The Prince of Anhua rebellion begins when Zhu Zhifan kills all the officials invited to a banquet and declares his intent on ousting the powerful Ming dynasty eunuch Liu Jin during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor.
Prince of Anhua rebellion
The Prince of Anhua rebellion, or the Prince of Anhua's uprising, refers to the uprising led by Zhu Zhifan, Prince of Anhua, against the reigning Ming emperor, Zhengde Emperor, and took place in Ningxia, one of the nine military regions on the Ming Chinese border with Mongolia. In 1510, Liu Jin, a eunuch who held significant power in the government thanks to the trust and support of the Zhengde Emperor, sent officials to Ningxia to implement tax increases for military households and punish tax debtors, which sparked anger and discontent among the people. Taking advantage of the situation, Zhu Zhifan launched the rebellion on 12 May, declaring it a campaign against Liu Jin. However, the surrounding military commanders did not join in and instead reported the rebellion to the government in Beijing. In response, an army led by high official Yang Yiqing and eunuch Zhang Yong was sent to suppress the rebellion. Before the army reached Ningxia, loyalists led by garrison officer Qiu Yue captured the prince on 30 May.
Zhu Zhifan
Zhu Zhifan was a prince of the Ming dynasty, belonging to a minor branch of the Zhu Zhan family. Zhu Zhan was the sixteenth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder and first emperor of the dynasty. In 1492, he inherited the title of Prince of Anhua and was based in Ningxia, the center of one of the frontier regional headquarters along the border of the Ming dynasty with Mongolia. In May 1510, he took advantage of the dissatisfaction of the officers and soldiers of the garrison there with the consistent collection of taxes and rebelled. He justified the rebellion by attempting to remove the eunuch Liu Jin, who was the de facto head of the Ming government at the time. However, the rebellion only lasted a few weeks and collapsed in late May 1510 when Qiu Yue, a loyalist who had apparently joined the rebels, captured Zhu Zhifan. Government troops then took control of the city of Ningxia. The rebels were punished according to their level of guilt, and the Zhengde Emperor allowed Zhu Zhifan to commit suicide.
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Han people, the majority ethnic group in China. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng, numerous rump regimes ruled by remnants of the Ming imperial family, collectively called the Southern Ming, survived until 1662.