There have been multiple incidents of capital relocation in Chinese history. In the 14th century BC, King Pan Geng of the Shang Dynasty, despite public opinion, moved the capital from Yan (now Qufu, Shandong) to Yin (now Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan), opening up the brilliant civilization of the Shang Dynasty for over two hundred years; In 350 BC, Duke Xiaogong of Qin moved his capital from Liyang to Xianyang, accelerating the rise of the Qin state; In 494 AD, Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei, Tuoba Hong, moved his capital from Pingcheng (now Datong, Shanxi) to Luoyang, winning the recognition of Central Plains culture; In 1272 AD, Emperor Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty moved his capital from Kaiping Prefecture (about 300 kilometers north of Beijing) to Yanjing (now Beijing) and renamed it Dadu, thus creating an unprecedentedly vast territory in Chinese history. Moving the capital requires sufficient courage and courage. Next, which emperor should it be? In 1402 AD, it was the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen, the grandson of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, and also the fourth year of his uncle Zhu Di’s uprising from Beiping. Due to concerns about the heavy military power of his uncles who were enfeoffed outside, Emperor Jianwen immediately began to reduce his fiefdoms upon ascending the throne, which immediately sparked resistance from the most powerful Yan King Zhu Di. In 1399 AD, Zhu Di rose up from Beiping under the pretext of the Qing Emperor’s side. Four years later, with the support of Gu Wang Zhu Sui, Cao Guo Gong Li Jinglong, and others, the army of the Yan King captured the capital city of Nanjing. Emperor Jianwen died in a great fire, and this event is known as the Jingnan Battle. At the age of 43, Zhu Di will become the new ruler of the Ming Dynasty. On June 17th of the same year, in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, Emperor Xiaoling of the Ming Dynasty, Prince Yan Zhu Di, on his way back from paying homage to Zhu Yuanzhang’s Xiaoling, directed a farce of persuasion with a yellow robe. After pretending, Zhu Di ascended to the throne and officially changed the throne. In 1403 AD, the era name of the Ming Dynasty was changed to Yongle, and the history of the Ming Dynasty entered the Yongle era. In January of the first year of Yongle, Zhu Di returned to the Fengtian Hall after a grand worship of heaven and earth in the suburbs of Nanjing. After the courtiers paid their respects, Li Zhigang, the Minister of Rites who was good at understanding their intentions, proposed a suggestion to Zhu Di: to use Beiping as Beijing, which marked the beginning of the Ming Dynasty’s capital relocation. However, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was relocated from Nanjing to Beiping, which not only required the support of the whole country, but also took a full nineteen years to achieve. Professor Mao Peiqi from Renmin University of China: Where is the capital? It involves the control of the monarch over his vast territory, and he also needs to consider various political, economic, cultural, and military issues. Therefore, in the first year of Yongle, Li Zhigang proposed to move the capital. This is not a sudden problem, but a problem that must be solved immediately. Li Zhigang precisely expressed Zhu Di’s intentions, which should be said to be not only Zhu Di’s intentions, but also Zhu Yuanzhang’s last wish. In the first few decades of the Ming Dynasty, where the capital was located seemed to have been an unresolved issue. As early as the early years of the Hongwu reign, Zhu Yuanzhang had conducted inspections of cities such as Bianliang, Luoyang, and Xi’an in Fengyang County, Chuzhou City, Anhui Province. He also built the Zhongdu Imperial City in his hometown of Fengyang. However, due to various reasons, construction was stopped midway and Nanjing was repaired. However, Nanjing did not seem to be the ideal capital in Zhu Yuanzhang’s mind. In his later years, Zhu Yuanzhang specially sent Crown Prince Zhu Biao to inspect the north and investigate the relocation of the capital. Unfortunately, Crown Prince Zhu Biao passed away in the 25th year of the Hongwu reign, and the relocation of the capital was put on hold. In Zhu Di’s opinion, relocating the capital to Beiping was the most suitable choice. He ordered the renaming of Beiping to Beijing and the renaming of Beiping Prefecture to Shuntian Prefecture. In February of the same year, Zhu Di issued an edict to establish the Beijing Garrison Headquarters, the Beijing Administration Headquarters, and the Beijing Imperial Academy. As a result, Beijing became the second capital city. Although fulfilling the long-standing wish of Emperor Taizu made the reason for Zhu Di’s relocation to Beijing seem legitimate, the timing for unifying the court’s understanding of the relocation and completing all preparations for the relocation is still far from mature. For Zhu Di, a talented and strategic monarch, there was a