Аннотация:Chu Yuan-chang's seventeen-year transit from the lower depths of Chinese society to the imperial throne provides a context for an examination of the principles of the political integration of Chinese society. The Ming Dynasty originated in a local military office of the Maitreya-worshipping White Lotus Society. In 1352, the Ming founder, Chu Yuan-chang, then a destitute ex-peasant and Buddhist monk, entered the service of a prosperous fortune-teller Kuo Tzu-hsing, who had occupied the city of Hao at the head of an armed band of White Lotus initiates. In 1355, leaders of the Society proclaimed the establishment of the Ta (Great) Sung Empire. The vicissitudes Of the ill-fated empire were reflected in the frequent movement of its capital (Po-chou 1355–1358; K'ai-feng 1358–1359; An-feng 1359–1363; Ch'u-chou 1363–1367). The emperor, Han Lin-erh, died either by accident or by design while being moved down the Yangtze from Ch'u-chou to Nanking in 1367. Chu Yuan-chang rose in the ranks of the Ta Sung Empire until its termination by Han Lin-erh's death.
