A New Study Of The Wars In Late Yuan China

This dissertation,from new perspectives,investigates the wars in late Yuan China,which created enormous impact on both China and the world.In the sense of world history,these wars marked the end of the Mongol Era in world history.From the perspective of Chinese history,these wars resulted in the advent of the Ming dynasty,whose policies and institutions shaped the political and social landscape of the following hundreds of years.However the study of these wars has not received sufficient academic attention and many core questions in this field remain unanswered.Based on previous scholarship,this dissertation seeks to answer these core questions.Breakthroughs of this dissertation include challenges to previous methodologies,revisions of previous arguments and examinations of topics neglected by previous literature.In current historiography,the two terms,the Song-Yuan transition and the Yuan-Ming transition are usually juxtaposed to refer to two dynastic transitions in the 13th and 14th centuries.This dissertation argues that the juxtaposition is not appropriate when we talk about the political processes of the two transitions.During most of the Yuan-Ming transition,the two warring sides were not the Yuan and the Ming,but the Yuan and the two Red Turban regimes.Thus to understand the Yuan-Ming transition,scholars should focus their attention on the two Red Turban regimes,rather than Zhu Yuanzhang’s regime.One central question of the dissertation is about the origin of the title of the Ming dynasty.While it is generally accepted that the name of the Ming dynasty was derived from Xiao Mingwang,the title of Zhu Yuanzhang’s former overlord Han Liner,scholarly vary widely on the meaning of Mingwang.During the war period,the Red Turbans were using the slogan "the Mingwang is coming to the world.”For a long time,scholars have tended to identify the Mingwang in the slogan with deities,supposedly worshiped by Red Turban soldiers.The dissertation challenges this approach,and it argues the Mingwang in the slogan referred to the enlightened sage ruler described in Confucian classics.Indeed the aim of the Red Turban rebellions was to establish a Confucian ideal society.This argument puts into question the popular opinion that the Red Turbans were made up of groups of roving bandits.Wu Han was the first Chinese scholar who sought to interpret the meaning of the title Ming by using modern academic tools such as textual analysis and evidential studies.In his famous 1041 paper "Manichaeism and the Great Ming Empire"(mingjiao yu daming diguo 明教与大明帝国),Wu proposed a bold argument,suggesting that the Ming dynasty derived its name from Manichaeism,an Persian religion that was call Ming Jiao 明教(the religion of light)in medieval China.Wu claimed that Zhu Yuanzhang’s former overlord Han Liner,as well as most of the leaders of the Red Turban movement,were indeed Manicheans.Han Liner’s title Xiao Mingwang(the Junior Prince of Light 小明王)was the manifestation of his religious belief.Zhu Yuanzhang chose the Ming as the title of his dynasty in order to appeal to remnants of the Red Turban movement,who made up of a large part of Zhu’s troop when the Ming was founded.To support this argument,Wu had to overcome difficulties caused by sources.No extant sources mention the role of Manichaeism in the uprisings in the late Yuan.The yuanshi and the mingshilu(the Veritable Records of the Ming),as well as other contemporary sources,do record Han Liner’s title as Xiao Mingwang,but none of them gives a specific explanation of its meaning,let alone the Manichean background of the title.But the yuanshi and another private writing the genshen waishi 庚申外史(the unofficial history of the gengshen emperor)clear record that Han Liner,as well as his father and grandfather,belonged to the White-Lotus society.Furthermore during the uprisings,Han Liner and his Red Turban followers also spread a prophecy that "the Buddha Maitreya is descending into the world and the Mingwang is coming to the world(milefo xiasheng mingwang chushi 弥勒佛下生明王出世)".This prophecy also showed that Han Liner and his colleagues worshiped the Buddha Maitreya.To develop his argument that the name Ming was originated from Manichaeism,Wu had to first elaborate on the relationships between Manichaeism,White-Lotus society and the Buddha Maitreya worship.The first step of Wu’s argumentation process was to establish links between the three beliefs.Wu pointed out that in many Song official documents and orthodoxy Buddhist texts,the three above-mentioned beliefs were often listed together and labelled as the sects of "eating vegetables and worshipping demons."