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Wanli Emperor
Birth and death:	4 September 1563–18 August 1620
Family name:	Zhū (朱)
Given name:	Yijun (翊鈞)
Dates of reign:	19 July 1572–18 August 1620
Dynasty:	Ming (明)
Era name:	Wanli (萬曆 / 万历)
Era dates:	2 February 1573–27 August 1620¹
Temple name:	Shénzōng (神宗)
Posthumous name: (short)	Emperor Xian (顯皇帝)
Posthumous name: (full)	Emperor Fantian Hedao Zhesu Dunjian Guangwen Zhangwu Anren Zhixiao Xian 範天合道哲肅敦簡光文章武安仁 止孝顯皇帝
General note: Dates before 1582 are given in the Julian calendar, not in the proleptic Gregorian calendar. Dates after 1582 are given in the Gregorian calendar, not in the Julian calendar that remained in use in England until 1752. ——— 1. Following the death of the emperor, the Wanli era was normally due to end on January 21, 1621. However, the new emperor Taichang died within a month, before January 22, 1621, which should have been the start of the Taichang era. The new emperor Tianqi decided that the Wanli era would be considered ended since August 27, 1620, the last day of the 7th month in the Chinese calendar, to enable the Taichang era to be applied for the five months remaining in that year (see Taichang article).

Wanli Emperor (September 4, 1563 - August 18, 1620) was emperor of China (Ming dynasty) between 1572 and 1620. Born Zhu Yijun, he was the Longqing Emperor's son. His rule of 48 years would be the longest in the Ming dynasty and it witnessed the steady decline of the dynasty. Wanli also saw the arrival of the first Jesuit missionary in Beijing, Matteo Ricci.

Wanli ascended the throne at the age of 9. For the first ten years of his reign, the young emperor was aided by a notable statesman, Zhang Juzheng (張居正). Zhang Juzheng directed the path of the country and exercised his skills and power as an able administrator. After Zhang's death in 1582, Wanli felt that he was free of supervision and reversed many of Zhang's administrative improvements. Overall during these 10 years, the Ming Dynasty's economy and military power prospered in a way not seen since the Yongle and "Ren Xuan Rule" during the 15th century.

After Zhang Juzheng died, Wanli decided to take complete control of the government. During this early part of his rule he demonstrated himself to be a decent and diligent emperor. Overall, the economy continued to prosper and the country was extremely powerful. Unlike the 20 years at the end of his rule, Wanli at this time would attend every morning meeting and discuss affairs of state. The first eighteen years of Wanli's reign would be dominated by three wars that were all extremely successful:

First, he defended against the Mongols. In the outer regions, one of the leaders rebelled and allied with the Mongols to attack the Ming. At this time, Wanli sent out the Li Chengliang ans sons to handle this situation, resulting in an overall success.

Second, Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan sent 200,000 soldiers in the first expedition to invade Korea. Wanli made three decisions. First, he sent reinforcements to support the Koreans. Second, if Koreans entered Ming territory, he gave them lodging. Third, told the Liaodong area to prepare and be careful. In actual combat, the first 2 battles were losses since the Ming Dynasty's troops under Li Rusong were inferior to the 200,000 strong Japanese army. Next, Wanli sent better commanders to handle the situation with more success. This resulted in negotiation that favored the Ming. Two years later, in 1596, Japan once again invaded and this time the Ming Dynasty suffered substantial casualties. However, that same year, Hideyoshi died and the Japanese lost their will to fight. This resulted in the Ming Dynasty defeating the demoralized Japanese army, sending them back.

Third, the Yang Yin Long rebelled. At first, Wanli was still handling the war with Japan; therefore he only sent 3,000 troops for Yang Guo Zhu to command against this rebellion. Unfortunately, this 3,000 strong army was completely annihilated and Yang Guo Zhu died. When the war with Japan ended, Wanli turned his attention to Yang Yin Long sending Guo Zhi Zhang and Li Huo Long to lead the offensive. In the end, Li Huo Long would defeat the army of Yang and bring him back to the capital. After these three successful conflicts, Wanli stopped going to morning meetings, going into his later reign and his final 20 years on the throne.

