Toghon Temür

Toghon Temür (Mongolian: Тогоонтөмөр, Togoontömör; 25 May 1320 – 23 May 1370), also known by the temple name Huizong (Chinese: 惠宗) bestowed by the Northern Yuan dynasty in Mongolia and by the posthumous name Shundi (Chinese: 順帝; Wade–Giles: Shun-ti) bestowed by the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty China, was a son of Khutughtu Khan Kusala who ruled as emperor of the Yuan dynasty. Apart from Emperor of China, he is also considered the last Khagan of the Mongol Empire, although it was only nominal due to the division of the empire at the start of the Yuan dynasty.
During the last years of his reign, the Yuan was overthrown by the Red Turban Rebellion, which established the Ming dynasty, although the Mongols remained in control of Mongolia.
Emperor Huizong was a Buddhist student of the Karmapas (heads of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism) and is considered a previous incarnation of the Tai Situpas. He also notably invited the Jonang savant Dölpopa Shérab Gyeltsen to teach him, but was rebuffed.

Toghon Temür was born to Kuśala, known as Khutughtu Khan or Emperor Mingzong, when he was in exile in Central Asia. Toghon Temür's mother was Mailaiti, descendant of Arslan, the chief of the Karluks.

Following the civil war known as the War of the Two Capitals that broke out after the death of Yesün Temür (Emperor Taiding) in 1328, Toghon Temür attended his father and entered Shangdu from Mongolia. However, after Kuśala died and his younger brother was restored to the throne as Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür (Emperor Wenzong), he was kept from the court and was banished to Goryeo (modern Korea) and later to Guangxi in South China. While he was in exile, his stepmother Babusha was executed.

When Emperor Wenzong died in 1332, his widow Budashiri respected his will to make the son of Kuśala's succeed to the throne instead of Wenzong's own son, El Tegüs. However, it was not Toghon Temür but his younger half-brother Rinchinbal, who was enthroned as Rinchinbal Khan (Emperor Ningzong). However, he died only two months into his reign. The de facto ruler, El Temür, attempted to install El Tegüs as emperor but was stopped by Dowager Empress Budashiri. As a result, Toghon Temür was summoned back from Guangxi. El Temür feared that Toghon Temür, who was too mature to be a puppet, would take arms against him since he was suspected of the assassination of Toghon Temür's father, Emperor Mingzong. The enthronement was postponed for six months until El Temür died in 1333.

In 1333, Toghon Temür first met Lady Gi, a Korean concubine whom he fell deeply in love with. Lady Gi had been sent to China sometime in the late 1320s as "human tribute" as the kings of Goryeo were required to send a certain number of beautiful teenage girls to Yuan to serve as concubines after the Mongol invasions.

Struggles during the early reign

The new emperor appointed his cousin El Tegüs crown prince as he was ward of El Tegüs' mother Budashiri, but he was controlled by warlords even after El Temür's death. Among them, Bayan of the Merkid became as powerful as El Temür had been. He served as minister of the Secretariat and crushed a rebellion by El Temür's son. During his despotic rule, he made several purges and also suspended the imperial examination system. When Toghon Temür tried to promote Lady Gi to secondary wife, which was contrary to the standard practice of only taking secondary wives from Mongol clans, it created such opposition at court to this unheard of promotion for a Korean woman that he was forced to back down. In 1339, when Lady Gi gave birth to a son, whom Toghon Temür decided would be his successor, he was finally able to have Lady Gi named his secondary wife in 1340.

As Toghon Temür matured, he came to disfavor Bayan's autocratic rule. In 1340 he allied with Bayan's nephew Toqto'a, who was in discord with Bayan, and banished Bayan in a coup. He also removed El Tegüs and Budashiri from court. With the help of Toqto'a, he also managed to purge officials that had dominated the administration.

Administrations during the middle reign

With the dismissal of Bayan, Toqto'a seized the power of the court. His first administration clearly exhibited fresh new spirit. The young leader was quick to distinguish his regime as something wholly different from Bayan's. A new Chinese era name, Zhizheng (Chinese: 至正), was decreed to show this. Bayan's purges were called off. Many of the great Chinese literati came back to the capital from voluntary retirement or from administrative exile and the imperial examination system was restored.

Toqto'a also gave a few early signs of a new and positive direction in central government. One of his successful projects was to finish the long-stalled official histories of the Liao, Jin and Song dynasties, which were eventually completed in 1345.

