Ming Yuzhen

{{Short description|Emperor of Ming Xia from 1362 to 1366}}

{{More citations needed|date=April 2018}}

{{Infobox royalty

|name = Ming Yuzhen
{{nobold|明玉珍}}

|native name =

|temple name = Taizu
(太祖)

|image =

|succession= Emperor of Ming Xia

|reign = 1362–1366

|predecessor =

|successor = Ming Sheng

|spouse =

|issue =

|full name =Ming Yuzhen
(明玉珍)

|title =

|posthumous name = Emperor Qinwen Zhaowu
(欽文昭武皇帝)

|era dates =

• TianqiAdopted the era name of the Xu Song dynasty (天啟): 1361–1362
• Tiantong (天統): 1363–1366

|royal house =

|dynasty = Ming Xia

|father = Ming Xuewen

|mother = Lady Zhao

|birth_date = 2 October 1328
Yuan Tianli 2, 9th day of the 9th month
(元天曆二年九月九日)

|birth_place =

|death_date = {{death date and age|1366|3|17|1328|10|2|df=y}}
Yuan Zhizheng 26, 6th day of the 2nd month
(元至正二十六年二月六日)

|death_place =

|place of burial = Ruiling Mausoleum (叡陵; in present-day Shangheng Steet, Jiangbei District, Chongqing)

}}

{{family name hatnote|Ming|lang=Chinese}}

File:Red Turban.png

Ming Yuzhen ({{zh|c=明玉珍}}; 2 October 1328 – 17 March 1366) was a peasant rebel leader who established the dynasty of Ming Xia during the late Yuan dynasty in China.

Ming was born in Suizhou (today Sui County, Hubei) in a farmer family. He changed the character of his surname to mean "Brilliance" later. In 1353 he joined the Red Turbans, a rebel group led by Xu Shouhui. He was blinded in the right eye during a battle.

In 1360, Xu was killed by Chen Youliang, so Ming left his group and proclaimed himself King of Longshu (隴蜀王). Two years later, he proclaimed himself Emperor of Great Xia in Chongqing, with the era name of "Tiantong" (天統). In Great Xia, there was taxation, imperial examination, and a state religion of Buddhism.

In 1363, he attacked Prince Liang, Bolud Temür (孛羅帖木兒) in Yunnan. His plans to expand did not work out and he died in of illness at the age of 35. He was succeeded by his son Ming Sheng (明昇), who changed the era name to "Kaixi" (開熙) and was exiled to Korea when Longshu was destroyed by the Ming Empire in 1371. The Korean official Yun Hui-chong's daughter married Ming Sheng in March 1373. Ming Sheng was 17 and Chen Li was 21 when they were sent to Korea in 1372 by the Ming dynasty.{{cite book |last1=Goodrich |first1=Luther Carringto |title=Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368-1644, Volume 2 |date=1976 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=023103833X |page=1072 |edition=illustrated |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JWpF-dObxW8C&pg=PA1072}}{{cite book |editor1-last=Farmer |editor1-first=Edward L. |title=Zhu Yuanzhang and Early Ming Legislation: The Reordering of Chinese Society Following the Era of Mongol Rule |date=1995 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9004103910 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TCIjZ7l6TX8C&pg=PA22}}{{cite book |last1=Serruys |first1=Henry |title=The Mongols in China During the Hung-wu Period (1368-1398). |date=1959 |publisher=Impr. Sainte-Catherine |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=46GPAAAAMAAJ&q=ming+sheng+korea}}{{cite book |last1=Serruys |first1=Henry |title=Sino-Mongol Relations During the Ming, Volume 1 |date=1967 |publisher=Institut belge des hautes études chinoises |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEQvAAAAYAAJ&q=ming+sheng+korea}}

Also, Ming Yuzhen is the founder of Korean clans, the Yeonan Myeong clan, Seochok Myeong clan and Namwon Seung clan.{{Cite book|title=Academy of Korean Studies 서촉명씨 西蜀明氏|publisher=Academy of Korean Studies|url=http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=290979&cid=42835&categoryId=42835&mobile}}{{Cite journal |author=Jin Guanglin |author-link=:ja:金光林 (歴史学者) |date=2014 |title=A Comparison of the Korean and Japanese Approaches to Foreign Family Names |journal=Journal of Cultural Interaction in East Asia |volume=5 |via=Society for Cultural Interaction in East Asia|url=http://www.sciea.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/03_JIN.pdf |page=20}}