(shicai shimo 食菜事魔).Thus Wu asserted that during the Song Manichaeism had already intermingled with certain sects of Buddhism,such as the White-Lotus sect and the Meitreya sect.Wu also argues that the Mingwang in the Red Turban prophecy referred to the supreme God in Manichaeism,who,according to Manichean sutra,will descend to save the world one day.Since the three beliefs had intermingled,Wu asserts that Buddha Meitreya and the Mingwang in the Red Turban prophecy were indeed two names of the same deity,the Manichean supreme God,in the intermingled Buddho-Manichean society.Although all extant sources point to Buddhists,Wu concluded that the uprisings were indeed organized by Manicheans.The second step of Wu’s argumentation process is to associate Han Liner’s title with Manichean sutras.According to orthodox Buddhist writings,Manicheans often recited a sutra named the sutra of the Senior and Junior Mingwang coming to the world(daxiao mingwang chushijing大小明王出世经),which has been lost.Wu Han inferred that,since Han Liner had the title of Xiao Mingwang,his father Han Shantong must have had the title of Da Mingwang when he was alive.The titles of Han Liner and his father just matched the name of the sutra and Red Turbans’prophecy that "the mingwang is coming to the world".Thus Wu reinforced his argument that the Red Turban movement was led by Manicheans.The third step of the argumentation process is to explain the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the Ming as the dynastic title.Wu argues that the primary aim of the adoption was to appeal to former Red Turban soldiers who consisted of a huge part of Zhu Yuanzhang’s troop.Wu intended to make these soldiers believe he was the god of Mingwang in Manichaeism told in the prophecy.He could legitimize his authority over these soldiers by seemingly fulfilling the prophecy.Wu points out that the adoption of the name Ming had the second aim.In addition to Red Turban soldiers,there were also many Confucians serving in Zhu’s state.The dynastic title Ming also made senses to them.Confucians worship sun and moon;the two Chinese characters,sun(日)and moon(月),combine to form the character Ming(明).Thus the dynastic title,in the mind of Confucians,could represent the Confucian rituals of sacrifices to sun and moon.The adoption of the title Ming could appeal to both the two groups of Zhu’s followers.Wu Han’s argument was widely accepted by scholars in both China and foreign countries.Chinese textbooks accepted it as a standard narrative for the history of the Yuan-Ming transition.Many influential works in western languages,such as the Cambridge history of China volume 6,edited by Herbert Franke and Denis Twitchett and the Imperial China by Frederick Mote also adopt Wu’s argument.Many scholars did research with Wu’s argument as the starting point.For example John Dardess divides the wars during the late Yuan into two stages,namely the first stage Buddho-Manichean messianic riots and the second stage a Confucian reconstruction movement.Dardess argued that the process of the wars was a transformation from Messianic revolt to the construction of a traditional Confucian state.Wu’s identification of Mingwang with Manichean god has lead Dardess to regard the Red Turban revolt and the restoration of a traditional Confucian Chinese state mutually exclusive.Before the 1980s,Wu’s interpretation of the title Ming was the most prevailing argument on this topic.Wu’s argument and methodology have met serious challenges since the 1980s.In 1983,Chinese scholar Chen Gaohua 陈高华 published a paper,examining the definition of the so-called the sects "eating vegetables and worshipping demons".Chen admits that during the Song dynasty,Manichaeism and some heretic sects of Buddhism,such as the white-Lotus teaching,Maitreya worshipping,the White Cloud sect among others,were all labelled as sects of "eating vegetables and worshipping demons." But Chen,quoting an imperial memorial submitted to the court by a Song Jiangxi local official,points out that the Song government clearly acknowledged boundaries among the different heretic sects.In this memorial,the author Wang Zhi,listed four kinds of heresies and gave the different characteristics of individual heresies.He also noted that the different heretic sects indeed recited different heretic sutras.Chen Gaohua argue that "eating vegetables and worshipping demons" was indeed an umbrella term for all kinds of heresies,but it does not necessarily mean that all these heretic sects intermingled with each other.Chen Gaohua also quoted two lists of banned books given by the Song government,one for heretic Buddhist sects and one for Manichaeism.The lists reveal that the sutra of the coming of the Senior and Junior Mingwang belonged to a heretic sect of Pure Land Buddhism,instead of Manichaeism.Chen’s research has seriously shaken the foundation of Wu Han’s argument.Since Chen’s research shows that the different heretic sects did not intermingle during the Song,Wu’s argument that the Red Turban movement was organized by Manicheans seems groundless.Furthermore,because the sutra of the coming of the senior and junior Mingwang was not a Manichean book,"Wu’s association of Xiao Mingwang,Han Liner’s title,with the Manichean god,becomes very weak.After Chen Gaohua,Chinese scholar Yang Ne’s study also poses a big challenge to Wu Han’s overall argument.Yang’s study examines the history of the White-Lotus teaching in the Song-Yuan dynasties.His works show that during the Song and Yuan dynasties,some heretic braches of the White-Lotus teaching also worshipped Maitreya Buddha,but there is no evidence that Manichaeism ever infiltrated into the White-Lotus