born Dec. 5, 1377, China died July 13, 1402?, Nanjing
reign name (nianhao) of the second emperor of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), under whose brief reign (1398–1402) a civil war nearly destroyed the newly founded dynasty.
Succeeding to the throne in 1398, Jianwen continued the efforts of his predecessor to erase the Mongol legacies of the previous Yuan dynasty (1206–1368) and to encourage the cultural, intellectual, and technological advances for which the Ming dynasty was to become noted. He met his downfall when he tried to reassert central control over several princedoms within the empire that were ruled by his uncles. This effort provoked a rebellion by his uncle the prince of Yan, whose troops overwhelmed the capital in 1402 and established him as the Yongle emperor (reigned 1402–24); the defeated Jianwen vanished at the time his palace was burned. He was presumed to have died in the fire, but legend recounts that he survived and lived for nearly 40 more years as a wandering monk.
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