State 1

2

3

4

5 6

7

The species name of the nanmu discussed in this chapter is Phoebe zhennan. See Li Guangliang and Li Jianwen, “Zhongguo duyou de zhenxi shuzhong: Zhennan,” 233, for other commonly used names for this wood. The average height of a ninety-year-old Phoebe zhennan tree was 33.80 meters, and the average diameter breast height was 43.10 centimeters. However, it would have taken several hundred years for the trees to reach the thickness of the pillars used in Yongle’s construction projects. Zhang Wei et al., “Sichuan zhennan shengzhang texing yu fenbu,” 38–40. Nanmu of the non-zhennan variety has a density of about six hundred to seven hundred kilograms every cubic meter, while zhennan has about eleven hundred to twelve hundred kilograms every cubic square meter, meaning that it is about twice as heavy. Li Guangliang and Li Jianwen, “Zhongguo duyou de zhenxi shuzhong: zhennan,” 233 and 238. According to the Qing Veritable Records, “The number of the palaces, halls, storied-buildings, and pavilions in the Ming dynasty totaled 786. In comparison, the palaces, halls, and storied structures of today’s current dynasty do not even reach ten percent of the Ming. With regard to each palace and hall in the Ming, they were all on nine-tiered bases, the walls were faced with grey brick, and nanmu was employed for the timber material.” Wang Zilin, “Fei nanmu wu yi zhongwei,” 35; Shengzu Ren Huangdi shilu, juan 144. Wang Zilin, “Fei nanmu wu yi zhongwei,” 31; Song shi, juan 72. “Wende Hall is located outside Minghui [Gate]. It is also called ‘Nan Wood Hall’ because it is made completely out of nan timbers.” Wang Zilin, “Fei nanmu wu yi zhongwei,” 35; from Tao Zongyi’s Nancun Zhuogeng lu. A record in the Yongshan xian zhi (northeastern Yunnan) documents that during the Hongwu reign an imperial official branded the nan trees within the area with the characters “imperial woods” and designated it an “official forest” (guanlin). Stone inscriptions in northern Yunnan also record that in the eighth year of the Hongwu reign (1375), 140 nan timbers were collected from the area. Finally, the Pingshan County Gazetteer records that

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in the twelfth year of the Hongwu reign (1379), nanmu was sent to the court by the locals of the area as tribute. Deng, “Lun Ming-Qing shiqi zai Jinshajiang xiayou diqu jinxing de ‘muzheng’ huodong,” 89–90. 8 While all kinds of timber were being extracted from the southwest, even as early as the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–8 CE), they were not necessarily being used for palace construction. See the discussion in Elvin, Retreat of the Elephants, 50–54. 9 Wang Zilin, “Fei nanmu wu yi zhongwei,” 32. For more on transportation during the Yuan and Ming dynasties, see Brook, “Communications and Commerce,” 595. 10 Wang Zilin, “Fei nanmu wu yi zhongwei,” 32. 11 This area encompasses several counties the Yibin and Luzhou municipalities of southern Sichuan and several counties in the Zhaotong municipality of northeastern Yunnan. 12 Li Ronggao, Yunnan linye wenhua beike, 18–19; and Deng, “Lun Ming-Qing shiqi zai Jinshajiang xiayou diqu jinxing de ‘muzheng’ huodong,” 89. 13 Mingshi, zhi 58, shihuo 6. 14 For a short discussion of the timber-finding missions of the other three officials, see Yun, “Zijincheng yingjian caimu shilüe,” 167–68. 15 Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 1557. 16 Ming shi, Song Li zhuan. I would like to thank Ian Miller for his correction of this translation. 17 Li Xieping, “Yongle yingjian Beijing gongdian tansuo,” 61; Taizong shilu, juan 124. 18 Meng, Mingdai gongting jianzhu shi, 43; Taizong shilu, juan 216. 19 Taizong shilu, juan 65. 20 Both the shrine and the stele were destroyed in the twentieth century. The historian Lan Yong surveyed the area on which the shrine originally stood and found two pillar bases and brick from the Ming period. The second stele was established in the Jiajing reign, but now only pieces of it survive. A reconstruction rendering of the shrine suggests that it originally constituted a simple building of one bay with a pyramidal roof situated midway up a hill and accessed by a long axial flight of stairs. A Qing-era description of the stele in a local record provides the stele’s original location and dimensions and notes that it was made of white stone sent from the capital. Lan, “Sichuan Pingshan xian Shenmu shan ci kao,” 2–4. 21 Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Yiwen 4, 7089. 22 Hu Guang’s commentary is from Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Yiwen 4, 7091. I would like to thank Christian de Pee for his help with this translation. 23 The inscriptions were discovered in 1989. Li Ronggao, Yunnan linye wenhua beike, 17. I would like to thank Mark Swislocki for bringing these inscriptions to my attention. 24 Li Ronggao, Yunnan linye wenhua beike, 18.

Li Ronggao, Yunnan linye wenhua beike, 20. Li Ronggao, Yunnan linye wenhua beike, 21. Li Ronggao, Yunnan linye wenhua beike, 21. Lan Yong, “Ming Qing shiqi de huang mu cai ban,” 87. 29 Lan Yong, “Ming Qing shiqi de huang mu cai ban,” 87. 30 Lan Yong, “Ming Qing shiqi de huang mu cai ban,” 92; Ming shi, juan 150, Shi Kui zhuan. 31 Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 2543. 32 Zhang Jinguang, “Huangmu caiban yu Mingdai shehui shengtai,” 119. 33 Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2544. 34 According to the Ming shi, “One timber lying on its side was difficult for one thousand men to move,” and according to the Ming shilu, “to transport [a timber] required seven or eight hundred men.” Lan Yong, “Ming Qing shiqi de huang mu cai ban,” 92. A Kangxi-era record specifies that a trunk of nan wood seven zhang (22.40 meters) tall and one zhang 2–3 chi (roughly 4 meters) in circumference required five hundred men to transport. Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2544. 35 Li Ronggao, Yunnan linye wenhua beike, 22. 36 Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2560. 37 Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 1588. 38 Zhang Jinguang, “Huangmu caiban yu Mingdai shehui shengtai,” 118. 39 Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2545. 40 The Sichuan tongzhi records that for the reconstruction of the main halls in the Forbidden City during the Wanli reign, orders were given to collect timbers in the twenty-fourth year of the Wanli reign and the timbers reached Beijing in the twenty-sixth year. Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2521; cited in Zhou Qiwen, “Ming Qing nanmu caiban shi qiantan,” 139. 41 Ruitenbeek, Carpentry and Building in Late Imperial China, 10–11. 42 Paludan, Ming Tombs, 37. 43 Shanmu, or cunninghamia, is often called Chinese fir. This tree was the most important conifer planted for timber in southern China; see Menzies, “Forestry,” 574; Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 118; Yingzong Rui huangdi shilu, juan 33. 44 The name was changed to Ling’en Hall in the sixteenth year of the Jiajing reign (1538); see Li Qianlang, “Changling Ling’endian,” 22. 45 For an introduction to Changling and the other Ming tombs in English, see Paludan, Ming Tombs, 31–40. 46 Yan, Wang, and Cao, “Beijing Ming Qing huangjia Sandadian zhi bijiao yanjiu,” 119. 47 Liujin is the rear tail of the false cantilevers of the intercolumnar set that extends into the interior of the hall to support the lowest eave purlins (jinheng). Guo Qinghua, Visual Dictionary of Chinese Architecture, 281–89. 25 26 27 28

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48 Bai, He, and Wang, “Wudang shan Nanyan Gong Xuandi dian fuyuan yanjiu,” 88–89. 49 Wang Xiaoqing, Zhongguo gudai jianzhu shuyu cidian, 251–52. 50 Yan, Wang, and Cao, “Beijing Ming Qing huangjia Sandadian zhi bijiao yanjiju,” 119. 51 Fu Xinian, Zhongguo gudai chengshi guihua, jianzhu qun buju ji jianzhu sheji fangfa yanjiu, 134. 52 To my knowledge, no survey has been published of the size and makeup of the roof beams. Thus my support for this claim is based on the fact that the eleven-purlin beam of the main hall of the Great Ancestral Temple comprises a single tree-trunk. Guo Huayu, “Beijing Taimiao dadian jianzhu niandai tantao,” 53. 53 Murata, “Kodai kenchiku ni okeru tatemono kibo,” 20. I would like to thank Sijie Ren for this reference. 54 Yan, Wang, and Cao, “Beijing Ming Qing huangjia Sandadian zhi bijiao yanjiu,” 118. 55 Li Qianlong, “Changling Ling’endian,” 19. 56 I would like to thank Joseph Lam for this insightful comment. Personal communication, September 2016. 57 Handler, Ming Furniture in the Light of Chinese Architecture. 58 Liang, Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture, 104. 59 Coaldrake, “Ise Jingu,” 265. 60 Renzong Zhao Huangdi shilu, juan 9a. 61 Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 244; Xuanzong Zang huangdi shilu, juan 79. 62 Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 236; Yingzong Rui huangdi shilu, juan 65. 63 Only one temple, Rui Zongmiao, survived. Guo Huayu, “Beijing Taimiao dadian jianzhu niandai tantao,” 49, note 1. 64 Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 1559. 65 Guo Huayu, “Beijing Taimiao dadian jianzhu niandai tantao,” 49, note 2. 66 Li Xieping, “Cong Mingdai de jici chongjian kan Sandadian de bianhua,” 109; Shizong Su huangdi shilu, juan 446. 67 Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 1558. The Zunyi fuzhi documents that the halls burned down in the twenty-sixth year. This must be a mistake as all other official sources record that the fire broke out in the thirty-sixth year. 68 This is repeated in Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 238–39. 69 Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 238. 70 Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2501. 71 This record is now housed in the rare books section of the Library of Congress. A large square seal belonging to the Hanlin Academy on the first page of the book indicates that this book was originally a master copy for the Siku quanshu that was borrowed from the Tianyi Ge Library in Ningbo

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but apparently never returned (information from the Library of Congress website). Gong Hui’s report is also collected, without the illustrations, in Chunming meng yulu, juan 46. I would like to thank Ian Miller for bringing this source to my attention and for his very helpful comments on an early draft of this chapter. 72 Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2531 and 2544. For more on the trestles, see Menzies, “Forestry,” 638–40. 73 Textual accounts of similar winches in early twentieth-century timber yards in Shaanxi suggest that the technologies had stayed more or less the same over the course of many centuries. See Ruitenbeek, Carpentry and Building in Late Imperial China, 10. 74 Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 1558. 75 Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2520. 76 Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 1558. Most official records document that the Three Halls burned in the twenty-fifth (not the twenty-fourth) year of the Wanli reign, so the Zunyi fuzhi must be in error. 77 Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 1567. Here Qiao Bixing reports that 15,712 logs were collected in the thirty-sixth year of the Jiajing reign. This differs from Gui Youguang’s report of 11,289 logs. I do not know what accounts for this discrepancy. 78 Qiao Bixing’s memorial is in Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2519. 79 Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 240. Lan provides two illustrations from a record on timber procurement from the Wanli reign that may have been from Qiao’s report. Lan Yong, “Sichuan Pingshan xian Shenmushan ci kao,” 1. 80 Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 240. 81 Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu, 239; Shenzong shilu, juan 462. 82 Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2571. 83 Huang, Taxation and Governmental Finance in Sixteenth-Century Ming China, 282–83. 84 Zhang Jinguang, “Huangmu caiban yu Mingdai shehui shengtai,” 118. 85 In the thirteenth year of the Wanli reign (1585), for example, a local chieftain from Sichuan sent sixty large logs to the court; in the fifteenth year (1587) he sent seventy logs; and in the twenty-fourth year (1596) he sent twenty logs. Zhang Jinguang, “Huangmu caiban yu Mingdai shehui shengtai,” 118. 86 For more on these rebellions, see Swope, “To Catch a Tiger,” 112–40. 87 Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2508. 88 The hall was expanded to eleven bays during a renovation in the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty. The original Jiajing-era hall may have ben slightly narrower. Fu Xinian, Zhongguo gudai chengshi guihua, jianzhu qun buju ji jianzhu sheji fangfa yanjiu, 145.

