Shedding Blood to Tighten Up the Blood Ties: Zhu Yuanzhang’s Punitive Attempts to Check Interfamilial Conflicts As Seen in the 'Dan'elu'

After the century-long Mongol dominance of China and the catastrophic wars of the dynastic transition followed, the Ming Founding Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang 朱元璋 (re.1368-1398) found that the Chinese Civilisation founded upon dutiful familial principles was in danger, so that in his enthronement Zhu declared that it is the heavenly mission of the Ming dynasty to re-establish the legitimate morality of traditional China, and at the same time eliminate the evil customs of the Steppes. To educate the society through law and punishment, he had promulgated no less than seven versions of the Great Ming Code during his 30 years reign questing for a perfect code to guide his people led astray by the Mongols, and imposed bloody measures such as massacres of political enemies, corrupted officials and unfilial sons and brothers of the society, whose outrageous crimes are recorded in royal publications such as the three instalments of the Grand Pronouncement published during 1385 to 1387. Were these harsh measures effective to transform the people?

This talk attempts to address this question by discussing four selected cases of interfamilial conflicts found in the 1390 publication Dan’e lu 癉惡錄 (A Record of Condemning Evil), a newly rediscovered educational casebook written by Zhu Yuanzhang. Thanks to the crimes recorded in the cases took place between 1387 to 1390, it is observed that the early Ming population, even those resided near the capital Nanjing, were almost undeterred by the threats of the Dagao and continued their unfilial “malpractices” condemned by the angry emperor. The main aim of the discussion is to explore the limitations of heavy-handed legal measures in reforming the morality of society.

About the Speaker

Tam Ka-chai published in recent years three books on Chinese legal history, namely, Justice in Print: Discovering Prefectural Judges and their Judicial Consistency in late Ming Casebooks (Brill, 2020), Ming Zhongwanqi de falü shiliao yu shehui wenti 明中晚期的法律史料與社會問題 (Wanjuanlou 萬卷樓, 2020) and The Spread and Restrictions of Catholicism under the Judicial Perspective in Ming and Qing China 天道廷審—明清司法視野下天主教的傳播與限制 (co-authored in Chinese with Victor Fang, HK CityU Press, 2021).

Before reading his D.Phil. in Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford, he had studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and received his B.A. (Hons) History and M.Phil. After teaching and researching in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and CUHK, he has been serving in the Department of History, the Hong Kong Baptist University, and now as an Associate Professor. Alongside legal history, his areas of interest include maritime and transportation history of East Asia from 14th to 21st centuries, and the development of Historical Geographical Information System.

The ANU China Seminar Series is supported by the Australian Centre on China in the World at ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.