Abstract
Princes are still peripheral in much of the history of China’s Ming dynasty, especially so in the writings of Western sinology. Prince of Xing Zhu Youyuan (1476–1519) is a fitting example, left almost to oblivion save for his posthumous role in the Great Ritual Controversy. This essay offers a close study – the first in English – of Zhu and his writings. In particular, it is interested in how he envisioned and wrote about his relationship with the Ming dynastic enterprise. Through close readings of his political poetry, the essay contends that Zhu was attached to the Ming as a distinctly dynastic polity and that he felt obligated to safeguard the patrimony he had inherited. Apart from Zhu, the essay also introduces several other princes who put similar sentiments to paper. Examining their writings leads to the argument that Zhu was participating in a broader princely culture of maintaining a sense of dynastic identity and affiliation.
Keywords
Zhu Youyuan, Ming China, princes, Jiajing emperor, dynastic identity
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