Emperor Yongle was born in 1360, and died in 22nd year of his reign (1424 AD). He was crown in 1403, his reign lasted 22 years.
Ming Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di)
Emperor Yongle was born in 1360, and died in 22nd year of his reign (1424 AD). He was crown in 1403, his reign lasted 22 years.
Emperor Yongle is Emperor Hongwu (the first emperor of Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang)'s son. To the rule at that time, Emperor Hongwu's heir should be his eldest son Zhu Biao, but Zhu Biao died during Emperor Hongwu's reign, so Emperor Hongwu's eldest grandson Zhu Yunwen became the new emperor when Emperor Hongwu died. Zhu Yunwen wanted to consolidate his reign, so he began to impair his uncles' power. When Zhu Yunwen's action came down to his uncle Zhu Di, Zhu Di ordered his army to attack Nanjing (the capital at that time). This is storied "Jing Nan Zhi Yiˇ± in history. When Zhu Di captured Nanjing, Zhu Yunwen was missing. So Zhu Di was crown in Nanjing.
Zhu Di had defended Peking for many years, he knew that Peking was very important place as a military strongpoint, so he decided to move the capital to Peking, and change the name of the city to Beijing. In 4th year of his reign (1406 AD), the palace in Beijing was begun to build. In 19th year of his reign, he moved to Beijing formally.
Yongle is a very accomplished emperor. He laid the foundation of the thriving of Ming Dynasty. He expanded the territory of Ming Dynasty, cleared up the remnant forces of Yuan Dynasty. In culture, he ordered Hanlinyuan (a civil government organization) to assemble a cyclopedia called "Yong Le Da Dianˇ± which contains 22877 volumes. And he dispatched Eunuch Zheng He to visit about 30 Asian and Africa countries from sea to intercommunicate with people in other countries.
&Though Emperor Yongle had not lived for a long time in the Forbidden City, he was the founder of the Forbidden City.