deeper level of thinking involved in relocating the capital. There is a bloody record in the “Annals of the Ming Dynasty”: “The party of Fang Xiaoru died 870 people, the case of Zou Jin killed 440 people, the prison of Lian Zining abandoned 150 people, the party of Chen Di stationed 180 people with staff, the department of the central government, more than 80 people were killed in marriage, the whole family of Hu Run’s prison was abducted 317 people, the arrest of Dong Yong, and the death guard of the marriage clan was 230 people. These seven cases involved more than 2200 people in total.” The acquisition of the throne by Zhu Di was seen by many old officials of Jianwen as a great rebellion, so Zhu Di’s acquisition of the throne was considered immoral. Afterwards, some of them died to the death of Emperor Jianwen, some fled and did not serve, and some even plotted to assassinate Zhu Di. Zhu Di was very angry and slaughtered the old officials of Jianwen on a large scale, especially Fang Xiaoru, who was an imperial teacher. He was killed by Zhu Di for refusing to write an edict to ascend the throne, resulting in the killing of ten more clans than the “nine clans” – students. One person receives the plant, and more people are implicated, just like melon vines that stretch endlessly, forming the so-called “melon vine copying”. The city of Nanjing in the early 15th century was shrouded in the bloody, terrifying, and suspicious atmosphere after Zhu Di’s brutal killings, which persisted for a long time. However, no matter how strong the soul is, in the quiet of the night, it may also be a bit fragile and uneasy. Zhu Di once asked his subordinates if my actions would offend the ancestors of heaven and earth. His subordinates comforted him and said, “Your Majesty, I will obey the heavens and conquer the people, what is the crime?” Zhu Di then felt a little comforted in his heart. However, if we overly emphasize the relationship between moving the capital and avoiding spiritual self blame, we may see this iron blooded emperor as weak. In fact, Emperor Yongle’s move to Beijing was mainly due to practical considerations and aimed to control the northern border. In August 1368 AD, General Xu Da under Zhu Yuanzhang led the Ming army to capture Yuan Dadu. Emperor Shun of Yuan was driven back to the north, and the remnants of the Mongol Yuan forces began a long-term confrontation with the Ming dynasty. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang enfeoffed his four adult sons as kings in Xi’an, Taiyuan, Beiping, and Daning, guarding the border areas. In subsequent wars with the Mongolian army, Beiping served as a gathering place for the army several times. From a strategic perspective, setting the capital in Beijing was a very bold choice. Zhu Di stood up on the northern front line, establishing the spirit of the emperor’s pursuit of the border. However, Zhu Di’s relocation of the capital not only strengthened the northern border defense, but also had his more magnificent heroic strategy. Professor Mao Peiqi from Renmin University of China: If Ming Chengzu wanted to be a great emperor, he had a ready-made example to learn from, which was Kublai Khan. Beijing not only controlled the two sides of the Yellow River, the vast Jiangnan and Jiangbei regions, but also the north of the Great Wall and the desert. This was a brilliant and strategic choice. Since the Qin Dynasty, many dynasties have used the Great Wall as a barrier to resist the armed forces of northern nomadic tribes, while Zhu Di wanted to control the four barbarians and control the world, extending the power of the dynasty beyond the Great Wall and establishing a powerful dynasty comparable to the Mongol Yuan Empire. In this magnificent map of the Ming Dynasty, Beijing is the center of the entire country. Therefore, Zhu Di spared no effort in multiple expeditions to the north, with great ambition. However, Zhu Di faced several Manchu civil and military officials who could understand his ambitions. Indeed, relocating the capital was an extremely huge and complex political, economic, and even psychological project, and Zhu Di’s management of the new capital began with immigration. In October of the first year of Yongle (1403 AD), a group of exiled prisoners moved to the Beijing area for reclamation, followed by nearly 4000 wealthy households from ten counties including Zhili and Suzhou, and nine provinces including Zhejiang settling in Beijing. In the second and third years of Yongle (1404-1405), the government relocated 20000 households from Taiyuan and other areas in Shanxi to the Beijing area. In addition, 3000 households from Nanjing and Zhejiang were relocated to Wanping and Daxing counties in Beijing. From then on, the population in Beijing began to increase sharply, labor was abundant, and agricultural production gradually resumed. Professor Mao Peiqi from Renmin University of China: As a capital city, it must be supported by a prosperous economy, so large-scale migration began at that time. This large-scale migration was not only to move to