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89 Yan, Wang, and Cao, “Beijing Ming Qing huangjia Sandadian zhi bijiao yanjiu,” 119. Fu Xinian gives more precise dimensions for the widths of the bays. Fu Xinian, Zhongguo gudai chengshi guihua, jianzhu qun buju ji jianzhu sheji fangfa yanjiu, 145. 90 Yan, Wang, and Cao, “Beijing Ming Qing huangjia Sandadian zhi bijiao yanjiu,” 119. 91 Fu Xinian, Zhongguo gudai chengshi guihua, jianzhu qun buju ji jianzhu sheji fangfa yanjiu, 145. 92 Fu Xinian, Zhongguo gudai chengshi guihua, jianzhu qun buju ji jianzhu sheji fangfa yanjiu, 145. 93 See Guo Huayu, “Beijing Taimiao dadian jianzao niandai tantao,” 50, for a more detailed discussion of this beam structure. 94 Guo Huayu, “Beijing Taimiao dadian jianzao niandai tantao,” 53–54. 95 Guo Huayu, “Beijing Taimiao dadian jianzao niandai tantao,” 53. 96 Cheng and Zhang, “Ming dai huangjia jinsi nanmu dadian jianzhu yishu tezheng fenxi,” 192. 97 Cheng and Zhang, “Ming dai huangjia jinsi nanmu dadian jianzhu yishu tezheng fenxi,” 192. 98 Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 1577. 99 Zhang Dedi’s report is in Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 1577 and Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2542. 100 Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 240. 101 Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2502. 102 Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 1577. 103 Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2502. 104 Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2599. 105 Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 1595–96. 106 Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2590; and Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 1596. 107 Daoguang Zunyi fuzhi, Muzheng, 1597. 108 Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 241. Qinding huangchao wenxian tong kao, juan 32. See Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2502, for Kangxi’s sympathy toward the people of Sichuan, and Yongzheng Sichuan tongzhi, Muzheng, 2503, for his putting a stop to timber procurement. 109 Yan, Wang, and Cao, “Beijing Ming Qing huangjia Sandadian zhi bijiao yanjiju,” 119. 110 Guo Qinghua, “Guanyu Zijincheng Sandadian chongjian he bianhua de sikao,” 202. 111 Guo Qinghua, “Guanyu Zijincheng Sandadian chongjian he bianhua de sikao,” 199; and Yan, Wang, and Cao, “Beijing Ming Qing huangjia Sandadian zhi bijiao yanjiju,” 119. 112 Yan, Wang, and Cao, “Beijing Ming Qing huangjia Sandadian zhi bijiao yanjiu,” 119. 113 See Campbell, “Hall of Supreme Harmony as a Simulacrum of Ming Dynasty Construction.” 114 Yan, Wang, and Cao, “Beijing Ming Qing huangjia Sandadian zhi bijiao yanjiu,” 119. 115 Yan, Wang, and Cao, “Beijing Ming Qing huangjia Sandadian zhi bijiao yanjiu,” 119.

116 Moro, Taihedian, 92. 117 Yan, Wang, and Cao, “Beijing Ming Qing huangjia Sandadian zhi bijiao yanjiu,” 118. 118 Moro, Taihedian, 104. 119 The team that surveyed the hall could not assess whether these metal elements were original or added later, but they did note that the nails were all hammered by hand and were uniform, indicating that they were created at the same time. Moro, Taihedian, 104. 120 Moro, Taihedian, 92. 121 Moro, Taihedian, 82. 122 Moro, Taihedian, 82. 123 Rixia jiuwen kao, juan 34. 124 This information is summarized from Fu Xinian, Zhongguo gudai chengshi guihua, jianzhu qun buju ji jianzhu sheji fangfa yanjiu, 149; and Guo Qinghua, “Guanyu Zijincheng sandadian chongjian he bianhua de sikao,” 213–14. 125 See, for instance, Xu Xian Qinghuan jitu from the Wanli sixteenth year (1588) reproduced in Guo Qinghua, “Guanyu Zijincheng sandadian chongjian he bianhua de sikao,” 200. It was either during the late Ming Tianqi reconstruction of this hall or during an early Kangxi renovation that the hall was expanded to eleven bays across the front. During the final Kangxi-era reconstruction the sloped covered corridors were torn down and replaced by less flammable brick walls. Guo Qinghua, “Guanyu Zijincheng Sandadian chongjian he bianhua de sikao,” 214. 126 Guo Qinghua, “Guanyu Zijincheng Sandadian chongjian he bianhua de sikao,” 199. 127 Liang Sicheng has claimed that the Sacrificial Hall is “almost an exact replica of the [Hall of Revering Heaven].” Liang, Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture, 293. Fu Xinian has similarly argued that the Hall of Revering Heaven would have been either the same size or slightly larger than the Sacrificial Hall. Fu Xinian, Zhongguo gudai chengshi guihua, jianzhu qun buju ji jianzhu sheji fangfa yanjiu, 149. 128 Li Xieping uses the Ming dynasty measurement of 1 zhang = 3.17 meters. Li Xieping, “Yongle yingjian Beijing gongdian tansuo,” 114. Originally from Shizong Su huangdi shilu, juan 446. 129 Guo Qinghua, “Guanyu Zijincheng Sandadian chongjian he bianhua de sikao,” 206–207. 130 The Hall of Supreme Harmony’s current depth is the same as that of the Hall of Revering Heaven and the proportions were the same as that at the Sacrificial Hall (2.29:1), which means that from east to west it would be 33.33 × 29.90 or 76.30 meters across the front. Fu Xinian demonstrates that the proportion between the width and the depth of the Sacrificial Hall is 2.29:1 and that at the Ancestral Temple main hall is 2.12:1, so he concludes that in the Ming dynasty the proportion of width to depth

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was around 2:1. Fu Xinian, Zhongguo gudai chengshi guihua, jianzhu qun buju ji jianzhu sheji fangfa yanjiu, 149. 131 Fu Xinian, Zhongguo gudai chengshi guihua, jianzhu qun buju ji jianzhu sheji fangfa yanjiu, 149. 132 Jiajing as recorded in Shizong shilu, juan 447. 133 Shizong shilu, juan 447. I would like to thank Christian de Pee for his help with this translation. 134 Shenzong shilu, juan 442. 135 Yongzheng as recorded in Jiaqing Sichuan tongzhi (si), Muzheng, 161. 136 Jiaqing Sichuan tongzhi (si), Muzheng, 161. 137 Jiaqing Sichuan tongzhi (si), Muzheng 162. 138 Jiaqing Sichuan tongzhi (si), Muzheng 162. 139 Jiaqing Sichuan tongzhi (si), Muzheng 162 140 Jiaqing Sichuan tongzhi (si), Muzheng 163–64. 141 Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 244. 142 The two small halls on either side of the Hall of Great Favors were also made of nanmu. Zhao Jinjiao, “Fengge dute de Qing Muling,” 36. 143 Zhao Jinjiao, “Fengge dute de Qing Muling,” 37. 144 Zhao Jinjiao, “Fengge dute de Qing Muling,” 37. 145 Jiang, “Ming Qing chaoting Sichuan caimu yanjiu,” 242. 146 Li Guangliang and Li Jianwen, “Xunfang zhennan gu shu,” 242–43. 147 Elvin, Retreat of the Elephants, 53.

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6 7 8 9

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11 12 13 14

Chapter 3. Becoming Zhenwu 1

2

3

4

In the Song dynasty, Xuanwu’s name was changed to Zhenwu to avoid the taboo of the shared name Xuan with a Song imperial ancestor. Little and Eichman, Taoism and the Arts of China, 291. This is recorded in an imperial edict (huangbang) dated to the eleventh day of the seventh month of the tenth year of the Yongle reign (1412). Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 20. The stele inscriptions at virtually all the Zhenwu temples Yongle patronized give the same explanation for initiating the reconstruction. Wang Guangde and Yang Lizhi, Wudang Daojiao shilüe, 27. Pierre-Henry de Bruyn believes that the actual reason why Yongle waited nearly ten years before starting the Wudang project was that prior to this, state funds could not yet support such expensive projects; see de Bruyn, Le Wudangshan, 250. Various versions of this legend survive. See Chan, “Zhenwu shen, Yongle xiang,” 99–106, for summaries. For a similar legend of a Dark God instructing a Yuan prince (Khubilai Khan) to found the capital at Dadu, see Chan, Legends of the Building of Old Peking, 188. For a concise introduction to Zhenwu, see Little and Eichman, Taoism and the Arts of China, 291–93; Boltz, Survey of Taoist Literature, 87–88; and Chan, “Zhenwu shen, Yongle xiang,” 89–94.

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15 16

17 18 19 20 21

22

Little and Eichman, Taoism and the Arts of China, 291; and Schipper and Verellen, Daoist Canon, 1202. However, the Yuan rulers mainly promoted the Tibetan Buddhist deity Mahākāla as their national protector. Jing, “Portraits of Khubilai Khan and Chabi by Anige,” 47. Little and Eichman, Taoism and the Arts of China, 291. See Seaman, “Introduction,” 24, for more examples. Lin Shengzhi, “Mingdai daojiao tuxiangxue yanjiu,” 137. Right before his third campaign against the Mongols, for instance, Yongle ordered an elaborate ceremony to be held in order to express his gratitude for Zhenwu’s help during his first two campaigns. Schipper, Concordance du Tao-tsang, juan 4, 1462. Yongle evokes his parents in many of the edicts he issued to the mountain. See Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 20, 25, and 179. Cheng-hua Wang, “Material Culture and Emperorship,” 27. The best study on Zhang Sanfeng in English is Seidel, “Taoist Immortal of the Ming Dynasty.” Seidel, “Taoist Immortal of the Ming Dynasty,” 492–95. See also de Bruyn, Le Wudangshan, 307–22. Liu Daoming, “Wudang fudi zongzhenji,” in Zhengtong Daozang 962 (fasc. 609). See de Bruyn, Le Wudangshan, 137–61; and Wang Guangde and Yang Lizhi, Wudang Daojiao shilüe, 124–25 and 134–37, for introductions to Liu Daoming and Collection of Comprehensive Truths. A brief biography of Liu Daoming can be found in Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 126. One modern li is equal to about a half kilometer. The numbers seventy-two, thirty-six, twenty-four, and nine were standard symbolic numbers used to describe the sacred landscape of many Daoist mountains in China, so they should not be taken literally. Yang Lizhi, “Mingshan gongguan de guihua buju yu Daojiao yili,” 1. Shin-yi Chao, Daoist Ritual, State Religion, and Popular Practices, 83. Zhang Jianwei, “Zhongguo xiancun zuizao de tong jianzhu,” 80–106. Mei Li, Ming Qing shiqi Wudang shan chaoshan jinxiang yanjiu, 82–88. Wang Guangde and Yang Lizhi, Wudang Daojiao shilüe, 75–85. See Shin-yi Chao, Daoist Ritual, State Religion, and Popular Practices, 4, for a partial transcription of this version of the Zhenwu legend, which dates to 1099, upon which my summary is based. See also Boltz, Survey of Taoist Literature, 86–91; Grooters, “Hagiography of the Chinese God Chen-wu,” 139–81; and Zhuang Hongyi, “Yuandai daojiao xuantian shangdi xinyang yanjiu,” 125–57. Wang Guangde and Yang Lizhi, Wudang Daojiao

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23 24 25

26 27

28 29 30 31 32

33 34 35 36

shilüe, 135–36. See also de Bruyn, Le Wudangshan, 138–40; and Shin-yi Chao, Daoist Ritual, State Religion, and Popular Practices, 91–96. Shin-yi Chao, Daoist Ritual, State Religion, and Popular Practices, 92. Shin-yi Chao, Daoist Ritual, State Religion, and Popular Practices, 86. Wang Guangde and Yang Lizhi, Wudang Daojiao shilüe, 136; Shin-yi Chao, Daoist Ritual, State Religion, and Popular Practices, 92; and de Bruyn, Le Wudangshan, 55 and 139–40. Lagerwey, “Pilgrimage to Wudangshan,” 322. Ren Ziyuan’s gazetteer along with another, Gazetteer of the Great Mountain Taihe (Dayue Taihe shan zhi) (eight volumes), written by Ling Yunyi and edited by Lu Zhonghua in the mid-sixteenth century, have been punctuated and reformatted in Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong. It should be noted that Ren’s gazetteer was updated at least twice in the late fifteenth century, which explains why it contains information that occurred after his death. The version in Yang Lizhi’s compilation constitutes fifteen volumes. For an introduction to Ren Ziyuan and his gazetteer, see de Bruyn, Le Wudangshan, 297–306; and Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 2–5. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 3. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 2. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 83–99. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 135. The fact that Yongle placed Zhang and Mu in charge of the project indicates that these men were very important to the emperor. Indeed, according to his lengthy biography in the History of the Ming, while serving as a military commissioner for the imperial court, Zhang Xin helped thwart an attack on Yongle, then the King of Yan, by Jianwen loyalists. Zhang was subsequently promoted to assistant military chief and bestowed with the title Marquis of Longping and other rewards. Mu Xin’s power, however, stemmed from his illustrious family background—he was the fifth son of the great military leader Mu Ying (1345–1392)—and, more important, from Mu’s marriage to one of Yongle’s daughters, Changning (1420–1441), making him the emperor’s son-in-law. For more on Mu Xin, see Yang Lizhi, “Ming dai fuma duwei Mu Xin yu Wudang Shan,” 7–22. Zhang Xin’s biography has been translated from the Ming shi into French in de Bruyn’s Le Wudangshan, 261–65. For a narrative of the events just described, see Tsai, Perpetual Happiness, 61–63. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 20. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 136. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 187–90. It was rare for the names of craftsmen in architectural projects to be recorded in such detail. One

other prominent example from the Ming dynasty is a stele dated to 1413 at the Temple of Eternal Peace (Yongning Si), in what is now Tyr, Russia, discussed in the introduction to this book. 37 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 181. 38 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 175. See Chen Zhizhong, “Ming dai Wudang Shan gu jianzhu liuli wajian yao zhi chutan,” 8–9, for more on the subject of the kilns used to make the glazed roof tiles at Mount Wudang. 39 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 26. 40 Yongle refers to these temples as the “numinous spaces” (lingjing) at which Zhenwu had “manifested himself” (xiansheng). Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 19. 41 Sun Biyun had once been invited to the court of Ming Hongwu to perform rituals. For a biography, see de Bruyn, Le Wudangshan, 213–14; and Wang Guangde and Yang Lizhi, Wudang Daojiao shilüe, 194–95. 42 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 19. 43 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 179. 44 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 21. See Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 141–43, for a list of the smaller temples established on the mountain at this time. 45 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 23–24 and 183–85. 46 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 137. 47 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 22–23. 48 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 24. 49 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 139. 50 Ren Ziyuan cites earlier texts to show that Junzhou was indeed the original location of Quiet Joy Palace, likely to justify the decision to build the temple there. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 139. 51 When completed, the temple occupied half of the city’s total area. Song Jing and Yang Tieshuo, “Jinglegong de wenhua jiedu,” 5. 52 Crown Prince Boulder is located on a rocky face of Expanding Banner Peak behind Purple Skies Palace. In the Yongle reign a brick shrine was constructed there and a statue of Zhenwu, which still survives, was placed inside. Luo Hui, Wudangshan zhi, 134. 53 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 24. 54 Mei Li has argued that the establishment of these roads helped connect the mountain to a larger network of neighboring provinces. Mei, Ming Qing shiqi Wudang shan chaoshan jinxiang yanjiu, 71. 55 As a testament to the road’s importance, many ancient pilgrims documented it in their records. Mei, Ming Qing shiqi Wudang shan chaoshan jinxiang yanjiu, 71. 56 Mei, Ming Qing shiqi Wudang shan chaoshan jinxiang yanjiu, 88. 57 This new name merged the two ancient names for