Maitreya society.This find reinforced Chen Gaohua’s argument.Although Yang Ne disagrees with Wu Han on the infiltration of Manichaeism into Buddhism,he accepts the argument that Buddha Maitreya and Mingwang in the prophecy were indeed two titles of the same deity worshiped by the White-Lotus Maitreya Buddhist society.He also concurs to the opinion that the name of the Ming dynasty was originated from Han Liner’s title,Xiao Mingwang.The differences between Wu and Yang lie in two questions,namely the Meaning of Mingwang and the reasons why Zhu Yuanzhang chose the Ming as the dynastic name.Since the daxiao mingwang chushi jing did not belong to Manichaeism,Wu’s approach to associate Xiao Mingwang with Manichaeism is highly questionable.Yang asserts that the right approach to explore the meaning of Mingwang should be to examine the sutras and texts of the White-Lotus Maitreya society.In the sutra da amituo jing大阿弥陀经(the sutra of the great Buddha Amitahba),presumably favored by the White-Lotus teaching,Yang has found a few lines that he believes contains information about the origin of Mingwang.These lines read:"The Buddha said,Amitabha Buddha’s brightness is elegant and resplendent,unique and boundless,many times superior to the brightness of the sun and moon.He becomes the king of the Radiant buddhas(guangming zhi wang 光明 之王)....Wherever his brightness reaches,all the innumerable hidden and dark places in the world turn out to be always in ’Great Radiance’(da ming 大明)."Yang insists that the Amitabha Buddha described in this sutra was the deity of Mingwang in the Red Turban prophecy.Amitabha Buddha is an important Buddha in the White-Lotus tradition,and of course it must have been favored by the White-Lotus Maitreya believers.The above-mentioned sutra refers to Buddha Amitahba as the Radiant Buddha(guangming zhiwang 光明之王),which can be abbreviated as mingwang in oral Chinese.Yang suggests that the title of Xiao Mingwang indicated that Han Liner was an incarnation of both the Matreya Buddha and the Amitahba Buddha.Zhu Yuanzhang,having been a Buddhist monk in his young age,must have known of the brightness and power of the Amitahba Buddha.He chose da ming as the title of his dynasty to show that he was the true incarnation of the mingwang(Amitahba Buddha).Yang also suggests that probably Zhu deliberately identified his dynastic name with mingwang(Amitahba Buddha)in memory of his life as a Buddhist monk in the past.Different from previous scholarship,this dissertation reinterpret the meaning of Mingwang from a new perspective.It argues that Mingwang was a Confucian concept that was used in Confucian classics in reference to enlightened rulers.The meaning of the Red Turban prophecy implied that Buddha Maitreya would descend to the world and become an enlighten ruler over China.The ultimate aim of the Red Turban uprisings was to build a Confucian idealized society,where the people would live in peace and abundance under the rule of the enlightened ruler.This new argument will strongly challenge the established narratives of the Yuan-Ming transition.The reinterpretation of Mingwang itself is not enough to show that the Red Turbans aimed to build a Confucian ideal society.We have to investigate the regimes established by the rebels to see whether Confucian factors were involved in their policy-making and administration systems.The second chapter examines policies carried out by and institutions established by the Red Turban regimes.Extant sources and archaeological findings show that the individual states established by the Red Turbans all tended to rule their regimes on the basis of Confucian classics.In the north,the Xiao Mingwang’s Song state carried out a farming system similar to the legendary Well-field farming system,described in the Mencius.In the south,the Red Turban regime,Da Xia,set up its government based on the records in the Zhouli周礼.Sources all point to the fact that the Red Turban regimes were strongly influenced by Confucianism.The role of prophecies in the wars has been largely neglected by previous scholarship.This dissertation devotes a specific chapter,talking about the influence of prophecies in the Yuan-Ming transition.By closely examining two widely-spread prophecies,the dissertation suggests that the two prophecies were generated based on a mysterious catastrophic theory.From the perspective of the catastrophic theory,we can find out secret links between many important events of that period.The dissertation also seeks,from a perspective of social and cultural history,to offer an answer as to why the Yuan failed in the wars.It argues that the structure and nature of the Yuan as a world empire impeded its strict control over local Han Chinese,and estranged the Mongol rulers from Han culture.When the Han Chinese rebel leads mobilized Chinese by using Chinese traditional cultural sources,the Mongols were not able to effectively tackle it due to their alienation from the Han culture.Furthermore,the dissertation also points out that the Red Turban rebellions greatly shaped the structure and nature of the Ming dynasty.The study of the Red Turbans will help to shed new light on the history of the Ming.