the capital city, but also to move from places like Shanxi, so-called narrow towns, to so-called wide towns like Hebei and Shandong. In fact, this type of immigration had existed as early as the Hongwu period, but it was larger in scale and lasted longer during the Yongle period. In the fourth year of Yongle (1406 AD), under the pretext of building the imperial palace for the Northern Expedition, Beijing quietly began construction. However, the relocation of a large empire would inevitably affect the nerves of the whole country. In addition to gathering a large number of manpower, the construction of the capital also required the allocation and gathering of various resources, of which the most important was of course food. Currently, relying solely on a large number of immigrants to settle fields is far from completely solving the food supply in the capital. On February 11, 1409, in the seventh year of Yongle reign in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, Zhu Di embarked on his first northern tour after ascending the throne. He set off from Nanjing and traveled a long distance for nearly a month before arriving in Beijing. Along with him, there was an administrative team responsible for handling government affairs. The place where the emperor is located is called “Xing Zai”, and the titles of accompanying court officials also include the words “Xing Zai”. The arrival of the emperor and government officials indicates that Beijing at this time shared some of the administrative functions of the empire. However, the fatigue of the boats and carts during this northern tour also made Zhu Di feel the biggest challenge in building a new capital city – material transportation. Relying on waterways to connect the north and south was once a dream of many emperors in Chinese history. In 605 AD, Emperor Yang of Sui excavated the Grand Canal connecting Hangzhou in the south and Zhuo County in the north. The Yuan Dynasty added the Tonghui River, Luozhou River, and Huitong River to connect with the Sui Dynasty Canal, but this new canal has never been fully navigable. In 1391 AD, the Yellow River broke through in the southwest of Yuanyang, Henan, and since then, it has been silted up and abandoned. During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, the transportation of military grain in the northern and Liao dynasties could only rely on high-risk sea transportation and time-consuming land transportation. Reorganizing the canal is clearly the best choice to solve the transportation of relocated materials. At the beginning of the ninth year of Yongle (1411), Zhu Di ordered the reconstruction of the Grand Canal. In March, the Minister of Works, Song Li, and the Minister of Justice, Jin Chun, led 300000 laborers to start dredging the Huitong River. One year later, the Wenshui River was diverted, and the Huitong River was dredged and widened. Two years later, Zhu Di sent the Pingjiang Bo Chen Xuan to transport the river and excavate the Qingjiangpu section of Huai’an. In just one year, Chen Xuan completed the task, and the entire Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal was unobstructed. Today, more than 600 years later, the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal, which was dredged and connected for capital relocation, still plays a powerful transportation function. The Grand Canal, which extended nearly 2000 kilometers from Hangzhou Bay to the north, immediately became the main artery for grain transportation in the Ming Dynasty. This Grand Canal connects the Yangtze River, Huai River, Yellow River, and Wei River, flows through Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, and Tianjin, with more than 100000 officers and soldiers and thousands of grain transport ships, traveling south and north along the world’s longest artificial waterway for years. During the reign of Zhu Di, this Grand Canal transported up to six million stones annually to the north, ensuring the supply of grain to the capital. This number was six times higher than during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang. More importantly, the dredged Grand Canal became a transportation channel for a large amount of materials needed to build Beijing. In addition to completing the basic tasks of grain transportation, the boatmen responsible for transporting grain and the officers and soldiers escorting grain were allowed to carry small amounts of goods with the local people along the way. As a result, some grain transportation docks on both sides of the canal began to prosper, and specialty products from the south often appeared in the streets of the north. The bustling canal docks were also mixed with a mix of southern and northern dialects. Zhang Limin: The establishment of transportation represents the smooth exchange of goods, so the canal connects the exchange of goods between the north and south, forming several nodes. Linqing is a node, Yangzhou is a node, and Tianjin is a node. What to rely on for development? Soil is suitable. Soil is suitable for local products, and it