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58 59 60

61

62

63

64

65 66 67 68

69 70

the mountain. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 23. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 22. de Bruyn, Le Wudangshan, 276. This point is made in many secondary sources related to Yongle’s reconstruction. See, for example, Hubeisheng jianshe ting, Wudangshan gujianzhu qun, 49; and Li Hui, “Wudangshan Daojiao gongguan huanjing kongjian yanjiu,” 41. According to a recent study conducted by the Hubei Bureau of Works, the total distance of the pilgrimage route from Junzhou to Heaven’s Pillar is 120 li. The realm of the humans, measured from the city of Junzhou to Xuanyue Gate at the foot of the mountain, is 60 li (1 li is equivalent to about a half kilometer); the mountain realm of the immortals, measured from Xuanyue Gate to Southern Cliff Palace, is 40 li; and the length of the path in the realm of heaven, from Southern Cliff Palace to Heaven’s Pillar Peak, is 20 li. Hubeisheng jianshe ting, Wudangshan gujianzhu qun, 48–49. Xuanyue Gate, constructed in 1552 by the Jiajing emperor, became the new starting point of the pilgrimage route. Mei, Ming Qing shiqi Wudang shan chaoshan jinxiang yanjiu, 92. The eastern path actually comprised two different routes, but the one most commonly taken historically passed by Needle Grinding Well, Prince Slope, Purple Skies Palace, and Southern Cliff Palace. Luo Hui, Wudangshan zhi, 149. It could be seen from Palace of Quiet Joy at the base of the mountain (a hundred kilometers away from the peak), on the route between Jade Void Palace and Encountering Truth Palace at the base of the mountain, and at Southern Cliff Palace, which faces directly opposite it. Wang Guangde and Yang Lizhi, Wudang Daojiao shilüe, 182–83. Lagerwey, “Pilgrimage to Wudangshan,” 315. See, for instance, Wei-cheng Lin, Building a Sacred Mountain. Wang Guangde and Yang Lizhi, Wudang Daojiao shilüe, 145. For this reason the scholar Zhang Lianggao has called the mountain’s design “macroscopic” (hongguan). Zhang Lianggao, Zhongguo jianzhu hongguan sheji de dingfeng. Shin-yi Chao, Daoist Ritual, State Religion, and Popular Practices, 98. The largest temples on the mountain included Jade Void Palace, Five Dragons Palace, Purple Skies Palace, Southern Cliff Palace, and Quiet Joy Palace as well as Supreme Harmony Palace (Taihe Gong), in which the Golden Hall was located, Encountering Truth Palace (Yuzhen Gong), Clear Profundity Palace (Qingwei Gong), and Five Dragons Traveling Palace (Wulong Xing Gong). See volume 7, “On Buildings and Temples” (Louguan bu), of Ren’s gazetteer. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 136–40.

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71 The other Ming dynasty structures that survive on the mountain include Liangyi Hall at Southern Cliff Palace (1413, reconstructed in 1552), the Main Hall of Encountering Truth Palace (burned down in 2003), and some brick and glazed tile incense burners at Southern Cliff, Purple Skies, and Jade Void Palaces. Bai, He, and Wang, “Wudangshan Nanyan Gong,” 86. 72 At 534 bays, Jade Void Palace was by far the largest, followed by Five Dragons Palace (215), Purple Skies Palace (160), Quiet Joy Palace (197), Southern Cliff Palace (155), and then the others. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 136–40. 73 Song Jing, “Wudangshan Zixiao gong jianzhu de wenhua jiedu,” 1–4; and Luo Hui, Wudangshan zhi, 131. 74 Zhao Benxin, “Huihuang de zhuangju, lishi de fengbei,” 18. 75 Bai, He, and Wang, “Wudangshan Nanyan Gong,” 89. The Wudang shan zhi records slightly different measurements for the hall, 26.31 × 18.39 meters (Luo Hui, Wudangshan zhi, 133), as does Zhao Benxin, 29.9 × 22.04 meters (“Huihuang de zhuangju, lishi de fengbei,” 17). 76 Although it is not as wide as the Sacrificial Hall (10.30 meters) or Main Hall of the Ancestral Temple (9.60 meters), two of the most important halls to the Ming state, it is almost as wide as the central bay in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, built in 1695 (8.44 meters), and is much wider than other early Ming religious buildings, including the Hall of Dynastic Prosperity at Gautama Monastery (6.60 meters) and Zhihua Temple’s Ten Thousand Buddhas Storied Pavilion (Wanfo Ge) (5.94 meters). Guo Huayu, Mingdai guanshi jianzhu damuzuo, 47. 77 Bai, He, and Wang, “Wudangshan Nanyan Gong,” 92. 78 Bai, He, and Wang, “Wudangshan Nanyan Gong,” 93. 79 Bai, He, and Wang, “Wudangshan Nanyan Gong,” 94. 80 This diagram was likely left behind accidently by early craftsmen, although unfortunately Zhao Benxin does not provide an image of it, nor does he mention its current whereabouts. Zhao Benxin, “Huihuang de zhuangju, lishi de fengbei,” 19. 81 Zhao Benxin, “Huihuang de zhuangju, lishi de fengbei,” 18. 82 The original black tiles were replaced by turquoise ones sometime during the Qing dynasty. Bai, He, and Wang, “Wudangshan Nanyan Gong,” 99–100. 83 Bai, He, and Wang, “Wudangshan Nanyan Gong,” 99–100. 84 Mei, Ming Qing shiqi Wudang shan chaoshan jinxiang yanjiu, 88–89. 85 Song Jing, “Ming dai Wudangshan qiaoliang chutan,” 589; and Mei, Ming Qing shiqi Wudang shan chaoshan jinxiang yanjiu, 89. 86 Schäfer, “Introduction,” 22.

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87 The earlier of the two stelae was titled Appointing the Mount Taihe Daoist Masters (Xia Taiheshan Daoshi) and the latter was titled Imperially Manufactured Stele on the Daoist Temples at Mount Taihe (Yuzhi Dayue Taiheshan Daogong zhi bei). The stelae were all roughly 8 meters tall, 2 meters wide, and 1 meter thick. See Luo Hui, Wudangshan zhi, 182–83, for more precise measurements of these stelae. 88 Fan Jeremy Zhang, Royal Taste, 148. 89 Bai, He, and Wang, “Wudangshan Nanyan Gong,” 87. 90 Bai and He interviewed elderly locals who recalled that the two halls looked “exactly the same.” Bai, He, and Wang, “Wudangshan Nanyan Gong,” 85. 91 Qin and Gan, “Wudang shan Jingle gong de fujian yu wenwu baohu,” 12. 92 Qin and Gan, “Wudang shan Jingle gong de fujian yu wenwu baohu,” 13. 93 In this respect, the Golden Hall differs from the famous “golden” halls in Japan, such as the Golden Hall (Konjikidō) of Chūsonji (1124) and the Golden Pavilion of Kinkakuji (1398), which are made out of wood but covered in gold leaf, in a mimicry of metal. For an introduction to the architecture of the Golden Hall, see Kazuo and Kazuo, What Is Japanese Architecture, 30–31, and for more on the Konjikidō, see Yiengpruksawan, “House of Gold,” 33–52. 94 There is no question that Yongle would have known about the Yuan hall, as he sent orders to repair it in the eleventh year of his reign (1413). Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 182. 95 Zhang Jianwei, Zhongguo gudai jinshu jianzhu yanjiu, 323–24. 96 Zhang Jianwei, “Golden Hall of Taihe Temple on Mount Wudang,” 350. 97 de Bruyn, Le Wudangshan, 61. 98 Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong jindian,” 85. 99 de Bruyn, Le Wudangshan, 66. 100 Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong jindian,” 86. Wang and Yang give slightly larger measurements for Golden Hall: 5.80 × 4.20 meters, width to depth. Wang Guangde and Yang Lizhi, Wudang Daojiao shilüe, 188. 101 The corner bays of the upper eave have two sets, while the lower eaves have three sets. At the sides of the hall the central bay in the upper and lower eaves use four sets of intercolumnar brackets, while the corner bays use two for the upper eaves and three for the lower eaves. Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong Jindian,” 89. 102 Zhang Jianwei, “Golden Hall of Taihe Temple on Mount Wudang,” 359. 103 Luo Hui, Wudangshan zhi, 193. 104 Zhang Jianwei, “Golden Hall of Taihe Temple on Mount Wudang,” 359. 105 Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong Jindian,” 90.

106 Bai, He, and Wang, “Wudangshan Nanyan Gong,” 93. 107 Zhang Jianwei, “Golden Hall of Taihe Temple on Mount Wudang,” 358. 108 Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong Jindian,” 90. 109 I would like to thank Jeffrey Rice for this insight (personal communication, August, 2016). 110 Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong Jindian,” 87. 111 Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong Jindian,” 89. 112 Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong Jindian,” 86. 113 Each unit comprises three layers. The top layer includes the tiles (walong), roofing (wumian), and drip tiles (dishui) cast together; the middle layer includes the flying rafters (feichuan) and the roof boarding (wangban); and the bottom layer includes the eaves rafters (yanchuan), the crenelated wood (likoumu), and the roof boarding. Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong Jindian,” 90. 114 Zhang Jianwei and Wei Chen, “Materials Analysis of Traditional Chinese Copper Halls Using XRF and GIS,” 83. 115 Zhang Jianwei, “Golden Hall of Taihe Temple on Mount Wudang,” 365. 116 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 20. 117 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 20. 118 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 21. 119 Yongle’s declaration as recorded in Ren’s gazetteer. See Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 25. 120 For example, upon the completion of the Golden Hall in 1418, the emperor sent an edict to Mu Xin requesting that he immediately dispatch someone to report any miraculous events taking place on the mountain to the capital. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 23. 121 Lin Shengzhi, “Mingdai daojiao tuxiangxue yanjiu,” 142. Taizong shilu, juan 140. 122 Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 21. 123 Lin Shengzhi, “Mingdai daojiao tuxiangxue yanjiu,” 142. Taizong shilu, juan 262. 124 Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses can be considered a continuation of a genre of books beginning in at least the Song dynasty that promoted the efficacious responses of Zhenwu. Secondary studies on Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses include Wang Ka, “‘Da Ming Xuantian Shangdi Ruiying tulu,’” 6–9; Lin Shengzhi, “Mingdai daojiao tuxiangxue yanjiu,” 131–94; and Giuffrida, “Representing the Daoist God Zhenwu,” 182–89. 125 Although the author of this record is unknown, the frequency with which Zhang Xin and Mu Xin appear within the records suggests that they may have been involved in its production. Another likely candidate is Zhang Yuqing, who participated in the compilation of the Zhengtong Daoist Canon,

