The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was established by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. In the early days, Nanjing was the capital, and the capital was moved to Beijing during the reign of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty. It has been passed down for sixteen generations, totaling 276 years. During the Ming Dynasty, centralization of power was unprecedentedly strengthened, which also paved the way for eunuchs to interfere in rule in the middle and later periods. During the Ming Dynasty, the peasant movement also entered a new stage.
Zhu Yuanzhang was very fertile. He gave birth to 26 sons and 16 daughters in his lifetime. Zhu Yuanzhang was not only able to give birth to sons, but he also cared about the future of his many sons and stipulated that all his sons and their descendants would always be princes and would not have to work, and their living expenses would be entirely borne by the court.
Because of this, the Ming Dynasty also became the dynasty with the largest number of royal princes during the same period. But what is interesting is that the names of many royal princes in the Ming Dynasty are very rare and uncommon characters, such as Zhu Zhiwen, Zhu Bingju, Zhu Chengyao, Zhu Enquan, Zhu Jianxeng, Zhu Ci, Zhu Chang, etc. What is going on?
It turns out that Zhu Yuanzhang created a "shortcut" for naming his sons. Zhu Yuanzhang set a seniority code for each of his sons. For example, the descendants of Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, are "Gao Zhan Qi Jianyou, Hou Zai Yi Chang You, Ci He Yi Bo Zhong, Jian Jing Di Xian You", and Zhu Biao's descendants are "Yun" Wen obeys the instructions of his ancestors, and the powerful emperor wins. If you follow the road, it will be auspicious, and if you are a good teacher, you will make good use of it."
In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang also stipulated that the names of the descendants of the Ming Dynasty clan must contain the Chinese characters of the five elements, and the order of seniority is "wood, fire, earth, gold, water". The son of Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was Zhu Gaochi, the son of Zhu Gaochi was Zhu Zhanji, the son of Zhu Zhanji was Zhu Qizhen, the son of Zhu Qizhen was Zhu Jianshen, the son of Zhu Jianshen was Zhu Youtang...
But the problem is the Ming Dynasty Lasting for nearly three hundred years, with the passage of time, the number of descendants of the Ming Dynasty clan was increasing, but there were not many Chinese characters with five elements radicals, and Zhu Yuanzhang did not dare to change the naming rules set by him. This stumped the officials responsible for naming clans, so that many clans in the Ming Dynasty did not have names until they were teenagers.
Due to their distinguished status, the more common five-element radical Chinese characters must be prepared for use by direct descendants of the Ming Dynasty. The officials responsible for naming them later randomly added the radical of "wood, fire, earth, metal, water" to the names of the Ming Dynasty clans with distant blood relations. Therefore, many clan princes in the Ming Dynasty had extremely rare and unusual names. Character.