should be cheap. In fact, they are allowed to bring certain local and southern local specialties to sell here. Huo Qingshun has lived in Yangliuqing Town by the canal since he was young, and he spent most of his life dealing with woodblock New Year paintings. Huo Qingshun: Young people’s paintings of willows and willows give people a sense of softness, which needs to be refined and detailed, and also needs to be transparent and bright. That kind of elegance can be carved through carving, but you often cannot draw it. The origin of Tianjin Yangliu Youth Painting can be traced back to the Song Dynasty and reached its peak during the Ming and Qing dynasties. There was a prosperous scene where every household was skilled in dyeing and painting, and every household was skilled in painting. In Huo Qingshun’s view, the prosperity of Yangliu Youth Painting is closely related to the Grand Canal in front of him. Huo Qingshun: Because you are making New Year paintings, you need raw materials that must come from the south. For example, whether it’s color, pen, or ink, most of them are transported from the south and transported through this waterway, which is the canal by the canal, to this place. Suzhou’s pigments, Xuancheng’s paper, and Huzhou’s brushes, these high-quality southern materials have formed a unique artistic style of Yangliu Youth Painting, which has been passed down for hundreds of years. Along the canal, more cities have gradually flourished due to the smooth transportation of water. The Grand Canal, which spans nearly two thousand kilometers, has become an important channel for connecting the economy and culture of North and South China. In the second year after the Grand Canal was dredged, which was the eleventh year of Yongle (1413 AD), Zhu Di once again embarked on a northern tour. After arriving in Beijing, Zhu Di stayed for three years and seemed to increasingly like this future imperial capital. Zhu Di almost forgot about Nanjing, and the emperor’s second northern tour led the power center of the Ming Dynasty to increasingly concentrate in Beijing. Professor Mao Peiqi from Renmin University of China: The opening of the Grand Canal is like the opening of the Beijing Guangzhou Railway. It has driven a series of economic and cultural prosperity in the surrounding areas, promoted economic exchanges between the north and south, and provided significant support for the Ming Dynasty’s Chinese nation’s pursuit of great unity and integration. During the second Northern Expedition, Zhu Di made an important decision to bury Empress Xu in Beijing. In the fifth year of the Yongle reign, Empress Xu, who had lived and died together with Zhu Di, passed away in Nanjing and was not buried for a long time. Just before the departure of the second Northern Expedition, Zhu Di ordered his second son, Prince Han Zhu Gaoxu, to escort Empress Xu’s coffin to Beijing and ultimately bury it in the Changling Mausoleum at the foot of Tianshou Mountain in Changping. According to the custom of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty regarding the joint burial of emperors and empresses, the Ming Thirteen Tombs in Beijing will also be the tomb of Zhu Di himself. The act of the Empress burying Changling is equivalent to indicating to the world that the relocation of the capital to Beijing is about to be fully launched. Collecting the best materials from all over the world is a necessity for building the city of Beijing. This large-scale procurement of raw materials that affected the whole country began as early as the fourth year of Yongle (1406 AD). The Hengduan Mountains in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River are steep and rarely visited by humans. They are the birthplace of precious nanmu trees. In order to prepare wood for the upcoming capital city, tens of thousands of people have braved thorns and entered the mountains to pick wood. After strict selection of high-quality wood, due to its huge volume, it is first transported by temporary mountain roads to the nearest water source river by laborers, drifted into the Yangtze River, and then headed north along the canal. In the era without modern transportation tools, the human casualties during the logging and transportation of giant trees can be imagined. There was once a metaphor of “entering the mountain for a thousand, leaving the mountain for five hundred.”