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126

127

128 129

130 131

132 133

134 135 136 137 138 139 140

in which these records are preserved. As discussed, both Zhang Xin and Zhang Yuqing submitted illustrated records of miracles on Wudang to the Yongle court. Lin Shengzhi, “Mingdai daojiao tuxiangxue yanjiu,” 142. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 182–83; and Zhengtong Daozang, juan 959 (fasc. 608). Their titles are “Imperial Edict of Glory and Splendor” (Huangbang rong hui); “Efficacious Response of a Black Cloud” (Heiyun ganying); “Auspicious Response of Qianlin Tree” (Qianlin yingxiang); “Appearance of the Good Omen Langmei” (Langmei cheng rui); “Divinely Grown Great Timber” (Shen liu ju mu); and “Bell in the Gushing Flood” (Shui yong hong zhong). Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 180–82. Yang Lizhi, Mingdai Wudang shan zhi er zhong, 181. For more on Pictures of Joyful Celebrations on Wudang, see Lin Shengzhi, “Mingdai daojiao tuxiangxue yanjiu,” 163–66; and Giuffrida, “Representing the Daoist God Zhenwu,” 162–82. Giuffrida, “Representing the Daoist God Zhenwu,” 181–82. This was assigned to the collection when it was sold at auction. Wang Yucheng, “Ming Yongle caihui ‘Zhenwu lingying tu ce’ chutan,” 20. Wang Yucheng, “Ming Yongle caihui ‘Zhenwu lingying tu ce’ chutan,” 20. The five entries that share content with Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses are “Imperial Edict of Glory and Splendor,” “Appearance of the Good Omen Langmei,” “Divinely Grown Great Timber,” and two records documenting the appearances of Zhenwu. Only four of the five of these records are illustrated. The other entries in Illustrated Album of Zhenwu’s Efficacious Responses describe events in the life of Zhenwu. Wang Yucheng, “Ming Yongle caihui ‘Zhenwu lingying tu ce’ chutan,” 13–14. Wang Yucheng, “Ming Yongle caihui ‘Zhenwu lingying tu ce’ chutan,” 26–21. Little and Eichman, Taoism and the Arts of China, 305. Little and Eichman, Taoism and the Arts of China, 305. Little and Eichman, Taoism and the Arts of China, 305. The best study in English on this handscroll is Berger, “Miracles in Nanjing,” 145–69. Berger, “Miracles in Nanjing,” 159. Berger makes the interesting point that “the aerial displays above the imperial tomb substantiate the belief, promoted enthusiastically by the Yongle emperor and the Karmapas and held in the Mongol and Tibetan Buddhist circles, that the late emperor and his wife were manifestations of Mañjuśrī (following the example of Khublai Khan) and Tara

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141 142

143 144 145 146

147

148

149

150

(following the early queens of Tibet).” Berger, “Miracles in Nanjing,” 159–60. One of the most famous pilgrims was Xu Xiake. See his travel diaries in Xu Hongzu, Xu Xiake youji. Although the canonical biographies of Zhenwu do not mention Mount Qiyun, a host of local legends that connected the deity to the mountain helped transform it into an important regional cult. See Richard Wang, “Qiyun shan as a Replica of Wudang Shan,” 30, for some of these legends. Richards Wang, “Qiyunshan as a Replica of Wudang Shan,” 32. For a list of these sites, see Richard Wang, “Qiyun Shan as a Replica of Wudang Shan,” 31. Richard Wang, “Qiyun Shan as a Replica of Wudang Shan,” 32. This statue probably dates to the fifteenth or sixteenth century and appears to be slightly worn away at the top. Giuffrida, “Ming Imperial Patronage of the Wudang Mountains,” 51–52. This statue was originally located in Encountering Truth Palace on Mount Wudang. Luo Hui, Wudangshan zhi, 201. Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong jindian,” 93. Zhang cites the “Stele Inscription of the Previous Reconstructions of Taihe Palace” (Lici xiugai Taihe gongbeiji) recorded in Long Yun, Minguo xin zuan Yunnan tongzhi. In the late Ming period this hall was moved to Jizu mountain near Dali, Yunnan, and unfortunately was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). In the early Qing dynasty another bronze hall was built at the site of the original one in Kunming by the famous general Wu Sangui (1612–1678). Zhang Jianwei, Zhongguo gudai jinshu jianzhu yanjiu, 116. On Mount Tai in Shangdong, this metal hall, called Imperial Palace of the Goddess (Tianxian jinque tongdian), is located at the Bixia Shrine. The inscription notes that the hall was founded in the Wanli reign in imitation of the one on Mount Wudang; see Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong Jindian,” 93. On Mount Emei in Sichuan, the record accompanying this hall suggests that its patron, the Chan Buddhist master Miaofeng (1540–1613), admired the Golden Hall dedicated to Zhenwu and wanted to build a Buddhist hall like it; see Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong Jindian,” 93. Zhang cites Fu Guangzhai (Ming), Record of the Golden Hall on Mount Emei (Emei shan jin dian ji), in the Gazetteer of Emei shan (Emei shan zhi), juan 6. Between the years 1602 and 1607, Miaofeng also constructed metal halls on Mount Wutai and Mount Baohua. All three halls were dedicated to important bodhisattvas: Samantabhadra (Emei), Mañjuśrī (Wutai), and Avalokiteśvara (Baohua). The record accompanying the Zhenwu Temple on Mount Huo explains

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that because the southern road was blocked at the end of the Ming dynasty, pilgrims could not get to Mount Wudang. Therefore, in 1643 during the Chongzhen reign a local official, Guo Yangzheng, established a metal hall surrounded by copper railings on the top of the mountain, which was said to rival the one on Mount Wudang in its brilliance; Zhang Jianwei, “Wudang Shan Taihe gong jindian,” 93. 151 Seaman, Journey to the North, 5–7. 152 Seaman, Journey to the North, 203–208. 153 The anthropologist Gary Seaman believes that the last chapter of Journey to the North was added to influence public opinion and to pressure the Wanli emperor to continue offering imperial support to the Daoist temples on Mount Wudang. Seaman, Journey to the North, 33. 154 Chan, “Zhenwu shen, Yongle xiang,” 107–108. 155 Chan, “Zhenwu shen, Yongle xiang,” 87–89. 156 Chan calls it the “official image” (guanxiang); see Chan, “Zhenwu shen, Yongle xiang,” 109. 157 Ren Ziyuan does not use the term Purple Forbidden City in his gazetteer. The first use of the term to describe the Golden Hall complex at Mount Wudang was not until 1572; see de Bruyn, Le Wudangshan, 248.

Chapter 4. From Mandala to Palace 1

2 3

4

5

6

7

I would like to thank Daniel Hirshberg for graciously helping me convert all the Tibetan words in this chapter from Wylie to phonetic romanization. Zhang Junqi, “Huashuo Qutansi de ‘fengshui,’” 65. On his way to the Ming capital the Fifth Karmapa stayed on Mount Wutai. In honor of his visit, Yongle ordered that the great White Stupa established on the mountain in the Yuan period be restored in his honor. Qingliang shan zhi, juan 3. I would like to thank Isabelle Charleux for this reference. Details of the treatment of these lamas are provided in the Ming Veritable Records. See Chen Qingying, “Lun Ming chao dui Zangchuan Fojiao de guanli,” 57–74; and Sperling, “Early Ming Policy toward Tibet.” On Tsongkhapa’s reasons for declining Yongle’s invitation, see Sperling, “Early Ming Policy towards Tibet,” 146–47. In fact, under Yongle, Sakya Yeshé only received the title Great State Preceptor (Da Guoshi). It was not until the Xuande reign that he was promoted to King of the Dharma; Ming shilu, juan 21. For more on the title “King of the Dharma,” see Otosaka, “Michō chibetto seisaku no kihonteki taisei,” 17–49. Silk, “Notes on the History of the Yongle Kanjur,” 153–200. Sperling, “Ming Policy towards Tibet,” 74; Ming shi,

juan 304. Yongle had learned about the Karmapa when he was still the Prince of Yan, because the Fourth Karmapa, Rangjung Dorjé (T. Rang byung rdo rje), had resided temporarily at the court of the last Yuan ruler, Toghon Temür. Sperling, “Early Ming Policy towards Tibet,” 74–76. 8 Sperling, “Early Ming Policy towards Tibet,” 82–83. 9 Sperling, “Early Ming Policy towards Tibet,” 99. 10 Most of Yongle’s interactions with the Tibetan hierarchs were based on precedents that had been established in the Yuan. As several scholars have pointed out, the title that Yongle bestowed upon Deshin Shekpa, Dharma King of the Great Jewel, is the same title Khubilai gave to Phagpa. A recent study by Hoong Teik Toh has suggested that Yongle may actually have been following the title given by Toghon Temür to the Fourth Karmapa. Toh, “Tibetan Buddhism in Ming China,” 128–29. 11 McKeown, “From Bodgayā to Lhasa to Beijing,” 112–13. For more on choyon, see Reugg, “Mchod yon, yon mchod and mchod gnas/yon gnas,” 329–51. 12 For instance, the author of the fifteenth-century Blue Annals (T. Deb ther sngon po) explains: “In particular both Secen Qan [Qubilai] and Ye dbang [Yongle] are esteemed Indian and Tibetan monks, and it is difficult to fathom the amount of resources [they] offered [to Buddhist monks]. Hence if one takes delight in the roots of virtue of these two emperors, one will bring forth the so-called equality of merits and acts of oneself and others.” Toh, “Tibetan Buddhism in Ming China,” 106–107. 13 The Veritable Records documents more than forty instances in which Tibetan lamas brought horses to the Yongle court. Gu, Ming shilu Zangzu shiliao, 116–75. 14 The disbanded followers of the Ming enemy Qi Jessün (Qi Zhesun) had supposedly been disturbing the region in which Sanjé Tashi lived, so in response the lama wrote them a letter encouraging them to submit to the Ming, and his efforts were successful. This quote comes from an entry on the Handong guard (near Dunhuang); Ming shi, juan 330. See also Gu, Ming shilu Zangzu shiliao, 95; Taizu shilu, juan 225. 15 Sanjé Tashi was also known as Lama Samlo (blama bsam-lo) in Tibetan and Sanluo or Sanla in Chinese. See Xie Zuo, Qutansi, 11, for a discussion of the lama’s many names. 16 Xie Zuo, “Qutansi bukao,” 53. 17 The inscription on the signboard reads: “Established in the 26th year (1393) of the Ming Hongwu reign. 18 Hongwu’s edict as recorded in Taizu shilu, juan 225. 19 Taizu shilu, juan 226. All monks and nuns were expected to enter their names into this registry. The most important ones were assigned hereditary positions for overseeing the various affairs

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20 21

22

23



24

25

associated with the monasteries. Chen Qingying, “Lun Ming chao dui Zangchuan Fojiao de guanli,” 71. These local Buddhist registries controlled not only the monks associated with the temples but a certain number of local Tibetan tribes as well. Dan and Xie, Gansu Zangzu shi, 230. Sperling, “Tibetan Buddhism, Perceived and Imagined,” 156. Relocated groups such as these eventually accounted for a significant portion of the population of this region; Gannan Zangzu zi zhi zhou zhi, 1033. These guards constituted massive brick fortifications with lookout towers that supposedly required upwards of ten thousand conscripted soldiers to construct. A detailed description of one of these military guards survives in a stele inscription now stored in the local Minzhou Cultural Relics Bureau; Minzhou xianzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui, Minzhou xian zhi, 876. Dan and Xie, Gansu Zangzu shi, 229 and 230; and Cui, Zhang, and Du, Qinghai tongshi, 267. Translation after Karl Debreczeny, “Ethnicity and Esoteric Power,” 159–60. For a Chinese translation of the text, see Wu, Mao, and Ma, Anduo zhengjiao shi, 166. “Samye Ling was modeled upon the universe. . . . The great central temple with its three stories was designed like Mount Meru and the Upper and Lower Yaksha temples in the east and west flanked the Utse just as sun and moon surround the four directions and eight smaller shrines in the intermediate directions are representing the four continents and the eight island continents. . . . A circular wall symbolizes the ring of mountains containing the cosmos. 108 stupas enshrining a Vajra . . . surmounted the wall. . . . Just as the place of gods crowns Mount Meru, so the great temple with three stories roofed in the three district styles of India, China, and Tibet formed the center of Samye,” in Henss, Cultural Monuments of Tibet, 381–83. The Samye plan was continued at later Tibetan monasteries, such as Tholing. I would like to thank Deborah Klimburg-Salter for pointing this out. For more on the Mahābodhi temple and its replicas, see Guy, “Mahābodhi Temple,” 356–57; Charleux, “Copies de Bodhgayā en Asie orientale” 120–42; Griswold, “Holy Land Transported”; Frasch, “Remark on the Mahabodhi Temples at Pagan,” 41–47; and McKeown, “From Bodgayā to Lhasa to Beijing.” I would like to thank Jinah Kim and Eugene Wang for bringing to my attention the possible connections between Gautama Hall and both Samye and the Diamond Seat stupa type when I presented this research at Harvard University in October 2017. For more on the connection between the Diamond Throne and the stupa, see Snodgrass, Symbolism of the Stupa, 157–60.

