THE SYSTEM OF DIRECT PETITION TO THE THRONE IN THE TIME OF MING TAIZU

Abstract

In the early months of 1385 (Hongwu eighth year, during the reign of Ming Taizu, the dynastic founder), the embezzlement of an incredibly massive quantity of government grain by the vice minister of revenue, Guo Huan, in connivance with both government personnel and commoners was unearthed. The persecution that followed lasted for several months. It took a heavy toll in lives and destroyed numerous households financially, and in many instances physically as well. Many of those who had suffered in the affair were actually innocent; the implication of the innocent persons generated popular resentment against the court. The resentment was so persistent and virulent that Taizu was compelled to issue an edict on August 2, 1385, to explain what he had done to deal with the affair, and “to placate the popular sentiment that has swept across the empire.” Although persecution of the innocent was terminated by the edict, the persecution of real culprits continued for a considerable length of time. The multitude of people implicated in the affair and the magnitude of bloodletting incurred by it ranked the Guo Huan affair with the Hu Weiyang affair of 1380, the Kongyin affair of 1382 and the Lan Yu affair of 1393 as one of the four large bloody persecutions of the Hongwu reign.