International Academic Conference on the Whereabout of Emperor Jianwen of the Ming Dynasty Held

(News from the agency) “International Academic Conference on the Whereabout of Emperor Jianwen of the Ming Dynasty”, sponsored by the Society for the Ming Studies of China and the Administration of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum and held by Nanjing Society for Studies of the Ming Culture and the Ming Tomb Museum, was held at Nanjing International Conference Hotel on July 2, 2010.
At the seminar, 50-odd conference representatives had a heated discussion on relevant historic facts about the period of Jianwen reign (1398–1402) of the Ming Dynasty, especially about the mystery of the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen. Emperor Jianwen, with the personal name Zhu Yunwen, was a grandson of Zhuan Yuanzhang, the founder and first emperor (1368–1398) of the Ming Dynasty. When Crown Prince Zhu Biao died of illness in 1392 before ascending to the throne, Zhu Yunwen was made his successor. After Zhu Yuanzhang passed away at the age of 71 in 1398, Zhu Yunwen assumed the throne and changed the title of his reign to Jianwen in the following year, so he was called Emperor Jianwen in history. After assuming the throne, Emperor Jianwen began to suppress feudal lords following his ministers’ advice, which aroused contradiction between him and his uncles holding powers and led to the outbreak of Jingnan Campaign. Four years later, Zhu Di, king of Yan who had raised an army against Emperor Jianwen, finally led his army to enter Nanjing, resulting in mysterious disappearance of Emperor Jianwen.
Academic fields have paid great attention to the studies of Jianwen period and have made many achievements since the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. However, due to the short history of Jianwen period and the banning and destruction of historic records of Jianwen period after Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, many historic affairs are too mysterious to decode. Especially, the whereabout of Jianwen Emperor has become a historical mystery. Many scholars believe that Emperor Jianwen escaped from Nanjing before the city fell, making studies of the whereabout of Emperor Jianwen a hot topic. Currently, there are 30 places across China claiming having seen the whereabout of Emperor Jianwen. Some representatives, considered as descendants of Emperor Jianwen, think that Emperor Jianwen changed his surname into He and lived in reclusion in Xiangtan of Hunan province, or that he changed his surname into Rang and lived in Shangdong province or in Nanjing, or that he changed his surname into Huang and lived in Fujian province; while some other scholars think that the final places of reclusion of Emperor Jianwen are Shangjinbei Village of Ningde county of Fujian province, Anshun county of Guizhou province, Zhongshan Temple of Daxian County of Sichuan province, Yingzhu Mountain of Changsha of Hunan Province, Nanzheng County of Hanzhong, Qutan Temple of province, etc.
During the one-day discussion, experts, scholars, representatives of supposed descendantss of Zhu Yunwen as well as representatives of places claiming having seen the whereabout of Zhu Yunwen insisted on their own opinions. They stated their views to the full, providing solutions to many difficult historical problems of Jianwen period and offering more reference documents for obscure historical studies.