Emperor Ming of Han China
|
|
Format of naming convention in English is under discussion at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (Chinese).
Emperor Ming of Han China, ch. 漢明帝, py. hàn míng dì, wg. Han Ming-ti, (AD 28 - AD 75) was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty.
He was the eldest son of Emperor Guangwu. It was during Emperor Ming's reign that Buddhism began to spread into China. One night, he is said to have dreamed of a deity flying over his palace. The next day he told his ministers, and the minister Zhong Hu explained to him that he probably dreamed of Buddha in India. The emperor then sent a delegation of 18 headed by Cai Yin, Qin Jing and Wang Zun to seek Buddhism. They returned from Afghanistan with an image of Gautama Buddha, 42 sutras and two eminent monks. The next year, the emperor ordered the construction of White Horse Temple three li west of the capital Luoyang, to remember the horse that carried back the sutras. It was China's first Buddhist temple.
Emperor Ming also established the control of the Chinese Empire on the Tarim Basin and eradicated the Xiongnu influence there, through the conquests of his general Ban Chao.
Personal information
| Family name | Liu (劉 liú) in Chinese |
| Given name | Zhuang (莊 py. zhūang) |
| Era name | Yongping (永平 py. yŏng píng) 58-75 |
| Father | Emperor Guangwu of Han China (eldest son of) |
| Mother | Empress Yin Lihua |
| Wife | Empress Ma, daughter of military leader Ma Yuan and died childless in 79 |
| Major concubines | consort Jia |
| Children | 9 sons |
| Duration of reign | AD 57-AD 75 |
| Tomb | |
| Temple name | |
| Courtesy name | |
| Posthumous name | 孝明 (py. xiào míng), literary meaning: "filial and brilliant" |
| Posthumous name in short | 明 (py. míng), literary meaning: "brilliant" |
| Preceded by: Emperor Guangwu of Han China |
Eastern Han Dynasty | Succeeded by: Emperor Zhang of Han China |