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26 The Five Tathāgatas are Vairocana (center), Aks. obhya (east), Ratnasambhava (south), Amitābha (west), and Amoghasiddhi (north). For a discussion on stupas identified with the Buddhas of the Five Tathāgatas, see Snodgrass, Symbolism of the Stupa, 135–40. 27 Wu Cong, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi jianzhu yanjiu,” 23. 28 Campbell, “Fifteenth-Century Sino-Tibetan Buddha Hall,” 87–115. 29 Xie and Liao, “Qinghai Ledu Qutan si Qutan dian bihua neirong bianshi,” 200. 30 Campbell, “Fifteenth-Century Sino-Tibetan Buddha Hall.” See also Su Bai, Zangchuan fojiao siyuan kaogu, 260 and 288. 31 See Xie and Liao, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi Qutandian bihua neirong bianshi,” 191–202; and Debreczeny, “Ethnicity and Esoteric Power,” 164, for more thorough descriptions of these paintings. 32 See Ruan, “Qinghai Qutansi Qutan dian,” 63–69; Chung, “Chongtan Qingahi Qutansi zhi Qutandian (yi),” 161–244; and Chung, “Chongtan Qingahi Qutansi zhi Qutandian (er),” 143–218. I would like to thank Yang Liao for bringing these studies to my attention and Chung Tzu-yin for sharing them with me. 33 Chung, “Chongtan Qingahi Qutansi zhi Qutandian (er),” 210. 34 The scholar Cai Rang has pointed out that the Tibetan translations of the Chinese edicts are executed in an expert manner, suggesting that a skilled translator was involved in their production. Cai, “Ming Xuanzong yu Zangchuan Fojiao guanxi kaoshu,” 15. 35 Yongle Huangdi chiyu bei (1408). Transcribed in Wu Jingshan, “Qutansi zhong de wu fang beike ziliao,” 108. 36 The transference of religious power from paternal uncle to nephew was typical at Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, particularly of the Sakya order, and it meant that certain families came to monopolize political and religious authority in Tibet. Debreczeny, “Ethnicity and Esoteric Power,” 154. 37 Taizong shilu, juan 72. 38 Taizong shilu, juan 81. 39 I would like to thank Eric Tzu-yin Chung for drawing my attention to the connections between Palden Zangpo and the Fifth Karmapa in his presentation “The Fifth Karmapa and the Visual Evidences of Vajrāvalī (rDo rje phreng ba) in EarlyMing Amdo,” for the conference New Directions in the Study of Tibetan Buddhist Art History held at Harvard University in April 2018. Chung graciously answered my additional questions via email correspondence in September 2018. 40 Yongle eighth year, tenth month; Taizong shilu, juan 109. 41 Yongle tenth year, first month, and Yongle tenth year, second month; Taizong shilu, juan 124 and

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125. The title was granted on March 7, 1412, and the banquet was held on March 16, 1412, indicating that Palden Zangpo spent at least a week at the Ming court. For more on the granting of titles upon Gautama Monastery lamas in the Ming and Qing dynasties, see Zha, “Qinghai Qutansi Daguoshi, Guoshi, Huofo shi xi kaolue,” 140–50. 42 Xie Zuo, “Qutansi bukao,” 54; and Zha, “Qinghai Qutansi Daguoshi, Guoshi, Huofo shi xi kaolue,” 142. This information comes from a set of records at the monastery known as Gongjie feng chigao daibei xiangchuan qingong dice. The text was hand-copied and stored by the later caretakers of Qutan Monastery, published in 1651 during the Qing dynasty. Xie Zuo, Qutansi, 25; and Xie Zuo, “Qutansi bukao,” 56. 43 Xie Zuo, “Qutansi bukao,” 54; and Zha, “Qinghai Qutansi Daguoshi, Guoshi, Huofo shi xi kaolue,” 142. The title of State Preceptor was inherited by Palden Zangpo’s successors up until the Qing dynasty. Chen Qingying, “Lun Ming chao dui Zangchuan Fojiao de guanli,” 67. Both Palden Zangpo and Sönam Gyeltsen’s seals are now on display in the Qinghai Provincial Museum in Xining. See Xie Zuo, “Qutansi bukao,” 54–55, for imprints of these seals. 44 Wu, Mao, and Ma, Anduo zhengjiao shi, 167. 45 Otosaka “Michō chibetto seisaku no kihonteki taisei,” 25. 46 Details of the treatment of these lamas are provided in Veritable Records. See Chen Qingying, “Lun Ming chao dui Zangchuan Fojiao de guanli,” 57–74; and Sperling, “Early Ming Policy toward Tibet.” 47 See Taizong shilu, juan 62 and 65 for the granting of these titles to the other lamas. 48 Personal communcation with Chung Tzu-yin, September 2018. 49 “Yuzhi Qutan Si Jin Foxiang Bei” (1418). Transcribed in Wu Jingshan, “Qutansi zhong de wu fang beike ziliao,” 110. 50 The legend of the creation of King Udayāna’s Buddha is retold in several early Buddhist sutras, but the locus classicus is in Xuanzang’s (ca. 602–664) Record of the Western Regions. According to the legend, following the Buddha’s enlightenment, he traveled to heaven to preach the Dharma to his mother. King Udayāna missed him so much that he ordered one of the Buddha’s disciples to send an artist up to heaven to create an image of the Buddha. The artist sculptured an image of sandalwood that was modeled on the Buddha himself. From that point on, the sandalwood image was copied again and again. The most famous of these purported copies is housed at Seiryōji in Kyoto, Japan. This statue was supposedly brought to Japan from China by the monk Chōnen in 986. For more on the Udayāna and Seiryōji Buddhas, see Henderson and Hurvitz, “Buddha of Seiryōji,” 1–55.

51 Debreczeny, “Ethnicity and Esoteric Power,” 173. 52 For more on Buddhist miracles in China tales, see Campany, Signs from the Unseen Realm. 53 Debreczeny, “Ethnicity and Esoteric Power,” 174. 54 See the introduction to this book for more on Zheng He’s mission to obtain the tooth relic in Sri Lanka. This letter is now housed in the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. It was written in both Chinese and Tibetan and dates to the tenth day of the second month of the eleventh year (1413) of the Yongle reign. See Su Bai, “Lasa Budala gong,” 41. 55 Wu Jingshan, “Qutansi zhong de wu fang beike ziliao,” 110. 56 Sperling, “Early Ming Policy toward Tibet,” 205–10; Dan and Xie, Gansu Zangzu shi, 221–25; and Gu, Ming shilu Zangzu shiliao, 123 and 133. 57 “Qutansi Yongle liu nian Huangdi chuyu bei” (1408). Transcribed in Wu Jingshan, “Qutansi zhong de wu fang beike ziliao,” 108. 58 Sperling, “Notes on the Early History of Grotshang Rdo-rje-’chang,” 81. 59 Xie Zuo, Qutansi, 105. Honghua Temple in Minhe County, Qinghai, roughly fifty kilometers southeast of Ledu, only the remains of which now survive, doubled as a military garrison. According to Otosaka Tomoko, beginning in the later part of the Chenghua reign (1447–1487), the Ming court began to rely on Honghua Temple as a local power base to defend against the Mongols, who had begun to encroach on this area. The temple eventually became a fortress for the imperial army, supplementing the need for Ming soldiers by mobilizing Tibetan locals in the fight against the Mongols. Otosaka argues that by patronizing Honghua Temple, the Ming could therefore indirectly control the Tibetan people at the frontier to obtain their cooperation in battles against the Mongols. Otosaka, “Study of Honghuasi Temple,” 69–101. 60 The set of records to the monastery is known as “Gongjie feng chigao daibei xiangchuan qingong dice.” According to Xie Zuo, the text was hand-copied and stored by the later caretakers of Qutan Monastery, the Mei family, and was published in the Zhunzhi period (1651) of the Qing dynasty. Xie Zuo, Qutansi, 25; and Xie Zuo, “Qutansi bukao,” 56. 61 Wu Cong, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi jianzhu yanjiu,” 3. 62 Zhang Yuhuan and Du Xianzhou, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi diaocha baogao,” 50. 63 Chung, “Chongtan Qinghai Qutansi zhi Qutandian (yi),” 193. 64 For more information on these paintings, see Debreczeny, “Ethnicity and Esoteric Power,” 172–73; Xie and Liao, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi Baoguangdian yu Longguodian bihua neirong bianshi,” 23–30; and Chung, “Chongtan Qinghai Qutansi zhi Qutandian (yi),” 193. 65 Chung, “Chongtan Qingahi Qutansi zhi Qutandian (er),” 162. See Roerich, Blue Annals, 507.

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66 These include the treatment of a crown of skulls on one of the deities, the knots in deities’ robes, the clothes placed on figures that would have been naked in Tibetan renderings, and so on. Debreczeny, “Ethnicity and Esoteric Power,” 163–64. 67 Debreczeny, “Ethnicity and Esoteric Power,” 166–67. 68 A very similar, though less fine, statue survives in the Musée Cernuschi in Paris. See Debreczeny, “Early Ming Imperial Atelier on the Tibetan Frontier,” 160, for an image of the statue. 69 Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, 73. 70 For a much more detailed description of the technical and stylistic attributes of the Yongle bronzes, see Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, 73–74. 71 Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, 97. 72 Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, 92; and Guy, Mahābodhi Temple, 362. 73 It is possible that the idea to do this came from the Zhou dynasty kings, who often awarded their loyal vassals with bronze ritual vessels into which inscriptions were cast. As support for this claim, Craig Clunas has noted that the Zhou kings served as the “moral exemplars” for Ming rulers. Clunas, Screen of Kings, 8–9. 74 Clunas, Empire of Great Brightness, 24. 75 The only exception to this that I have seen is some of the bronze Buddha statues that continued to be produced in the Xuande reign for the Tibetan lamas. 76 Wu Cong, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi jianzhu yanjiu,” 23. 77 Inoue, Space in Japanese Architecture, 60. 78 These include Zhongcui Palace and Chuxiu Palace in the Forbidden City and Zhihua Temple, Fahai Temple, Tanzhe Temple, and the Eastern Temple Mosque in Beijing. Wu Cong and Wang Qiheng, “Qutansi de jianzhu caihua,” 40. 79 Wu Cong and Wang Qiheng, “Qutansi de jianzhu caihua,” 33. 80 See Xie and Liao, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi Baoguangdian yu Longguodian bihua neirong bianshi,” 26–30. 81 Coaldrake, Architecture and Authority in Japan, 62. 82 Wu Cong, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi jianzhu yanjiu,” 29. 83 Inoue, Space in Japanese Architecture, 18–84. 84 Wu Cong, “Qinghai Ledu Qutansi jianzhu yanjiu,” 37. 85 Duojie Ben, a curator from the Qinghai Provincial Museum and an expert on Gautama Monastery with whom I traveled to the temple in 2010, told me that the wood came from nearby forests. To transport the wood, laborers waited until the winter months and slid the logs down icy channels. Although I have no way to corroborate his claim, it is certainly believable.

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86 Isabelle Charleux believes that the fortifications seen in temples in Amdo were left over from the Central Asian tradition of constructing square fortified monasteries in the ninth to the eleventh centuries, such as those at Duldur-āqur, Qocho, and Turfān. This subject requires further investigation. Charleux, “Buddhist Monasteries in Southern Mongolia,” 24. 87 Wu Jingshan, “Qutansi zhong de wu fang beike ziliao,” 115–16. 88 Wu Jingshan, “Qutansi zhong de wu fang beike ziliao,” 115–16. 89 Xie Zuo saw the signboard in 1958. He describes it as being large with traces of paint and provides a transcription of it in “Qutansi bukao,” 55–56. The signboard was probably destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. 90 Wu Jingshan, “Qutansi zhong de wu fang beike ziliao,” 118. 91 Wu Jingshan, “Qutansi zhong de wu fang beike ziliao,” 118. 92 Xie Zuo, “Qutansi bukao,” 56. Xuande may have omitted Hongxi’s name because he believed that his short reign was insignificant. He may have only listed the emperors who were actually involved in the construction of buildings at the monastery. 93 Cai, “Ming Xuanzong yu Zangchuan Fojiao guanxi kaoshu,” 15. It should be noted that Xuande sent an identical tablet to Miaoyin Temple, the subtemple of Gautama Monastery, whose main hall was also completed in 1427. 94 “Established in the second year, second month, ninth day of the Xuande reign of the great Ming dynasty by the imperial eunuchs Meng Ji, Shang Yi, Chen Xiang, and Yuan Qi.” Xie Zuo, “Qutansi bukao,” 56. For more on the subject of eunuch patronage of Buddhism during the Ming, see Naquin, Peking, 161–67; and Hammond, “Beijing’s Zhihua Monastery,” 197–202. 95 For more information on Palden Tashi, see his biography in History of the Dharma in Amdo, which has been translated into English in Debreczeny, “Ethnicity and Esoteric Power,” 399–414. 96 Debreczeny, “Ethnicity and Esoteric Power,” 399–414. 97 The monastery was also called Eastern Temple (Dong Si) and Lhündrup Dechen Ling (T. Lhun grub bde chen gling). See Yang Shihong and Gao Rui, “Dongsi, Xianggen ji xiangguan wenti,” 121, for full transcriptions of the edict in Chinese and Tibetan. 98 The monastery was apparently constructed by a hundred civil officials, two hundred district officials, eleven hundred artisans, and twenty-five thousand military corvée laborers sent from the imperial courts. The buildings included a great hall of sixty bays, bell and drum towers, six side chapels, a Hall of Heavenly Kings, stelae halls, and

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a dormitory all covered with green-tiled roofs. The halls were surrounded by a covered arcade and filled with beautiful statues, including a White Tara inset with sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and pearls, and other imperially produced objects, such as bronze incense burners, parasols, canopies, and ritual implements. According to a local gazetteer from the Qing dynasty, a few of these objects survived at the time the gazetteer was written; see Minzhou zhi. 99 Evidence for this statue exists in an inscription on a silk hanging scroll from 1427 that commemorated its installment in the hall. Debreczeny, “SinoTibetan Artistic Synthesis,” 56 and 72. 100 Sijianglin is the Sinographic transcription for the Tibetan name, Sikyong Ling (T. Srid skyong gling) for this hall. Wu, Mao, and Ma, Anduo zhengjiao shi, 168. 101 Xie Zuo, “Qutansi bukao,” 57. 102 For instance, Chenghua (r. 1464–1487) granted a gold-plated bronze seal to the Tibetan abbot, and Wanli (r. 1572–1620) and Chongzhen (r. 1627–1644) both granted signboards to the temple. Xie Zuo, “Qutansi bukao,” 54–55. 103 In the mid-sixteenth century, Kumbum Jampa Ling (T. Sku ’bum byams pa gling; Ch. Taer Si) was established at Tsongkhapa’s birthplace outside of Xining, and before long it began to attract great numbers of monks, overshadowing the influence

that Gautama Monastery had held in the region during the early Ming. Gruschke, Amdo: Cultural Monuments of Tibet’s Outer Provinces, 44. 104 See Xie Zuo, “Qutansi bukao,” 58–60, for a transcription of the lawsuit. 105 Schram, “Monguors of the Kansu-Tibetan Border, Part II,” 23.

