Zhu Yuyue Explained

Shaowu Emperor
Birth Date:	1605 Wanli 33 (萬曆三十三年)
Death Date:	Longwu 2, 15th day of the 12th month (隆武二年十二月十五日)
Burial Place:	Graveyard of the Shaowu Emperor and his Ministers (紹武君臣冢), Mukegang, Yuexiu Hill, Guangzhou
Father:	Zhu Qisheng
Mother:	Lady Mao
Full Name:	Zhu Yuyue (朱聿鐭^[1])
Succession:	Emperor of the Southern Ming dynasty
Reign:	11 December 1646 – 20 January 1647
Predecessor:	Longwu Emperor
Successor:	Yongli Emperor
Succession2:	Prince of Tang
Reign2:	1645–1646
Reign-Type2:	Tenure
Predecessor2:	Zhu Yujian
Successor2:	Zhu Yu'e
House:	Zhu
Dynasty:	Southern Ming
Era Dates:	Shaowu^[2] (紹武)

Zhu Yuyue (;^[1] 1605 – 20 January 1647), the Prince of Tang, reigned as the Shaowu Emperor of the Southern Ming dynasty from 1646 to 1647.

Biography

He was a descendant of the first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Before ascending to the throne he followed his father as the Prince of Tang and elder brother, the future Longwu Emperor, their fief being situated in Nanyang prefecture, in Henan province. In 1646 he succeeded the title of Prince of Tang after the accession of the Longwu Emperor.

When Qing forces captured Fuzhou in early October 1646 and killed the Longwu Emperor, he fled to Guangzhou. That December, at the behest of several high officials, he ascended to the Ming throne in Guangzhou, taking the reign title "Shaowu" (紹武; pinyin: Shàowǔ), just a few days before the Prince of Gui became the Yongli Emperor.

Both regimes claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Ming dynasty, and war broke out shortly afterwards. Initially, forces of the Shaowu regime enjoyed victory over the Yongli forces. This ultimately led to the overconfidence of the Shaowu Emperor. Corruption and lack of defense doomed the government. Just 40 days after the establishment of the Shaowu regime, Qing forces successfully invaded Guangzhou. The Shaowu Emperor was captured in January 1647 and immediately committed suicide.

The remains of the Shaowu Emperor and his officials are buried in Yuexiu Park, Guangzhou.

Notes and References

The rare character cannot be seen with many browsers' fonts. It looks like the combination [金粵] (see U+028B81 in Unihan database) and is pronounced "yuè" according to dictionaries such as zdic.net. Many online sources substitute for the rare character the more common character 鐭, which has a different element on the right. The name is transcribed as Zhu Yuyue e.g. in Frederic E Wakeman, Jr., 'The Great Enterprise'.
The era name Shaowu was originally planned to supersede Longwu (隆武) in 1647, but the Shaowu Emperor's reign ended before the era name was put into effective use.