. The wood that has traveled thousands of miles is piled up at the Shenmu Factory outside Chongwen Gate for use in the construction of the northern capital city. Another important raw material required for the construction of the capital city is stone. The White Marble produced around Beijing is muddy white in color, uniform in texture and large in volume, making it the first choice for the construction of the imperial city. And these high-quality stones are often buried deep, making mining extremely difficult. Many of the materials required for the construction of the capital city are exclusively supplied to Beijing by various regions. The Suzhou Imperial Kiln by the canal specializes in making floor tiles for the imperial palace. These two foot square tiles are made from unique clay as raw materials and undergo tedious manual craftsmanship. Since the Yongle period, they have been a specialty of the Forbidden City, used to lay the most important palace of the palace. After thousands of selections, only those floor tiles with a hard and fine texture, striking like metal with a resounding sound, can be transported to the capital, hence also known as golden bricks. In that society where imperial power was paramount, any material needed to build Beijing was of the best quality, craftsmanship, value, and production requirements. From the first day of palace construction, many craftsmen’s lives were tied to this building. The preparation of building materials such as wood, stone, bricks, and tiles took a full ten years. In the 14th year of Yongle (1416 AD), the construction project of Beijing officially began, with the largest project being the core building of the capital city – the Forbidden City. The Palace Museum Palace Department – Prince Lin: There are three major star walls in the entire sky, the one in the center is called Ziwei Wall, which means Purple Palace. Ziwei Wall means Purple Palace, which means Central. Ziwei Purple Palace is this center, which is called Purple Palace. So this is the place where the Heavenly Emperor resides. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, some people referred to the imperial palace as the Forbidden City, which in turn became known as the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City, located in the center of the capital city, is surrounded by high city walls and a moat. There are over 8000 houses in the palace, and the entire palace layout is built according to the ritual norms of the front hall and the back bedroom. The first three halls include the Fengtian Hall (later renamed Huangji Hall and Taihe Hall), the Huagai Hall (later renamed Zhongji Hall and Zhonghe Hall), and the Jingshen Hall (later renamed Jianji Hall and Baohe Hall), which are used for imperial ceremonies and important imperial meetings. The rear three palaces are the Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace, and Kunning Palace, used by the emperor to handle daily affairs and daily life. The Wenhua Hall, Wuying Hall, East Six Palaces, and West Six Palaces are arranged on the left and right sides, strictly symmetrical. The ritual norms contained in palace design are even more unimaginable, from the number of steps to the size of the main hall, and even the small size of a doornail, they are not placed casually. Behind the Hall of Jinshen, today’s Hall of Preserving Harmony, is the largest White Marble stone carving in the Forbidden City. It is 16.57 meters long, 3.07 meters wide, 1.07 meters thick, and weighs more than 200 tons. It took more than 10 years to mine the stones, and even more trouble to transport them. Giant wooden blocks were pieced together to form a dry boat. Along the way from Fangshan to Beijing, countless wells were dug, and transportation began in the winter when water was poured into ice. According to records, a total of 267000 people were mobilized to transport this giant rock, and it took nearly a month for 1800 mules and horses. What is the special significance of the painstakingly placed large stone carving? Historical materials do not provide more explanation. However, what we can be certain of today is that it is precisely located on the important benchmark line of the Forbidden City and even the entire Beijing city planning – the central axis, which is probably to obtain the meaning of the eternal stability of the country. The Palace Museum Palace Department – Prince Lin: The central axis divides Beijing City and the Forbidden City in two halves. All buildings representing literature are located in the east, while those belonging to martial arts are located in the west. This is the highest philosophical thought of Confucianism, which is the idea of one yin and one yang as the way. When the emperor sits on the throne, to the east is literature, and to the west is martial arts, which combines yin and yang. This is the Heavenly Way, which governs life. It requires rulers to follow the Heavenly Way, act on behalf of the heavens, promote benevolent governance, and give good deeds to the whole world, making the people happy and joyful. This is the highest idea of the construction of the Forbidden City. Building materials are piled up like mountains, and planning and design are meticulous and meticulous. Countless craftsmen have started orderly construction on this hundreds of thousands of square meters of land, making Beijing the busiest and largest construction site in the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Researcher at the Palace Museum – Li Boping: The Forbidden City we see, although very large in scale, only accounts for a quarter or even a fifth of the total workload. Below the ground, there are thirteen layers of large bricks, which are fully covered and squeezed with city bricks, and