Perpetual Happiness

The reign of Emperor Yongle, or “Perpetual Happiness,” was one of the most dramatic and significant in Chinese history. It began with civil war and a bloody coup, saw the construction of the Forbidden City, the completion of the Grand Canal, consolidation of the imperial bureaucracy, and expansion of China’s territory into Mongolia, Manchuria, and Vietnam.Beginning with an hour-by-hour account of one day in Yongle’s court, Shih-shan Henry Tsai presents the multiple dimensions of the life of Yongle (Zhu Di, 1360-1424) in fascinating detail. Tsai examines the role of birth, education, and tradition in molding the emperor’s personality and values, and paints a rich portrait of a man characterized by stark contrasts. Synthesizing primary and secondary source materials, he has crafted a colorful biography of the most renowned of the Ming emperors.The open access publication of this book was made possible by a grant from the James P. Geiss and Margaret Y. Hsu Foundation.

A skillful biography of a figure who might be called China’s Peter the Great. The son of the founder of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) removed the capital to Beijing, built the Great Wall, finished the Grand Canal, and made the court bureaucracy even more powerful and efficient, all the while encouraging exploration abroad (and putting down rebellion at home)., Through a judicious use of primary and secondary sources, this well-researched biographical study offers a front-row view of Yongle, perhaps the most famous of all Ming emperors, and his desires, fears, and continual search to expand and consolidate Chinese power. Tsai’s very readable work will be useful to undergraduate and graduate students and professional scholars of Chinese history., A colorful historical biography of one of the most revered emperors of China and a vivid portrait of life during the Ming dynasty. Scholar Tsai’s lively writing will infect even non-scholarly audiences with his own evident enthusiasm for his subject., A very important contribution. Tsai has provided the most thorough and detailed study of a Chinese emperor available in English. He displays a firm grasp of the primary sources and of recent Chinese scholarship. Tsai has set a model for emulation that we can only hope will be widely followed., Yongle traveled with an entourage of government officials and courtiers and logistical personnel that make American presidential trips look puny—and the Emperor always took with him 10,000 cavalry soldiers and 40,000 foot soldiers. Yongle, in short, never did anything in a small way.

Shih-shan Henry Tsai is professor emeritus of history and former director of Asian studies at the University of Arkansas. He is the author of several books, including Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty.