There are many versions of Zhu Yuanzhang's living portraits, and the portraits that can be seen in the outside world are mainly concentrated in these two categories: one ugly and one handsome. Which version is the true face of Zhu Yuanzhang? It is also a historical mystery.
In the past, the emperor had a royal painter. There is a widely circulated story of Zhu Yuanzhang's portrait: it is said that Zhu Yuanzhang said that the empress called Danqing masters to paint portraits of himself. The first painter to enter the palace was very serious and painted the portrait vividly, lifelike, like a real person.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw his ugly image, he was immediately furious and pushed the painter out and beheaded him.
The second learned the lesson, made himself clever, and painted Zhu Yuanzhang as a beautiful man, a talent, with good facial features and a dignified appearance. When Zhu Yuanzhang saw that this was himself, he was obviously fooling him, and it was difficult for the natural painter to escape death.
The third is a smart person, who figured out Zhu Yuanzhang's mind and pursued "god-likeness": the face shape was depicted similar to the real person, and other parts followed the feeling, and the treatment was ambiguous, saying yes and no. As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang saw that his face was full of kindness, with an imperial appearance, and a great joy in the dragon face. Needless to say, the painter was rewarded and put home.
The authenticity of this "folk tale" is now impossible to discern. However, it revealed a message that Zhu Yuanzhang's appearance was indeed different from ordinary people, and it may be the same as Qin Shi Huang, which was out of proportion and had imbalanced facial features. Everyone has a heart of "love for beauty", not to mention the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who pays attention to majesty! Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang hinted that there may be a possibility that the painter falsified.
From the current point of view, most of the versions of the portrait are painted by the people after the death of the Ming Dynasty, and some versions are extremely imprecise, such as painting Zhu Yuanzhang's crown the same as that worn by Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wudi of Han, which is obviously a funny painting.
Others painted Zhu Yuanzhang's chin as big as a steamed bun, which is physically impossible, unless he has a strange disease. If this kind of portrait with a strange chin is really a work of the Ming Dynasty, there is only one explanation, that is, Zhu Yuanzhang's strange appearance was indeed understood as an imperial appearance at that time; Or the imperial court deliberately authorized painters to fool their subjects through tricks.
The people have always believed that Zhu Yuanzhang suffered from smallpox and did not die, leaving a numb face, plus his chin may be slightly longer and his forehead bone is slightly convex, and people may feel too ugly, and the imperial literati just echoed that this is the emperor's strange appearance: "Xiafu Xuetang Dige Dynasty, the pulp is full of bureaucrats." If the teaching assistant comes accordingly, he must sit in the Shunyao court. Generally, the earth pavilion (chin) is full is the person of the official, and Zhu Yuanzhang's earth pavilion is majestic, wonderful, unpredictable, and naturally the emperor's good life.
Zhu Yuanzhang also has a "standard portrait" of Zhu Yuanzhang with a benevolent face, which is preserved in the Forbidden City in Beijing and hangs at several Ming Dynasty attractions such as Nanjing's Yuejiang Tower, but most people believe that the portrait with the weird chin is closest to a real person. And it is speculated that Zhu Yuanzhang will not be ugly, otherwise how could Guo Zixing, who started an incident in Haozhou, marry his righteous daughter Ma Xiuying to a poor monk who wants money and no money and no looks? And Zhu Yuanzhang gave birth to 24 sons such as Zhu Biao and Zhu Di, why is there not a single person with fat ears and a big chin among so many "dragon species" who looks similar to him? Judging from the portraits of the Ming emperors, none of them have this look, on the contrary, they are similar to Zhu Yuanzhang's standard portrait. Therefore, the real Zhu Yuanzhang will not be too far from the standard image
Whether Zhu Yuanzhang is beautiful or ugly has become one of the ancient mysteries, and one day, if Zhu Yuanzhang's mausoleum, the Nanjing Purple Mountain Xiaoling Tomb, is opened, his remains are found, and modern computer three-dimensional restoration technology is used to process them, the truth will be revealed.
