Huang-Ming Zuxun

The Huang-Ming Zuxun (Chinese: 皇明祖訓, Ancestral Instructions of Imperial Ming) were admonitions and exhortations left by the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dynasty, to his descendants. The text was composed in 1373 under the title Record of the Ancestor's Instructions; this was changed to Huang Ming Zu Xun during the publication of the 1395 edition.^[1]

The book was divided into thirteen sections:

1. Preface (箴戒, Zhēnjiè)
2. Harem (持守, Chíshǒu)
3. Ritual Observance (嚴祭祀, Yán Jìsì)
4. Risk management (謹岀入, Jǐn Chūrù)
5. National Policy (慎國政, Shèn Guózhèng)
6. Protocol (禮儀, Lǐyí)
7. Legislation (法律, Fǎlǜ)
8. The Inner Chambers (內令, Nèilìng)
9. Eunuch (內官, Nèiguān)
10. Administration (職制, Zhízhì)
11. Guards (兵衛, Bīngwèi)
12. Public Works (營繕, Yíngshàn)
13. Public Funds (供用, Gōngyòng)

The preface, composed by Zhu Yuanzhang himself, admonishes his descendants to exert a strict Legalist government. The work pins the survival of the dynasty principally on personal austerity and watchfulness—both over the practical administration of the empire, the niceties of ritual and etiquette on various occasions, and over various potential traitors, including their relatives, spouses, and officials, both military and civil.^[1]