Conclusion 1

Numerous studies have been written on this subject. See, for instance, Babaie, Persian Kingship and Architecture; Rizvi, “Architecture and Representations of Kingship”; Mannikka, Angkor Wat; and Binski, Westminster Abbey and the Plantagenets. 2 Helms, Craft and the Kingly Ideal, 81. I would like to thank BuYun Chen for drawing my attention to this important study. 3 Cheng-hua Wang, “Global Perspective on Eighteenth-Century Chinese Art and Visual Culture,” 382. 4 Helms, Craft and the Kingly Ideal, 87. 5 Zhao Zhongnan, “Yongle monian de fan qiandu fengbo ji qi yiyi,” 31–32. 6 Campbell, “Architecture of the Early Ming Court.” 7 Yongle’s announcement as recorded in Liu Chang, Beijing Zijincheng, 37; Taizong shilu, juan 231.

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Index Abhayākaragupta, 137, 146 Abundant Fortune Palace, 22, 23fig., 35 Altar to Agriculture, Beijing, 38fig., 39 Altar to Earth, Beijing, 83 Altar to Heaven, Beijing, 38fig., 39, 47fig., 83 Altar to Soil and Grain, Beijing, 38fig., 39, 184n149 Altar to Soil and Grain, Nanjing, 26fig. Amdo. See Gautama Monastery, Amdo Amur River (Heilong Jiang), 5 Ancestral Temple, Beijing, 69fig.; main hall construction and design, 69–71, 72fig.; main hall elevation and section drawings, 70fig.; main hall ground plan, 70fig.; main hall, reconstruction of, 65; plan and location, 38fig., 39, 41fig.; Sacrificial Temple compared to, 69–71; spirit tablets installed in, 21 Ancestral Temple, Dadu, 23fig. Ancestral Temple, Fengyang, 28 Ancestral Temple, Nanjing, 26–29, 26fig. Anointed Great State Preceptors, 140 architecture as empire, 167–71 artisan registry system, 30, 181n44 Aśoka, King, 5, 16 Auspicious Cranes (Huizong), 157, 159fig. Auspicious Images on Mount Taihe, 119–20, 120fig. Bai Ying, 181n8 Bao’ensi complex, Pingwu, Sichuan, 184n144 Baohua, Mount, 192n150 beams: Ancestral Temple main hall, 71; Golden Hall, Mount Wudang, 114; Hall of Dynastic Prosperity, Gautama Monastery, 158; Hall of Jewel Light, Gautama Monastery, 145; Hall of Supreme Harmony, 76–77; Mount Wudang, 103; Sacrificial Hall, 62, 63fig. Beijing capital, 6map; about, 3; construction timeframe, 29; craftsmen and laborers for, 29–31; decision to move from Nanjing, 22; disruptions caused by, 50–51; Eight Views of the Northern Capital and inscription, 35–37, 36fig.; Great Compassionate Hall of Pure Jewels, Beihai Park, 71–72, 73fig.; inspection tours by Yongle, 35; layout, 37–42, 38fig., 40fig., 41fig.; in Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties, 21–22, 23fig.; Long Life Mountain, 38fig., 39; materials for, 31–35, 33map; in Mongolian legend, 42; Nanjing as model for, 9, 22–23, 29, 39–42; new architectural style compared to Song and Qing, 42–49; odes to, 36–37; portrait of Kuai Xiang in front of imperial palace, 32fig. Beijing capital buildings: Altar to Agriculture, 38fig., 39; Altar to Heaven, 38fig., 39, 47fig., 83; Altar to Soil and Grain, 38fig., 39, 184n149; Bell Tower, 38fig.; Drum Tower, 38fig.; Hall for Honoring the Ancestors (Kangxi), 183n106; Prayer for Good

Harvests Hall, 39; Western Palace, 35. See also Ancestral Temple; Forbidden City bell, Buddhist (Long Life Temple), 12, 12fig., 180n40 Bell Tower, Beijing, 38fig. Bell Tower, Dadu, 23fig. Bell Tower, Nanjing, 26fig. Ben, Duojie, 196n85 Berger, Patricia, 120, 192n140 Bianliang capital, 24, 25 Bixia Shrine, 192n150 “black glaze, green trim” roof tiles, 105, 105fig. block-mouth modules, 44 bodhisattvas: Avalokiteśvara, 193n150; bronze standing bodhisattva, 148, 148fig.; Guanyin, 3; Mañjuśrī, 11, 151fig., 192n140, 192n150; Samantabhadra, 192n150 bracket-sets (dougong): about, 43, 45–46, 46fig., 47fig., 183n123; Ancestral Temple main hall, 70; Golden Hall, Mount Wudang, 111–13, 114; Mount Wudang, 103. See also intercolumnar bracket-sets bricks, 32–33, 33map, 182nn53, 55, 57, 61 Bright Hall (Song), 53 Brook, Timothy, 179n10 Buddha: Diamond Seat/Diamond Throne and, 14, 134; emperors equating themselves with, 11, 141; tooth relic, 14, 142, 180n47. See also Vajradhāra Buddha images: Buddhas of the Past, Present, and Future, at Gautama Hall, 131, 136, 138fig., 145; flying Buddha of Yongle, 162–63; golden Buddha given to Palden Zangpo by Yongle, 142; golden Buddha images given to Yongle by Śāriputra, 15–16; miraculous golden Buddha of Gautama Monastery, 140–42, 144, 147–48, 150; mural of life of Buddha, Gautama Monastery, 153, 153fig.; murals of Thousand Buddhas, Gautama Hall, 136; sandalwood, of King Udayāna, 141; on stupa for death of Xuande, 161; Yongle bronzes, 150–52, 151fig. Buddhism, Tibetan: Five Tathāgatas, 134, 136, 194n26; orders and leaders of, 127–28; titles bestowed on lamas by Yongle, 128, 139–40, 193n10; Yongle’s patronage of, 127–29. See also Deshin Shekpa; Gautama Monastery, Amdo Buddhist Canon (Tripit. aka), 11, 179n27. See also Tibetan Buddhist Canon (Kanjur) Building Methods of the Board of Works, 43–44, 44fig. Cai Rang, 194n34 Cai Xin, 31 Cakravartin status, 16, 128, 141 cantilevers (ang), 46, 46fig. Central Capital, Fengyang, 6map, 25, 28–29, 183n101 Chambers, William, 17 Chan, Hok-lam, 11 Changning, Princess, 189n32

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Chao, Shin-yi, 94, 100 Charleux, Isabelle, 196n86 Chen Gui, 31 Chen Xuan, 64 Chen Yongbing, 123 Chenghua emperor, 16, 197n102 Ching, Dora, 9 Chongzhen emperor, 197n102 Chung Tzu-yin, 137, 194n39 Chuxiu Palace, Forbidden City, 196n78 Cisheng Empress, 68 classical Confucian architecture, 24 “Clear Waves at Taiye Pond” (Wang Fu), 35, 36fig. Clunas, Craig, 12, 152, 179n20, 196n73 Coaldrake, William, 64 Collected Essays on Timber-Felling in the Western Region, 66–67, 67fig. Collection of Comprehensive Truths (Liu Daoming), 92–94, 96 composition, plastic vs. pictorial, 157–58 Confucian architecture, classical, 24 copper hall, Mount Wudang (Yuan), 93, 93fig., 109 craftsmen: artisan registry system, 30, 170, 181n44; for Beijing capital, 29–31; Gautama Monastery, 158; residential vs. rotating, 30–31; stelae list of master craftsmen, 7, 170; Wudang project, 97 Cultural Revolution, 147, 192n149, 196n89 Dadu capital, 21–22, 23fig., 37–39, 53–54, 90 Danjiangkou, 108 Daoguang emperor, tomb of, 84–85, 84–86fig. Daoism. See Wudang, Mount; Zhenwu Daoist Canon (Daozang), 11, 96 Daoyan (Yao Guangxiao), 11, 89–90 de Bruyn, Pierre-Henry, 99, 188n2 decoration. See ornamentation Deshin Shekpa (De bzhin gshegs pa), Fifth Karmapa: Gautama Monastery and, 129, 145–46; image of, at Gautama Monastery, 147fig.; Mount Wutai and, 193n3; Palden Zangpo and, 139–40, 149–50; as patriarch, 127–28; rites performed by, 13, 120, 128; Yongle’s consecration ceremony, 9, 10fig. Diamond Garland, 137–38, 146, 149–50 Diamond Seat Pagoda (Five Pagoda Temple) Zhengjue Monastery, 15, 15fig., 19 Diamond Seat stupas, 14–16, 134 Discussions on the Altars for Sacrifices to Heaven and Earth and the Ancestral Temple, 27–28 Dönyö Zangpo, 138 Drum Tower, Beijing, 38fig. Drum Tower, Dadu, 23fig. Drum Tower, Nanjing, 26fig. Dunhuang, 157 Eastern Six Palaces, Forbidden City, 40fig. Eastern Temple Mosque, Beijing, 196n78 “Edict in Response to the Disaster of the Hall of Revering Heaven,” 50

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Eight Views of the Northern Capital (Wang Fu), 35–37, 36fig. Elvin, Mark, 86 Emei, Mount, 123, 192n150 Eminent Court Official Style, 36 Emperors’ Long Life Tablet, Gautama Monastery, 161 empire: architecture and, 167–71; court-style architecture, spread of, 7; expansionist missions and stelae erection, 5–6; renaming of territories, 6 Encountering Truth Palace, Mount Wudang, 95map, 190n71, 192n142 Examining Oneself Hall, Forbidden City, 40fig. Fahai Temple, Beijing, 196n78 Famous Sutras of Various Buddhas, 11, 12 Fangshan County stone quarries, 34 Fengyang (Central Capital), 6map, 25, 28–29, 183n101 Fifth Karmapa Deshin Shekpa and the Yongle Emperor, The, 10fig. fires: Hall of Revering Heaven (Three Halls), Beijing, 50–51, 65, 68; in Nanjing imperial palace, by Yongle, 8, 22; Palace of Loving Celebration and Palace of Loving Peace, 67–68; Upholding the Heavens Hall, 66 Five Dragons Palace, Mount Wudang, 93, 95map, 97, 99, 106, 190n72 Five Pagoda Temple (Diamond Seat Pagoda) Zhengjue Monastery, 15, 15fig., 19 Forbidden City, Beijing: association with Yongle, 16; Chuxiu Palace, 196n78; Eastern Six Palaces, 40fig.; Examining Oneself Hall, 40fig.; Gate of Revering Heaven, 40fig.; Golden River Bridge, 40fig.; Hall of Central Harmony, 184n137; Hall of Honoring Forebears, 39, 40fig.; Hall of Imperial Peace, 39–40, 40fig., 125, 183n107; Hall of Magnificent Canopy, 40fig.; Hall of Preserving Harmony, 184n137; Hall of Revering Heaven, 21, 39–40, 40fig., 50–51, 80–82, 156–57; Hall of Scrupulous Behavior, 40fig.; Hall of Supreme Harmony (Qing), 44, 74–82, 75–79fig.; location of, 38fig.; Meridian Gate, 40fig.; Palace of Earthly Tranquility, 40fig.; Palace of Heavenly Purity, 40fig.; Palace of Loving Celebration, 67–68; Palace of Loving Peace, 67–68; plan of, 40fig.; Three Gates, 69; Three Halls (burned), 50–51, 65, 68; Western Six Palaces, 40fig.; Zhongcui Palace, 196n78 frontier, control of, 142–44 Fu Xinian, 80–81, 186nn89, 127, 130 Gao Kaijun, 180n40 Gate of Revering Heaven, Forbidden City, 40fig. Gautama Hall, Gautama Monastery, 131–38, 133fig., 135–38fig., 146, 150, 158 Gautama Monastery, Amdo, 6map; about, 127; attacks on, 143, 163; auspicious occurrences at, 162–63; completed under Xuande, 19; court-style architecture, 7; courtyards of, 153; Emperors’ Long Life Tablet, 161; frontier control and stability and po-

