Ming Imperial Court

Timeline

1. 1368–1398Nanjing · East ChinaAfter proclaiming himself emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming dynasty in Nanjing, abolished the chancellorship, set the Six Ministries to report directly to the emperor, and created the Jinyiwei (Embroidered Uniform Guard), laying the foundation for a highly centralized central government.
2. 1403–1424Beijing · North ChinaThe Yongle Emperor relocated the capital to Beijing and built the Forbidden City; the Grand Secretariat's assisting-governance system gradually matured, and Zheng He's voyages to the Western Seas demonstrated the court's leading role in the foreign tributary order.
3. 1450–1572Forbidden City, Beijing · North ChinaIn the mid-to-late Ming, the Grand Secretariat's drafting of rescripts and the Directorate of Ceremonial's vermilion endorsements formed a dual-track decision-making system, while inner-court agencies such as the Eastern and Western Depots strengthened imperial surveillance of the civil bureaucracy.
4. 1620–1644Beijing · North ChinaFactional strife, fiscal exhaustion, and the combined pressure of peasant armies and the Later Jin forced the Chongzhen Emperor to hang himself on Coal Hill, ending the Ming imperial court as the central authority of a unified regime.