built with pure ash. Under these large bricks, there is a layer of three composite soil, a layer of broken bricks, which we call the Jia Jia layer. It is to lay the broken bricks on the bottom, then press them down, and then compact them layer by layer. Therefore, its foundation engineering is very time-consuming. According to historical records, the construction of the imperial city involved 100000 craftsmen and one million laborers, and at that time, the population of the country did not exceed 100 million, with only a few people recorded in history. Chen Gui, the Marquis of Taining, was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the construction of Beijing in the fourth year of Yongle (1406 AD). He passed away in the seventeenth year of Yongle (1419 AD) and did not wait until the day of the completion of the Forbidden City. Cai Xin, who was in charge of design, Kuai Xiang, Guo Wenying, Xu Gao, who came from a carpenter background, Yang Qing, who came from a bricklayer background, and Lu Xiang, who came from a stonemason background, used their wisdom and sweat to receive praise from the emperor. Among them, Cai Xin and Kuai Xiang were even appointed as officials by craftsmen, and eventually became the Ministry of Works Attendant, with the highest rank of the third rank. Researcher at the Palace Museum – Li Boping: With so many people being promoted to officials at the same time, it was a great breakthrough in feudal society. Since ancient times, people have been pursuing official careers through studying, and not many people have obtained official positions through handicrafts. This situation is rare, which also reflects how great their achievements were at that time. After all, there are only a few who have a lasting reputation in history. More craftsmen live their lives in obscurity, but this unparalleled imperial city is the best witness. Even today, we can still hear many legendary stories about their construction of this imperial city, and history will not forget them. Asano Haoke is an architectural designer from Japan who came to Suzhou on this trip hoping to find the most traditional Chinese architectural techniques for his design. After some twists and turns, he finally met Lu Yaozu, the inheritor of the craftsmanship of the Chinese Xiangshan Gang. Kuai Xiang Memorial Park, Xiangshan Sect in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, a group of craftsmen living on the edge of the Taihu Lake Lake, has stood out since the Ming Dynasty. When Zhu Di built Beijing, the craftsmen of Xiangshan Mountain traveled from here to the north, bringing exquisite architectural skills to Beijing. The most proud work of the Xiangshan Gang is undoubtedly the Chengtian Gate of the Forbidden City, which was built under the direction of Kuai Xiang and is now known as Tiananmen. The ancient architectural techniques of the Xiangshan Gang have now become elements and symbols representing Chinese culture, moving towards a broader stage. After receiving the design requirements of Japanese designer Hiroko Asano, Lu Yaozu and several inheritors of the Xiangshan Sect began to study the details of the process, the size of the arch of wooden architecture, the structure of the doors and windows, the layout of the beams and columns, and these extremely exquisite ancient building construction techniques, all of which are condensed with the wisdom and painstaking efforts of the ancestors of the Xiangshan Sect. More than 600 years ago, it was this group of craftsmen from the bank of the Taihu Lake Lake who, with their exquisite skills and persistent spirit, worked together with millions of craftsmen all over the country to create a miracle of construction projects. In September of the 18th year of the Yongle reign (1420 AD), the construction of the Forbidden City was basically completed, and a unique architectural flower finally bloomed in the ancient civilization of the East. This magnificent palace not only exudes grandeur and exquisite beauty, but also cleverly embodies traditional Chinese ideological and cultural concepts. In ancient times, people believed that mountains were solid qi and water was void qi. Therefore, “carrying mountains and facing water” was a common pursuit of traditional Chinese architecture. The Wansui Mountain (Jingshan) behind the Forbidden City faces the Tianshou Mountain of Changling in Changping, introducing the energy of the dragon vein into the palace city. The Jinshui River flows from the northwest direction of Wansui Mountain into the northwest corner of the moat, leading into the Forbidden City and winding through important buildings and palaces such as the Wuying Hall, Wenhua Hall, Taihe Hall, and Donghua Gate, forming a “water embrace” trend. In this way, with mountains and water, the Forbidden City becomes lively and vibrant. However, there are even more mysterious considerations in the layout of this mountain and water. Palace Department of the Palace Museum – Prince Lin: At that time, ancient society was also a society that believed in gods, and the monarchy