Research On Prince Dai Of Datong In The Ming Dynasty

Although the question of宗藩in the Ming Dynasty has been generally concerned by the acadamic world and there have been many regional research achievements, the study on Prince Dai has been the gap of the studies on the Ming History and the local history of Datong. Meanwhile,the deeds of the family of Prince Dai in Datong had an significant influence on the politics,economic, military affairs and the whole society. Therefore,the study on King Dai not only directly proves the lessons of success and failure of the policy of suzerain in the Ming Dynasty but also provides the enlightenments for the local history of Datong. The rich cultural heritage left by the Ming Danasty has a certain significance on today's tourist economic development of Datong.The strategic position of the Datong region was extremely important.Datong connected Shanggu in the east, extended to Bingheng in the south ,bordered the Yellow River in the west and contolled the desert in the north.In ancient times, it had been the main channel for the north nomadic people to go south and enter the Central Plains.The minority nationalities who ever ruled the roost in Chinese history all entered Datong region.The feudal dynasties of past ages of Han nationality all took Datong region as the main battlefield defending the north nomadic people from moving southward and the important strategic stronghold consolidating their north border defence.After Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the rule of Mongolian nobles of Yuan Dynasty and reestablished the regime of the landlord class of Han, he regarded Datong region as the barrier of the capital and the defence of the Central Plains. Soon after Ming Dynasty was established, Zhu Yuanzhang made his thirteenth son Zhugui King Dai and sent him to one of the nine places of the border, Datong ,for the political and military considerations. From then on,Zhugui became a suzerain ofen dwelling Datong. Zhugui and his descendants had lived in Datong as long as 250 years ,from the beginning to the end of Ming Dynasty. In this paper, we will discuss the enfeoffment system of the past dynasties in the feudal society and宗藩system. in Ming Dynasty. On this basis, we will study Prince Dai of Datong in Ming Dynasty from every aspect and attempt to make clear the influence on the military affairs , social economy and culture in Datong and the administrative situation inside the mansion of King Dai and the relationship among the local officials when he governed Datong. By studying Prince Dai, we can learn宗藩system more clearly and summarize the advantages and disadvantages of the policy. Thus we can reveal the influence of宗藩policy on the development of Ming Dynasty.This paper is divided into five parts.The first part is the preface which is a brief summary about the reason for choosing the topic, the research content and the research value. Also it is a summary of the reseach condition of the current relevant issues.The second part is on probing into the enfeoffment system of Chinese feudal society. First, the evolution of Chinese enfeoffment system was analyzed. The enfeoffment system has always existed throughout the Chinese feudal society despite its different form or content in different dynasties. In the long history, the enfeoffment system experienced an evolution which is tortuous, wavy and gradually declining. Based on the study on the previous enfeoffment system, this part is mainly about inquiring into the enfeoffment system of the Ming Dynasty. That the enfeoffment system coming to a climax in Ming Dynasty can be found and meanwhile Ming Dynasty made the enfeoffment system move toward the apex finally and quickly return to the terminal by analyzing the reason for the enfeoffment system of Ming Dynasty, its purpose, its setting and improving and the different policy of the different period . In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, in accordance with the enfeoffment system that Zhu Yuanzhang formulated ,those藩王who made by Zhu Yuanzhang played a significant role in establishing the supremacy of imperial power and repression and confronting those Groups who had rendered outstanding service and who did not have Zhu as their family name. Although those princes had lost their vitality in the political power, the economic interests given by the imperial government caused the heavy financial burden to the imperial government. More clan relied on their identity, run amuck to the community and did great harm to the society. The enfeoffment system in the late Ming Dynasty was actually a maladministration . The third part is about the basic situation of Prince Dai's family of Ming Dynasty of Datong. First, the conditions and necessity of setting up the vassal state are analyzed from geography, history, military affairs and other aspects. Then such conditions as the hereditary conditons of Prince Dai, the mansion building,官署and the guards and so on are expounded.The fourth part is about the impact of the royal family of Prince Dai. First of all ,the impact of the royal family of Prince Dai on the military affairs ,the central affairs and the local political affairs is discussed. By analyzing we believe that the effect of Prince Dai on the local and central political situation is mainly negative. But we can never neglect the positive effect on the military affairs. Secondly , the impact of the royal family of Prince Dai on the social economy is discussed. We believe that the effect on this aspect is very negative. Especially the crime of the royal family had a terrible effect on the local place. Finally,it is about the effect on the culture. By the exposition,we can see that the outstanding elements of the royal family brought positive effect to the development of the local culture.The fifth part is about the conclusion, which is the summary of the former content and I want to seek for advice in all quarters. Because of the extremely little historical data about Prince Dai of Datong and the limitation of the personal level, I dare not draw a conclusion for some questions and those wait for the further research.