Explore The Inevitability Of Heavy-law Policy Viewing Of Zhu Yuanzhang's Personal Experience

In the late period of Yuan Dynasty, many reasons such as the corrupt politics, the oppression of ruling class, the concentration of land, the corruption and bribe caused the national farmer revolutions which the Hongjin army represented. Zhu Yuanzhang who came from a poor family became the leader of farmer anti- feudalism activity by his intelligent wisdom and the military talent and became an emperor in Nanjing in 1368. From then on, Ming Dynasty ruled the country.In the early years of Ming Dynasty, because of the breakage of war and the decadent economy, the farmer anti- feudalism activities were continual and the inner part of ruling class also exited sharp antinomy. After experiencing the process of Yuan Dynasty which was from the prosperity to demolition in a short time, Emperor Zhu knew that the political depravity was the cause of chaos, so he made serious discipline to punish traitors. The range and strength of code was different in every dynasty, which was a traditional Chinese principle of law. Under the condition of the complex social situation in politics and economy, Zhu Yuanzhang inherited the traditional idea of heavy code. Under the instruction, he carried on a series of heavy law. It formulated a heavy penal code net which《DaMing code》and《DaGao》represented. In order to control right alone and make the Ming Dynasty rule the country for ever, Emperor Zhu used the methods outside the law to uproot the traitors who would threaten the rule of feudalism. In the process of carrying on the heavy law, he did not consider to kill criminal persons, which became a rare policy of heavy law in Chinese feudalistic society.Zhu Yuanzhang's policy of heavy law characterized feudalism and didn't rest on the power of emperor and used cruel death penalty as a tool. Essentially, it was a forcible method to guarantee the order of feudalism and to make the Ming Dynasty rule the country for ever. It also bodied feudalism to enhance in an unprecedented way. The policy developed under the condition of social vibration, destitution, various social antinomy. However, the constitution of a system must record the person's character. As one of the two emperors who came from poor families, Zhu Yuanzhang's complicated personal experience must play an important part in carrying on the policy.Great talent comes from poor family. Zhu Yuanzhang came from a poor family and suffered a lot. In his childhood, he had already realized deeply the corrupt society of Yuan Dynasty. The career of the distress childhood beat up the branding to him to conflict with the unfair society. He would try his best and use all means to realize it.In his teenage, as monk, he endured many hardships and knew deeply the social darkness, which produced very great influence in his mind. It released huge but terrible energy and the deluxe power of emperor pushed the energy stronger and stronger.In the process of military struggle and politics contest, Zhu Yuanzhang distorted man's natural character in pursuing right. Because of the battle experience and power-seizing career, various schemes of betrayal and killing which made suspicion and cruelty entered his blood. With the victory of the war and the promotion of position, Zhu Yuanzhang's power desire and domination desire inflated increasingly. So when he became an emperor, he would like to build up a powerful personal autocracy country and make firm decision to uproot the obstacle which hindered him to support the power of emperor.Meanwhile, as experienced military officer, Zhu Yuanzhang realized the importance of discipline. Compared with other farmer volunteer armies, the strict ordinance and military discipline were the keys to win the war. It provided precious experience to rule a country with heavy law.Law is the performance of ruling class'will and is a tool that the ruling class carries on to manage a country. It relies on power to make politics stable. Be a feudalistic emperor, the ruler of the nation could make and rescind law at ease. To an emperor, law is only a tool to rule people. In the ancient Chinese principle that"law is penalty", the heavy law was the heavy penalty to manage a country. Law was just another call of penalty. The strength of penalty only rested on the degree of the threat to the emperor's power. To Zhu Yuanzhang, it was hard to get the power so that he disallowed other people to come to rob. Even the possibility to threat his power was not permitted. To strengthen centralization and prevent other people from robbing his power, he used death penalty to the traitors who would be harmful for the Ming dynasty. As a result, nobody would like to offend.In a conclusion, the policy of heavy law which Zhu Yuanzhang carried on rested not only on the complex rigorous objective situation, but also on his special personal experience. The text mainly fixes attention on Zhu Yuanzhang's career to analyze the inevitability of the heavy-law policy.