was granted by gods. So, who did Zhu Di bring out? He brought in a heavenly god called Xuanwu, which is commonly known as the Zhenwu Emperor. The symbol of Xuanwu is the combination of a turtle and a snake. So during the Yongle period, the mountain behind the Forbidden City (Jingshan) was called Wansui Mountain. Wansui, Wansui, what is the longest lifespan? It’s just a turtle, so there is a Jinshui River inside the Forbidden City, which winds and twists like a snake. The combination of turtles and snakes is the Heavenly God, the Heavenly God Xuanwu, Xuanwu. So the entire Forbidden City is under the protection and embrace of the Heavenly God Xuanwu. Under the meticulous layout of feng shui concepts and the guidance of Confucian philosophy, the entire city of Beijing is spread out along the central axis. Beyond the magnificent imperial palace is the imperial city, and the main gate is the Chengtian Gate, which was renamed Tiananmen in the Qing Dynasty. Heading south to Damingmen is a broad avenue, with east and west thousand step corridors built on both sides of the road. On the left side of the Qianbu Corridor are central institutions such as the Ministry of Rites, Household, Officials, Soldiers, and Workers, while on the right side is the Office of the Commander in Chief of the Five Armies. Outside the imperial city is the main city, with a bustling commercial area in the south. The main city has nine gates (Zhengyang Gate, Chongwen Gate, Xuanwu Gate, Fucheng Gate, Xizhi Gate, Chaoyang Gate, Dongzhi Gate, Desheng Gate, and Anding Gate). In the southern suburbs of the main city, there is a grand sacrificial hall for the emperor to worship heaven and earth, as well as a mountain and river altar. The construction of the imperial city has been basically completed, and central institutions have settled in. The streets and markets are lined up, and the crowd is bustling. The imperial capital of Beijing has shown prosperity. Over the past decade, the Ming Empire spent countless human and material resources to build the city, and Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, also went from his forties to his sixties. Forty years ago, when he first set foot on this land, his eyes were desolate. Forty years later, he made the city shine brightly. In October of the 18th year of Yongle (1420 AD), Zhu Di led many ministers and brought seals from various prefectures to settle in the newly completed capital city. On the first day of the first lunar month in the nineteenth year of Yongle (1421), it was the day designated by Zhu Diqin as the grand ceremony for capital relocation. On this day, the red sun in Beijing rose to the east, the sky was clear, and the ice and snow melted. Zhu Di received congratulations from his courtiers at the Fengtian Hall. Xiao Yi, the head of the Ministry of Rites, once described this scene as follows: “The nine barbarians and eight barbarians all come to the court, and the sound of mountain calls brings joy from afar.” Compared to the grandeur and liveliness of the new capital Beijing, Nanjing is a different place. After the capital was moved, Nanjing became a capital. Although the entire central institution was preserved here, the names of each department had to be preceded by the word “Nanjing”. However, Zhu Di’s efforts over the past twenty years only brought about more than four months of excitement. On the eighth day of April in the nineteenth year of the Yongle reign, the three most magnificent buildings in the Forbidden City were inexplicably struck by lightning, and the three halls were reduced to ashes in the sky fire. It was not until twenty years later that they were rebuilt. This natural disaster triggered an earthquake in the imperial court. Zhu Di believed that the disaster must have been a problem with his governance. He not only ordered tax reduction and punishment for derelict officials, but also cancelled his birthday celebration. He issued an edict requesting the ministers to speak up and write a letter criticizing his inappropriate words and actions, which surprised Zhu Di once again. Yan Guan Zou Ji wrote a letter, stating that the construction of Xindu was labor-intensive and costly, and also mentioning the suffering brought to the people by the forced demolition of houses. The memorial of Xiao Yi, the head of the Ministry of Rites, criticized Emperor Yongle for abandoning the imperial lineage of Nanjing and Xiaoling, which was against the will of heaven. Zhu Di was furious and executed Xiao Yi for the crime of slandering the king. Zou Ji was convicted of criticizing current affairs, and all other outspoken ministers were also imprisoned. The punishment was very severe, but the voices of opposition were still raging. Zhu Di had the officials who questioned the relocation of the capital and the ministers who supported the relocation kneel down outside the Meridian Gate for a debate, resulting in a stalemate between the two sides. Finally, the Minister of Revenue, Xia Yuanji, realized that the emperor was only trying to shift his responsibility for this