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litical authority of, 142–44; Gautama Hall, 131–38, 133fig., 135–38fig., 146, 150, 158; Hall of Dynastic Prosperity, 152–59, 154fig., 156–58fig., 162–63; Hall of Jewel Light, 140, 144–49fig., 144–50, 152; Hall of the Protectors, 131; incense burner, marble, 149, 149fig.; as lineage temple under Hongxi and Xuande, 159–62; as “Little Forbidden City,” 163; module of, 184n133; Palden Zangpo, Yongle, and, 138–42; Qing decline of, 163; Sanjé Tashi (founder) and Hongwu patronage of, 129–31; signboards of, 130fig., 161, 196n89; Vajradhāra Hall, 153; Yongle bronzes, inscribed, 150–52, 151fig.; Yongle’s patronage of Tibetan Buddhism and, 127–29; Yongle’s patronage, reasons for, 129 Gazetteer of the Imperially Commissioned Mountain of Supreme Harmony (Ren Ziyuan), 96, 116, 189n27, 193n157 gold bricks, 32–33 Golden Hall, Mount Wudang, 95map, 109fig.; bronze image of Zhenwu, 113fig.; copies of, 17, 123–25; court-style architecture, 7; elevation and section drawings, 112–13fig.; Hall of Dynastic Prosperity, Gautama Monastery, compared to, 158, 162–63; as icon of Zhenwu cult, 115; Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses and, 117–18; intercolumnar bracket-sets, 47; Japanese golden halls compared to, 191n93; metal material of, 109–10; plan and design, 110–14, 111fig., 114fig.; in sacred landscape, 99–100; in sculptures, 121–23 Golden River, 37 Golden River Bridge, Forbidden City, 40fig. Gong Hui, 66, 185n71 Great Bright Palace, Chang’an, 156 Great Compassionate Hall of Pure Jewels, Beihai Park, Beijing, 71–72, 73fig. Great Monastery of Sublime Teachings, Minzhou, 161–62, 196nn97–98 Great Timber Yard, Beijing, 34–35 Great Yongle Encyclopedia (Yongle Dadian), 9–10, 96 Gu Fen, 182n47 Gu Pu, 31 Gui Youguang, 65–66, 185n77 Guo Jin, 116, 182n47 Guo Qinghua, 80–81, 186n125 Guo Yangzheng, 193n150 Guy, John, 180n54 Hall for Honoring the Ancestors (Kangxi period), 183n106. See also under Ancestral Temple Hall for Honoring the Forebears, Forbidden City, 39, 40fig. Hall for Honoring the Forebears, Nanjing, 27fig., 28 Hall of Central Harmony, Forbidden City, 184n137 Hall of Detached Sincerity, Chengde, 83fig., 84 Hall of Dynastic Prosperity, Gautama Monastery, 152–59, 154fig., 156–58fig., 162 Hall of Eminent Favor, 59. See also Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb

Hall of Enfolding Vitality, Chang’an, 156 Hall of Great Favors, Muling, 84–85, 84–86fig. Hall of Imperial Peace, Forbidden City, 39–40, 40fig., 125, 183n107 Hall of Jewel Light, Gautama Monastery, 140, 144–49fig., 144–50, 152 Hall of Magnificent Canopy, Forbidden City, 40fig. Hall of Preserving Harmony, Forbidden City, 184n137 Hall of Revering Heaven, Forbidden City, 21, 39–40, 40fig., 50–51, 80–82, 156–57. See also Hall of Supreme Harmony, Forbidden City Hall of Scrupulous Behavior, Forbidden City, 40fig. Hall of Supreme Harmony, Forbidden City (Qing), 44, 74–82, 75–79fig. Hall of the Imperial Absolute, 79 Hall of the Protectors, Gautama Monastery, 131 Han dynasty, 24, 26, 90, 185n8 heavenly sanction of Yongle’s rule: Beijing capital and, 37, 49; Hongxi, Xuande, and, 161; miraculous Buddha images for Gautama Monastery and, 142; nanmu and, 54, 55–56; objects and relics for, 14; visual expressions of, 12–13; Zhenwu and, 90 “Heavenly Winches over the Ravine,” 67fig. Heaven’s Pillar Peak, Mount Wudang, 94, 95map, 98–100, 109, 110fig. Helms, Mary, 168 History of the Dharma in Amdo, 131, 139, 162 Honghua Temple, 195n59 Hongwu emperor: artisan registry system reforms, 181n44; Buddhist cannon of, 179n27; capitals, construction of, 22, 25–29; Gautama Monastery and, 130–31, 142, 159–60; nanmu and, 54; portrait of, 179n27; Yongle’s commemoration of, 8–9 Hongxi emperor, 64, 159–60 horses, Tibetan, 142–43 Hou Xian, 128, 142 Hu Guang, 36, 55–56, 64, 170 Hu Ying, 92, 97 Huang, Ray, 68 Huangqian Hall, Temple of Heaven, Beijing, 47fig. Huizong Emperor, 157, 159fig. Huo, Mount, 123, 193n150 Illustrated Album of Zhenwu’s Efficacious Responses, 119, 192n133 Illustrated Record of the Auspicious Responses of the Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven, 116–20, 117fig., 118fig., 191n124 Illustrations of Auspicious Responses at the Temple of the Sacred Valley, 13fig., 128 Imperial Palace of the Goddess, Bixia Shrine, 192n150 Inoue, Mitsuo, 157–58 inscription of objects, 150–52, 151fig. intercolumnar bracket-sets (pingshenke): about, 47; Ancestral Temple main hall, 70; Golden Hall, Mount Wudang, 110, 191n101; Hall of Dynastic Prosperity, Gautama Monastery, 155; Mount Wudang, 103; Sacrificial Hall, 59

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Ishikha (Yishiha), 5–7, 168, 179n5 Jade Emperor (Yu Di), 94 Jade Void Palace, Mount Wudang, 95map, 96, 97, 99, 106, 107, 117, 190n72 Japan: golden halls, 191n93; Great Imperial Audience Hall, Nara, 156; Great Shrine, Ise, 64; mountains enfeoffed by Yongle in, 6; Yongle’s embassy to, 5 Ji Fu, 182n47 Ji Xiang, 182n47 Jiajing emperor, 39, 59, 65–68, 71, 79, 81–82, 124, 183n107, 185nn20, 44, 186n77, 187n88, 190n62 Jian Zhongyang, 96 Jiangnan, 31, 33, 37, 49 Jianwen emperor (Zhu Yunwen), 8, 11, 179n21 Jiming, Mount, 183n109 Jin Chun, 31, 97, 170 Jin dynasty, 21, 23fig. Jinsha River, lower reaches of, 55, 57 Journey to the North, 123–24, 193n153 Junzhou, 98–101 Kangxi emperor, 74–75, 79–80 Karmapa, Fifth. See Deshin Shekpa Karmapa, Fourth (Rangjung Dorjé), 193n7 Karmay, Heather, 150 Kew Gardens, London, 17 Khachö Wangpo, Second Shamarpa, 145–46, 150 Khubilai Khan, 11, 21–22, 90, 128, 193n10 kilns in Linqing, 32, 182n55 Kingdom of Quiet Joy, 94, 98 Kökeqota Pagoda, Inner Mongolia, 18, 18fig. Kuai Xiang, 31, 32fig. Kumbum Jampa Ling, 197n103 Kunga Tashi, 128, 140 Lagerwey, John, 96 Lan Yong, 185n20, 185n78 “Layered Shades of Green at Juyong Pass” (Wang Fu), 35, 36fig. Ledu, 127, 130. See also Gautama Monastery, Amdo Li Shanchang, 27–28 Li Xianqing, 65–66, 82 Li Xieping, 80–81, 186n128 Li Xin, 182n47 Liang Sicheng, 42, 64, 186n127 Liao dynasty, 21 Lin, Lina, 36 Linqing, 32 Liscomb, Kathryn, 37 Little, Stephen, 119 Liu Daoming, 92, 94, 96, 99 Liu Guan, 31 liujin rear tails, 59, 70, 114, 185n47 Long Life Temple, Beijing, 12, 12fig., 180n40 Longmen Temple, Pingshun, 46fig. “Lowering a Timber from a Precipice,” 67fig. Lu Xian, 31, 182n47

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Lu Xiang, 31 Luoyang capital, 24 Ma, Empress, 8, 91, 179n27 Mahābodhi stupa, 14–16 Mahābodhi temple, Bodhgayā, India, 14–16, 132, 134, 150, 180n48, 180n54 Mahākāla, 131, 136–37, 188n5 Mahu, Mount, 55–56, 57 mandala plan (Gautama Monastery), 131–38 Mañjuśrī, 11, 151fig., 192n140, 193n150 Mañjuvajra mandala, 137–38, 145–46 mansion (tingtang) form, 46, 48fig. Mass of Universal Salvation, 120 McKeown, Arthur, 180n40 Mei Li, 189n54 “Memorial on the Hall of Revering Heaven Disaster,” 50, 168 Meng Ji, 144, 152, 161 Meridian Gate, Forbidden City, 40fig. Meru, Mount, 132, 194n23 metal as building material, 109–10. See also Golden Hall, Mount Wudang Miaofeng, 192n150 Miaoyin Temple, 196n93 Mind-and-Heart Method of the Sage, The (Yongle), 11 Ming Tombs, Thirteen, 6map Ming Veritable Records, 81–82 Mingfeng, Mount, 123 modular units, in Song, Qing, and Ming, 43–45, 44fig. Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, 157 Monastery of Filial Gratitude, Nanjing, 8 Mount Wudang. See Wudang, Mount Mountain of Sacred Trees, 6, 55–56, 185n20 Mountain of Supreme Harmony. See Wudang, Mount Mountains of Heavenly Longevity, 6 Mu Xin, 97, 115, 116, 124, 189n32, 191n120, 191n125 multilingual stelae, 5–6 Nanjing capital, 6map; Beijing based on and compared to, 9, 22–23, 29, 39–42; city palace, 39; city planning, 24–29, 26fig.; craftsmen for, 182n47; move to Nanjing by Hongwu, 22; palatial city plan, 27fig.; Porcelain Pagoda, 16–17, 17fig. nanmu: about, 7–8, 53; Emperors’ Long Life Tablet, Gautama Monastery, 161; empire and, 168; fall of procurement in Qing, 82–86; Golden Thread (jinsi) nanmu, 53, 64; hauling and transportation, 58, 75; legacy of Yongle’s use of, 18; Ming procurement after Yongle, 64–69, 184n4; Phoebe zhennan, 184nn1–3; rank of buildings and, 47; rise of procurement in Yongle reign, 55–58; shan (cunninghamia) and pine as substitutes for, 58, 69, 73, 75, 78, 82, 185n43; source, 33map; storehouses, 34–35, 83; timber factories, 57; before Yongle reign, 53–54 Nanmu Hall (Yuan), 53–54 nanmu halls: Ancestral Temple, main hall, 69–70fig., 69–71, 72–73fig.; Divine Timber Temple, 83–84;

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Great Compassionate Hall of Pure Jewels, 71–72, 73fig.; Hall of Detached Sincerity, Chengde, 83fig., 84; Hall of Great Favors, Muling, 84–85, 84–86fig.; Hall of Revering Heaven, 80–82; Hall of Supreme Harmony reconstruction, 74–82, 75–79fig.; lamp posts in Altars to Heaven and Earth, 83; Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb, 59–63fig., 59–64 Narthang Monastery, 15, 150 National Buddhist Registry, 130–31, 193n19 Nguyen An (Ruan An), 31, 182n50 Ni Zhong, 29 Nieuhof, Johannes, 17fig. Northern Song, 24 Northern Wei, 24 Nurgal: Prefectural Buddhist Registry, 7; Temple to Eternal Peace, 6map, 7, 168 Ode to Imperial Virtues and Auspicious Responses, 37 ornamentation: Ancestral Temple main hall, 71; Hall of Dynastic Prosperity, Gautama Monastery, 155–56; interior lack of, Sacrificial Hall, 62–64; Mount Wudang, 105; wrapped-rim pillars and, 77 “Pacification of Crisis,” 8, 89–90 Pagoda at Tabunsubury-a, Kökeqota, Inner Mongolia, 18, 18fig. palace (diantang) form, 46, 48fig. Palace of Earthly Tranquility, Forbidden City, 40fig. Palace of Heavenly Purity, Forbidden City, 40fig. Palace of Loving Celebration, Forbidden City, 67–68 Palace of Loving Peace, Forbidden City, 67–68 Palace of Promoting Sagacity, Dadu, 22, 23fig. Palden Tashi, 161–62 Palden Zangpo, 138–40, 145–46, 149–50, 195nn41, 43 Pan.d. ita (Śāriputra), 179n15 Phagpa, 128, 193n10 pictorial composition, 157–58 pillars: Ancestral Temple main hall, 71, 72fig.; Golden Hall, Mount Wudang, 114; Great Compassionate Hall of Pure Jewels, 72; Hall of Great Favors, Muling, 85, 85–86fig.; Hall of Supreme Harmony, 76–77, 78fig.; Ming shift or elimination of, 47; Mount Wudang, 103; nanmu-wrapped, 85, 85–86fig.; Sacrificial Hall, 62, 62fig.; Worship Hall, Altar to Soil and Grain, 184n149; “wrapped-rim” method, 77–78, 78fig. Pingcheng capital, 24 Porcelain Pagoda in Nanjing (Nieuhof), 17fig. Porcelain Pagoda, Monastery of Filial Gratitude, Nanjing, 8, 19 Porcelain Pagoda, Nanjing, 16–17, 17fig. Portrait of the Yongle Emperor (Anon.), 4fig. portraits, ancestral, 9, 28 Prayer for Good Harvests Hall, Beijing, 39 Prefectural Buddhist Registry, Nurgal, 7 Prince of Yan palace, Beijing, 22, 35, 181n8 Purple Cloud Pavilion, Mount Wudang, 98 Purple Forbidden City, Mount Wudang, 125, 193n157

