Prince of Lu (Zhu Changfang)

Zhu Changfang (1608–1646) was the last Prince of Lu, a princedom whose seat was at Weihui in northern Henan. A grandson of the Longqing Emperor, he belongs to the cultivated princely world of the late Ming, and he is remembered less as a political figure than as a scholar, calligrapher and maker of the guqin, the seven-stringed zither.

His brief place among the Southern Ming rulers came in 1645. After the fall of Nanjing, officials at Hangzhou offered him the regency, but he surrendered the city to the Qing without a fight. He never took an era name, and he was executed the following year.

He should not be confused with Zhu Yihai, whose title is also rendered in English as Prince of Lu but is written with a different Chinese character. Zhu Yihai led a Ming regency at Shaoxing from 1645; see our page on the other Prince of Lu.

Life Before 1645

Zhu Changfang was the son of Zhu Yiliu, the first Prince of Lu, and inherited the title after his father's death.

He built his father an elaborate tomb below Fenghuang Mountain, north of Xinxiang in Henan. It has several unusual features, including a separate tomb for one of Zhu Yiliu's consorts and an unusual set of stone animal sculptures.

When the rebellions of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong spread across northern China, the Prince of Lu asked the throne for permission to act against the rebels. He raised troops and gave large sums towards feeding the Ming armies, but as the rebels advanced he was forced to flee south, eventually reaching Hangzhou.

In 1644 Li Zicheng took Beijing and the Chongzhen Emperor took his own life. In Nanjing, some officials favoured the Prince of Lu, who had a reputation for learning and good character, as the new emperor. The throne went instead to his relative Zhu Yousong, the Prince of Fu, who was backed by Ma Shiying, the governor-general of Fengyang, and reigned as the Hongguang Emperor.

The Lu Princedom

By the end of the Ming the imperial princes had no political role, and many lesser members of the clan lived on limited means. The Lu line was an exception. His father, Zhu Yiliu, was the fourth son of the Longqing Emperor and a younger brother of the Wanli Emperor, and was richly provided for.

Works of the Prince of Lu

Zhu Changfang was a practised painter and calligrapher and an accomplished player of the guqin. He is said to have made, or overseen the making of, more than 300 of these instruments during his time as Prince of Lu, and qin associated with him survive today. His instruments are associated with the name Zhonghe, “central harmony”, and in 1634 he compiled a handbook for the qin, the Guyin Zhengzong.

As a calligrapher he wrote in several scripts, in the tradition of the Jin dynasty master Wang Xizhi. Scrolls and inscriptions in his hand survive, although his artistic work was largely overlooked after his death.

Surrender and Death

After Nanjing fell to the Qing in 1645, officials who had reached Hangzhou asked Zhu Changfang to lead a Ming government as regent. Instead, he surrendered the city to the Qing without resistance. He was taken north with other Ming princes who had surrendered, and in 1646 they were executed in Beijing.

His father's tomb below Fenghuang Mountain, north of Xinxiang, is today a well-known local historic site.