matter, so he took the initiative to take responsibility for it. He asked the eunuch to transfer the matter to the emperor and say, “In the matter of giving, the imperial censor belongs to the officials who speak, and even if we make a mistake, there is no other meaning. As ministers, we did not coordinate well in the matter of moving the capital, and our crimes should be punished to death.” Zhu Di finally saw that a minister was willing to take responsibility, and his mood calmed down. This matter was then quelled. Emperor Yongle Zhu Di, who was talented, strategic, and had a broad vision for the world, truly felt incomprehensible pain and sorrow at this moment. However, no matter what kind of debate, it could not change the fait accompli of relocating the capital. Beijing, as the capital, began its increasingly significant influence on this dynasty. Mao Peiqi, a professor at Renmin University of China: He actually influenced the political pattern of the next few hundred years, so in this sense, Ming Chengzu was also a pioneering emperor. After the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, it actually strengthened its control over the north. In the northwest region, the Ming Dynasty excluded many envoys to the Western Regions. At the same time, after the establishment of the capital in Beijing, the Ming Dynasty inherited the practice of the Yuan Dynasty, which was to strengthen its control over Xizang. Therefore, moving the capital to Beijing was a comprehensive project, an important step towards the pluralism and integration of the Chinese nation. Not only that, the relocation of the capital to Beijing also relatively eased the trend of China’s economy being strong in the south and weak in the north since the Song and Yuan dynasties. Although for a considerable period of time after Zhu Di moved the capital, the overall economy of the north still lagged behind that of the south, the northward migration of the center of state power injected real development momentum into the north and brought positive and far-reaching effects to the layout of China’s regional economic structure. In the 22nd year of Yongle (1424 AD), which was the fourth year after the Ming government officially relocated its capital to Beijing, Zhu Di suddenly passed away on the way back from the fifth northern expedition to Mongolia. Even today, the debate about Zhu Di’s relocation continues. Some people believe that it was the situation of the emperor hunting for the border formed by the relocation of the capital that exposed the Ming Dynasty to attacks from Mongolian and Manchu Eight Banners cavalry multiple times in the following two hundred years, ultimately leading to the downfall of the Ming Dynasty. Some even question that Zhu Diqian’s focus was on the vast grasslands and deserts in the north, indirectly leading to the cessation of China’s maritime industry and the geographical discovery giving way to the west. After the death of Zhu Di, the emperors on the throne of the Golden Luan in the Forbidden City were replaced one after another. However, this city of Beijing, where millions of people have put in tremendous hard work and even lives, has always been the focus of the Chinese people’s attention and the spiritual center of the Chinese nation. This Forbidden City, which has consumed countless efforts of Emperor Yongle and the vast wealth of the empire. In the following nearly 600 years, except for the late 1920s to the late 1940s, this place has always been the political center of China. Today, the magnificent Forbidden City is no longer the former royal forbidden area. This ancient and beautiful city has become a common home for more than 20 million people to live in, and also a common spiritual home for 1.3 billion Chinese people. Beijing belongs to every Chinese, as well as to the East and the world. 90 Seconds in History: On June 15th, 1405, Zheng He set sail to the West in Liujiagang, where the Liuhe River and the Yangtze River met. Colorful flags fluttered and gongs and drums roared, and people eagerly witnessed the grand occasion of Zheng He’s fleet’s maiden voyage to the West. After paying homage to the Mazu God in the Tianfei Palace, this fleet of more than 200 ships of all sizes and more than 20000 people sailed towards the vast sea. The coastal residents who had the privilege of witnessing this massive fleet pass by were amazed because they had never seen such a spectacular sea scene in the southern waters. Hundreds of ships lined up on the sea, with thousands of sails covering the sky and sun. During the day, flags were hung to hunt. The sound of drums echoed, and the azure sea looked like a field full of flowers in spring. At night, the sound of trumpets kept rising, and the sea was dotted with lights. The reflected lights in the sea complemented the starlight in the night sky, Just like a street market in the sky, only a powerful empire can support such a grand voyage and direct such a magnificent scenery of towering sails and starry skies at sea.
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