During the latter years of Wanli's reign, he seldom attended state affairs and for years at a time would refuse to receive his ministers or read any reports sent to him. Wanli also extorted money from the government, and ultimately his own people, for his personal enjoyment. One example was the close attention he paid to the construction of his own tomb, which took decades to complete.

The Wanli Emperor then became disenchanted with the moralistic attacks and counterattacks of officials, becoming thoroughly alienated from his imperial role. He finally resorted to vengeful tactics of blocking or ignoring the conduct of administration. For years on end he refused to see his ministers or act upon memoranda. He refused to make necessary appointments, and eventually became so obese he was unable even to stand without assistance.^[1] The whole top echelon of Ming administration became understaffed. In short, Wanli tried to forget about his imperial responsibilities while building up personal wealth. Considering the emperor's required role as the linchpin of the state, this personal rebellion against the bureaucracy was not only bankruptcy but treason.¹ Finally, during this "dreaming period", the future threat of the Manchurians developed. The Jurchen area was eventually conquered by the military genius Nurhaci. Nurhaci would go on to create the Later Jin Empire which would now become an immediate threat. By this time, after 20 years, the Ming Dynasty army was in steep decline due to the lack of wars. On the other hand, while the Jurchens were of a fewer number, they were much more fiercer and more powerful. In the grand battle of Nun Er Chu in 1619, the Ming Dynasty sent out a force of 200,000 against the Later Jin Empire of 80,000, with Nurhaci controlling 6 banners and 60,000 as the central attack while Dai Shan and Huang Taji each controlled 10,000 troops and one banner attacked from the sides. After 5 days of battle, the Ming Dynasty had casualties over 100,000, with 70% of their food supply stolen. From this point on, the Ming Dynasty would lose its advantage to the Jurchens, setting up the eventual downfall of the Ming Dynasty to the later Qing Dynasty.
In 1997 China's Ministry of Public Security published a book on the history of the drug problem in which it was stated that the Wanli emperor's remains had been examined in 1958 and found to contain morphine residues at levels which indicate that he had been a heavy and habitual user of opium.^[2]

• Empress Xiaoduan (? - 1620), had no sons
• Empress Xiaojing (1565 - 1612), died after bearing the Taichang Emperor. Her grandson, the Tianqi Emperor, promoted her to Empress Dowager. Thus she was re-buried from an Imperial Concubine's tomb to the Wanli Emperor's tomb. The Wanli Emperor therefore was the only Ming Dynasty Emperor buried with two wives.

The Wanli emperor’s reign is representative of the decline of the Ming. He was an unmotivated and avaricious ruler who allowed his country to fall apart under his rule. His reign was plagued with fiscal woes, military pressures, and angry bureaucrats. He also had sent eunuch supervisors to provinces to oversee mining operations which actually became covers for extortion. Discontent with the lack of morals during this time, a group of scholars and political activists loyal to Zhu Xi and against Wang Yangming, created the Donglin Movement, a political group who believed in upright morals and tried to affect the government. During the closing years of Wanli's reign, the Manchu began to conduct raids on the northern border of the Ming Empire. Their depredations ultimately led to the overthrow of the Ming dynasty in 1644. The Wanli Emperor died in 1620 and was buried in Dingling (定陵) located on the outskirts of Beijing. His tomb is one of the biggest in the vicinity compared and is one of only two that are open to the public. In many ways, he was a similar emperor to those emperors that were successful at first, but then loosened up and caused the eventual demise of the empire (Qianlong of Qing and Tang Xuanzong of Tang)

Huang, Ray. 1587, a Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981.

1. ^ Goodrich, Carrington L., and Fang Chaoying, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976.
2. ^ Zheng Yangwen, The Social Life of Opium in China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 18-9.