Purple Skies Palace, Mount Wudang, 93, 95map, 97, 100, 101–4fig., 101–8, 155, 184n133 Qi Jessün (Qi Zhesun), 193n14 Qianlong emperor: Diamond Seat pagoda replica, 18; Hall of Supreme Harmony renovation, 80; nanmu and, 82–84; ode to the great bell, 12; as reincarnation of Mañjuśrī, 11; territoriality and, 168; tomb of, 83 Qiao Bixing, 68, 185n77 Qin Shi Huangdi, emperor, 5 Qing dynasty: architectural style in, 43–45; Gautama Monastery and, 163; Hall of Supreme Harmony, 44, 74–82, 75–79fig.; nanmu procurement, decline of, 82–86 Qiyun, Mount, 121, 192n142 Quiet Joy Palace, Mount Wudang, 98–101, 106, 108, 189n50, 190n72 Rangjung Dorjé, Fourth Karmapa, 193n7 reconstructions: Ancestral Temple main hall, 65; Hall of Revering Heaven/Hall of Supreme Harmony, 74–82; nanmu and, 65–66; Three Halls, 65–66 relics: Buddha tooth, 14, 142; flying Buddha, 162–63 religious patronage of Yongle, 11–16 Ren Ziyuan, 96–97, 99, 116, 120, 189nn27, 50, 193n157 Renzong emperor, 93 residential craftsmen (zhuzuo jiang), 30–31 “Rhapsody of the Great Unification of the Imperial Capital,” 21, 39 Ricci, Matteo, 58 Rites of Zhou, 24 Robinson, David, 5 roof beams. See beams roof tiles: for Beijing capital, 34; “black glaze, green trim” method, 105, 105fig.; Gautama Monastery, 134, 158–59, 160fig.; Hall of Supreme Harmony, Forbidden City, 75; Mount Wudang, 115fig., 120; source of, 33map, 97; Temple to Eternal Peace, 179n15 Rossabi, Morris, 7 rotating craftsmen (lunban jiang), 30–31 Sacred Timber Yard, 34–35 Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb, 59fig.; Ancestral Temple main hall compared to, 69–71; completed under Xuande, 19, 59; design, 46, 59–62, 61fig., 62fig.; elevation and section drawings, 60fig., 63fig.; Gautama Monastery compared to, 155; interior ornamentation, lack of, 62–64; module of, 184n133; plan, 60fig. Sakya Yeshé, 128, 193n6 Samye Monastery, Tibet, 131–32, 134fig., 194n23 Sanjé Tashi, 129–31, 138, 142, 193nn14–15 Śāriputra (Pan.d. ita), 15–16 Schäfer, Dagmar, 106 Seaman, Gary, 193n153 Sen, Tansen, 180n47

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Shamarpa, Second (Khachö Wangpo), 145–46, 150 Shan Anren, 182n47 Shi Kui, 31 Shi Zhongcheng, 31 Shrine to the Immortal Old Man of the Betel-Nut Plum, Mount Wudang, 94–96, 95map slanted arms (xiegong), 46, 46fig. Sönam Gyaltsen, 139, 195n43 Song dynasty, 43–46, 48fig., 53 Song Li, 31, 55, 64 Southern Cliff Palace, Mount Wudang, 93, 95map, 97, 100, 106–8, 106fig., 108fig., 190nn71–72 Sperling, Elliot, 143 Sri Lanka, 6 stelae: Gautama Monastery, 140–42, 144, 160–61, 162; imperial missions and erection of, 5–6; list of master craftsmen, 7, 170; Mountain of Sacred Trees, 55–56; multilingual, 5–6; nanmu and, 57; on Temple to Eternal Peace, 7; with tortoise bases, at Mount Wudang, 106–7, 106fig., 191n87; Wudang project, 97 stone as building material, 33map, 34 stupas: Diamond Throne, 14–16, 134; Gautama Monastery, 131, 133fig.; great White Stupa, Mount Wutai, 193n3; Mahābodhi, and replicas, 14–16 Suiyang timber factories, 57 Sun Biyun, 97, 189n41 sutra listening towers (tingjing lou), 12 Tai, Mount, 123, 192n150 Taiye Lake, 23fig., 37 tangible and intangible methods of building capitals, 24–25, 29 Tanzhe Temple, Beijing, 196n78 Tao Kai, 28 Tara, 192n140 Tathāgatas, Five, 134, 136, 194n26 “tea-and-horse” markets (chama si), 143 Temple of Azure Clouds, 18 Temple of the Sacred Valley, 13fig., 120, 128 Temple of True Awakening, 16, 18 Temple to Eternal Peace, Nurgal, 6map, 7, 168 territoriality, 168 Three Halls, Beijing, 50–51, 65, 68 Tianqi reign, 79 Tibetan Buddhism. See Buddhism, Tibetan Tibetan Buddhist Canon (Kanjur), 11, 179n27 tiles. See roof tiles timber architecture. See nanmu; nanmu halls Timber Supervisor Vice Prefect, 57 Toghon Temür, emperor, 19, 42, 193n10 Toh, Hoong Teik, 193n10 tomb of Yongle, Changling, 9, 60fig. See also Sacrificial Hall at Yongle’s tomb Tomoko, Otosaka, 195n59 Treatise on Architectural Methods, 43–45, 44fig., 50 tributary states and missions, 5 Tsai, Shi-Shan, 9–10 Tsongkhapa, 128, 163, 197n103

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Udayāna, King, 140–41 Upholding the Heavens Hall, 66 Vajradhāra, 19, 127, 131, 162–63 Vajradhāra Hall, Gautama Monastery, 153 vernacular architecture, 42–43 Wang, Cheng-hua, 168 Wang Fu, 35–37, 36fig. Wang Yucheng, 119 Wanli reign: Gautama Monastery and, 197n102; Hall of Supreme Harmony reconstruction, 79; nanmu and, 65, 67–69, 185n40 Western Palace, Beijing, 35 Western Six Palaces, Forbidden City, 40fig. White Cloud Temple, Beijing, 119 White Stupa, 193n3 Wilkinson, Endymion, 10 wrapped-rim (baoxiang) pillars, 77–78, 78fig. Wu Cong, 156 Wu, King, 90 Wu Sangui, 192n149 Wu Zetian, emperor, 11 Wudang, Mount, 6map, 90fig.; auspicious responses, visual records of, 115–21, 117fig., 118fig., 120fig.; decision to reconstruct temples, 89–92; Expanding Banner Peak, 101; Gautama Monastery compared to, 162–63; Heaven’s Pillar Peak, 94, 95map, 98–100, 109, 110fig.; imperial edict plaques, 107, 107fig.; imperial seal, 99; Needle Grinding Ravine, 94, 95map; Needle Grinding Well, 95map; pilgrimage routes and paths, 95map, 99–100, 106; Prince Boulder, 98, 111, 189n52; Prince Slope, 95map, 98, 111; project in honor of Hongwu and Ma, 8; Purple Forbidden City, 125, 193n157; renamed Mountain of Supreme Harmony, 6, 99; representations, replicas, and legends, 121–25; road-building, 98–99, 189n54; sacred landscape formation in Yuan dynasty, 92–96; sacred landscape reordered by Yongle, 99–101; stairs and bridges, 106; standardization of imperial architecture, 101–8; visual records of auspicious responses, 12–13, 13fig., 115–21; Xuanyue Gate, 95map, 190n62; Yongle’s takeover and construction projects, 96–99 Wudang halls: copper hall (Yuan), 93, 93fig., 109; Encountering Truth Palace, 95map, 190n71, 192n142; entrances with stelae atop tortoises, 106–7, 106fig., 191n87; Five Dragons Palace, 93, 95map, 97, 99, 106, 190n72; Jade Void Palace, 95map, 96, 97, 99, 106, 107, 117, 190n72; Purple Cloud Pavilion, 98; Purple Skies Palace, 93, 95map, 97, 100, 101–4fig., 101–8, 155, 184n133; Quiet Joy Palace, 98–101, 106, 108, 189n50, 190n72; Shrine to the Immortal Old Man of the Betel-Nut Plum, 94–96, 95map; Southern Cliff Palace, 93, 95map, 97, 100, 106–8, 106fig., 108fig., 190nn71–72. See also Golden Hall Wutai, Mount, 138, 192n150, 193n3

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Xiaoling (tomb of Hongwu), Nanjing, 8–9 Xie Zuo, 195n60, 196n89 Xu Da, 37 Xu, Empress, 60fig., 128 Xuande emperor: Gautama Monastery and, 152, 159–62; nanmu and, 65; Palden Tashi and, 161; Temple to Eternal Peace rebuilt by, 7; Yongle’s works completed under, 19, 59 Xuanwu (Dark Warrior). See Zhenwu Xuanzang, 14 Yang Lizhi, 189n27 Yang Qing, 31 Yang Rong, 36–37 Yao Guangxiao (Daoyan), 11, 89–90 Yellow Crane Pagoda, Wuhan, 116 Yingzong reign, 51 Yongle bronzes, 150–52, 151fig. Yongle emperor (Zhu Di): attack on, by Jianwen loyalists, 189n32; emperorship, 8–16, 167–71; expansionism of, 5–8, 168; flying Buddha as relic of, 162–63; Great Yongle Encyclopedia, 9–10, 96; legacy of, 16–19; The Mind-and-Heart Method of the Sage, 11; in Mongolian legend, 42; parents, honoring of, 8–9, 91; portraits of, 4fig., 10fig.; as Prince of Yan, 22, 35, 37, 89–90; religious patronage of, 11–16; as semi-mythical or godlike, 19; spiritual advisors of, 11, 89–90; usurpation by, 8, 22, 40, 89–91, 123–24, 161, 167. See also heavenly sanction of Yongle’s rule; specific sites and monuments Yongzheng emperor, 82 Yuan dynasty: Dadu capital, 21–22, 23fig., 37–39; Nanmu Hall, 53–54; Tibetan Buddhism and, 128, 193n10; Wudang sacred landscape, formation of, 92–96; Zhenwu and, 90 Yunfeng, Mount, 85

Zhang Dedi, 74 Zhang Jianwei, 111 Zhang Lianggao, 190n68 Zhang Ning, 182n47 Zhang Sanfeng, 11, 91–92 Zhang Sigong, 31 Zhang Xin, 96–97, 115, 116, 124, 189n32, 191n125 Zhang Yuqing, 123–24, 191n125 Zhao Benxin, 190n80 Zhao Bi, 119 Zheng He, 5, 6, 14, 142 Zhengjue Monastery, 15, 15fig. Zhengtong reign, 79 Zhengyang Gate, Nanjing, 26fig. Zhenwu (Perfect Warrior): aiding Yongle’s usurpation, 89, 91, 123–24; biography tale, 94–96; Daoyan’s vision of, 89–90; escorted by five dragon kings (bronze), 121, 122fig.; as guardian of Yongle’s empire, 40; Hall of Imperial Peace, Beijing (temple to), 39–40; history of, 90; Hongwu’s temple to, Mount Jiming, 183n109; images of, 40, 118fig., 120fig.; legend of longhaired, barefooted statue type, 124; statues and sculptures of, 91fig., 110–11, 113fig.; as Xuanwu (Dark Warrior), 89; Yongle associated with, 11, 19, 121; Yuan temples dedicated to, 90. See also Wudang, Mount Zhenzong emperor, 90 Zhihua Temple, Beijing, 196n78 Zhongcui Palace, Forbidden City, 196n78 Zhou dynasty, 196n73 Zhu Bang, 32fig. Zhu Biao, 179n21 Zhu Yunwen. See Jianwen emperor Zhuge Ping, 116 Zou Ji, 50, 168 Zuzhou, 32–33

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