In ancient Chinese history, the emperor's temple number was often used with the character zu or zong. The founding emperors were generally called "Taizu" or "Gaozu", such as Han Taizu, Tang Gaozu, and Song Taizu; later emperors were generally called "Zong", such as Han Taizong, Tang Taizong, Song Taizong, etc. Generally speaking, temple names with "ancestors", such as Taizu and Gaozu, can only belong to the founding emperor, or the ancestors of the founding emperor. Correspondingly, the second emperor of a dynasty generally had the temple name "Taizong", the most famous being Li Shimin of Tang Taizong. So, the question is, why is Zhu Di's temple name "Chengzu" instead of "Taizong"?
One
First of all, according to historical records, Zhu Di was born in Yingtianfu (present-day Nanjing), and after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, he was crowned the King of Yan by Zhu Yuanzhang. Later, in the face of the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao's step-by-step approach, Zhu Di launched the Battle of Jingnan and raised an army to attack Emperor Jianwen. In 1402, Zhu Di declared himself emperor in Nanjing. It is worth noting that although the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao was the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he did not have a temple number because of unknown life and death. On this basis, when Zhu Di died, the temple name was "Taizong". However, when the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming Dynasty reigned, he changed the temple name of the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di to "Chengzu".
Two
As a result, Zhu Di, who should have been called "Ming Taizong", was called "Ming Chengzu" by later generations because of the jiajing emperor's changes. So, the question is, why did the Jiajing Emperor change Zhu Di's temple name to "Chengzu"? This was obviously disrespectful to Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. In this regard, according to the "History of Ming" and other historical records, after the death of Emperor Wuzong of Ming in 1521, because he had no heirs under his name, he passed the throne to his cousin Zhu Houxi. After Zhu Houxi succeeded to the throne, he was known as the Jiajing Emperor. After becoming the tenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi had the idea of posthumously crowning his father as emperor and enjoying the Taimiao Temple.
Three
According to the Book of Rites, "The Seven Temples of the Heavenly Son, the Three Zhaos and Three Mu, and the Temple of Taizu and the Seven" roughly means that in the main hall of the Taimiao Temple, only seven emperors can be enshrined, except for the founding prince, the other emperors are ranked close to Zeqi. As far as the Ming Dynasty was concerned, Zhu Yuanzhang made some changes, and the Taimiao Temple could enshrine nine tablets, but by the time the Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi reigned, the Taimiao tablets had just run out. In this context, if the Jiajing Emperor wanted to let his biological father enter the Taimiao Temple, he had to move the rank of another emperor out. At this time, some ministers mentioned the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di.
Four
Finally, of course, considering Zhu Di's historical exploits, the clever Jiajing Emperor naturally did not dare to remove Zhu Di from the Taimiao Temple. Therefore, he changed Zhu Di's temple name to Chengzu and enjoyed the same treatment as Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Emperor. Since then, Zhu Di has gradually been called "Ming Chengzu" instead of "Ming Taizong", and this is undoubtedly the result that Zhu Di did not expect. Therefore, compared with the Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty and other dynasties, among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, there were two emperors with the "zu" character temple number, which is a more special place. However, in the Qing Dynasty after the Ming Dynasty, it went a step further, and the temple names of three emperors were named after "Zu", namely the Qing Taizu Nur Hachi, the Qing Dynasty Zu Ai Xinjue Luo Fu Lin (Shunzhi), and the Qing Shengzu Kangxi Emperor.
Text/Sentimental History