Global InformationTaichang Emperor information
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| Taichang Emperor 泰昌帝 | |||||||||||||||||
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 Palace portrait on a hanging scroll, kept in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan | |||||||||||||||||
| Emperor of the Ming dynasty | |||||||||||||||||
| Reign | 28 August 1620 – 26 September 1620 | ||||||||||||||||
| Enthronement | 28 August 1620 | ||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Wanli Emperor | ||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Tianqi Emperor | ||||||||||||||||
| Crown Prince of the Ming dynasty | |||||||||||||||||
| Tenure | 1601–1620 | ||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Crown Prince Zhu Yijun | ||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Crown Prince Zhu Cilang | ||||||||||||||||
| Born | 28 August 1582[1] Wanli 10, 11th day of the 8th month (萬曆十年八月十一日) | ||||||||||||||||
| Died | 26 September 1620 (aged 38) Taichang 1, 1st day of the 9th month (泰昌元年九月初一日) | ||||||||||||||||
| Burial | Qingling Mausoleum, Ming tombs, Beijing | ||||||||||||||||
| Consorts | Empress Xiaoyuanzhen
(m. 1601; died 1613)Empress Dowager Xiaohe
(died 1619)Empress Dowager Xiaochun
(died 1614) | ||||||||||||||||
| Issue |
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| House | Zhu | ||||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | Ming | ||||||||||||||||
| Father | Wanli Emperor | ||||||||||||||||
| Mother | Empress Dowager Xiaojing | ||||||||||||||||
The Taichang Emperor[3] (Chinese: 泰昌帝; pinyin: Tàichāng Dì; 28 August 1582 – 26 September 1620), personal name Zhu Changluo (Chinese: 朱常洛), was the 15th emperor of the Ming dynasty. He was the eldest son of the Wanli Emperor and succeeded his father as emperor in 1620. However, his reign came to an abrupt end less than one month after his coronation when he was found dead one morning in the palace following a bout of diarrhea. He was succeeded by his son, Zhu Youjiao, who was enthroned as the Tianqi Emperor. His era name, "Taichang", means "grand prosperity." His reign was the shortest in Ming history.
Zhu Changluo was born in 1582, during the tenth year of the Wanli Emperor's reign. His mother, Lady Wang, was a servant of the emperor's mother. Lady Wang was promoted, but did not gain the favor of the Wanli Emperor, and her son, despite being the emperor's eldest, was ignored by him. Instead, the Wanli Emperor showed preference towards Zhu Changxun, the son of his favorite concubine, Lady Zheng. This led to the Wanli Emperor's intention to appoint Zhu Changxun as crown prince, but it faced strong opposition from the ministers. As a result, the matter remained at a standstill for many years due to the stubbornness of both sides.
In 1601, the Wanli Emperor finally succumbed to the pressure of ministers, officials, and above all his mother, and officially appointed nineteen-year-old Zhu Changluo as the crown prince and rightful heir to the throne. However, even with this formal recognition, intrigue and the emperor's dissatisfaction with the succession persisted. In 1615, the court was rocked by an unusual scandal when a man named Zhang Chai armed himself with a wooden staff and broke into the Forbidden City, specifically targeting the Crown Prince's palace. While the initial investigation deemed him insane, another investigator suggested the involvement of two eunuchs close to Lady Zheng. Both eunuchs were swiftly executed, but speculation about the true perpetrators of the plot continued to circulate.
The Wanli Emperor died on 18 August 1620, and Zhu Changluo officially ascended the throne as the Taichang Emperor on 28 August. However, just a few days after his coronation, he fell ill and died on 26 September 1620, despite attempts at treatment. The Taichang Emperor's eldest son, Zhu Youxiao, then became the new Ming ruler. The death of the relatively young emperor sparked suspicion, speculation, and recrimination among different court factions.
- ^ Dates before October 1582 are given in the Julian calendar,
not in the proleptic Gregorian calendar. Dates after October 1582
are given in the Gregorian calendar, not in the Julian calendar
that remained in use in England until 1752. - ^ The Taichang era should have started on 22 January 1621; however, the emperor died before the start of his era. His era name means "Great goodness" or "Great prosperity". He was succeeded by his son the Tianqi Emperor, and according to the law the Tianqi era was now scheduled to start on 22 January 1621, so that the Taichang era would never exist in practice. In order to honor his father, the new emperor decided that the Wanli era would be considered ended since 27 August 1620, the last day of the 7th month in the Chinese calendar. The period from 28 August 1620 (1st day of the 8th month, which was the day on which Taichang had ascended the throne) until 21 January 1621 would become the Taichang era, enabling this era to be applied for a few months. Thus, quite an extraordinary situation resulted from this choice: the 7th month of the 48th year of the Wanli era was followed by the 8th month of the 1st year of the Taichang era (the 1st year of the Taichang era, in fact the only year of the Taichang era, lacks its first seven months), then the 12th month of the 1st year of the Taichang era was to be followed by the 1st month of the 1st year of the Tianqi era.
- ^ Chinese emperors are commonly known by their era name, such as Taichang in this instance. This stemmed from the Chinese practice (up to the Republic of China) of referring to the calendar year after the emperor's reign. However, because the Taichang Emperor's reign was so short, the Taichang era became lost between "48th year of the Wanli era" (1620) and "1st year of the Taichang era" (1621). Secondly, the reigning emperor's era name was usually inscribed on newly minted copper currency and as no coinage with Taichang era name was minted while the Taichang Emperor was alive. All Ming dynasty coins bearing the marking "Taichang" were minted during the reign of the Taichang Emperor's son, the Tianqi Emperor. Thus "Taichang" is also known as the "emperor without an era name", and commonly referred to by his temple name as the "Emperor Guangzong of Ming" (明光宗).