Toqto'a resigned his office with the approval of Toghon Temür in June 1344, which marked the end of his first administration. The several short-lived administrations that followed from 1344 and 1349 would develop an agenda very different from Toqto'a's. In 1347, the emperor forced Toqto'a into Gansu with assistance from former officers of Kuśala and Yesün Temür.

In 1349, Emperor Huizong recalled Toqto'a, which began Toqto'a's second and very different administration.

Disorder during the late reign

Since the late 1340s, people in the countryside suffered from frequent natural disasters, droughts, floods, and ensuing famines. The lack of effective government policy led to a loss of support from the people. Illicit salt dealers who were disaffected by the government's salt monopoly raised a rebellion in 1348, triggering many revolts around the empire. Among them was the Red Turban Rebellion, which started in 1351 and grew into a nationwide turmoil.

Hsing-hua, 1362, Yuan dynasty. Much of Putian County was controlled by Chinese rebels.

In 1354, when Toqto'a led a large army to crush the Red Turban rebels, Toghon Temür suddenly dismissed him for fear of betrayal. This resulted in the restoration of Toghon Temür's power but also a rapid weakening of the central government. Thus he had no choice but to rely on the forces of local warlords.

Toghon Temür gradually lost interest in politics and ceased to intervene in political struggles. His son Ayushiridara, who became Crown Prince in 1353, attempted to seize power and came into conflict with Toghon Temür's aides, who dominated politics instead of the khan. During this time power was increasingly exercised by Lady Gi. She had a special office devoted entirely to imposing taxes for her own personal use, and she became known for her corruption and lavish spending on palaces and luxury goods, making her a much hated figure. In Korea itself, Lady Gi's family, who all enjoyed influential positions thanks to her power, were equally hated for their corruption. Chief Khatun Öljei Khutugh and his minister persuaded Ayushiridara to overthrow the latter. Toghon Temür was unable to conciliate the dispute but executed the minister. In 1364 the Shangxi-based warlord Bolad Temür occupied Khanbaliq and expelled the Crown Prince from the winter base. In alliance with the Henan-based warlord Köke Temür, Ayushiridara defeated Bolad Temür in the next year. This internal struggle resulted in further weakening of the political and military power of the central government. In 1365, Toghon Temür finally promoted his much beloved Lady Gi to First Empress and announced that his son by her would be the first in the line of succession.

During the Yuan dynasty, one of Confucius' descendants, who was one of the Duke Yansheng Kong Huan's 孔浣 sons, named Kong Shao 孔紹, moved from China to Goryeo era Korea and established a branch of the family there after wedding a Korean woman (Jo Jin-gyeong's 曹晉慶 daughter) during Toghon Temür's rule. 曲阜孔氏 (朝鲜半岛) 곡부 공씨

Avignon papacy

Monument in honor of the rebuilding of the Temple of Yan Hui in Qufu in Year 9 of the Zhizheng era (1349)

Pope John XXII and Pope Benedict XII successfully extended a network of Catholic churches throughout the Mongol Empire from Crimea to China between 1317 and 1343. The archbishop of Khanbaligh, John of Montecorvino, died in 1328. With the backing of the Toghon Temür, the Alans wrote to Pope Benedict XII in 1336 asking for a new metropolitan. In 1338, the pope sent back the embassy headed by Giovanni de' Marignolli, who stayed at Beijing three or four years. They brought gifts for Toghon Temür that included fine European horses.

Japan

When the Koreans captured a Japanese fishing ship they thought was spying, the Goryeo court sent it to their overlord, the Yuan emperor Toghon Temür, who then sent the fishermen back to Japan. In reply, the Ashikaga shogunate sent an embassy led by a monk to express its gratitude.

A statue of Toghon Temür in Mongol Castle

Unifying rebel groups in Southern China and establishing the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang – crowned as the Hongwu Emperor – conducted military expeditions to North China and defeated the Yuan army in 1368. When Köke Temür lost battles against the Ming general Xu Da and Ming troops approached Hebei, Toghon Temür gave up Khanbaliq and fled to his summer base, Shangdu.

In 1369 when Shangdu also fell under the Ming's occupation, Toghon Temür fled northward to Yingchang, which was located in present-day Inner Mongolia. He died there in 1370; his son succeeded him as Biligtü Khan Ayushiridara and retreated to Karakorum in the same year. The Yuan remnants ruled Mongolia and continued to claim the title of Emperor of China, from which point they are referred to as the Northern Yuan dynasty.

At the time of his death, the Mongolia-based empire maintained its influence, stretching the domination from the East Sea to Altai Mountains. There were also pro-Yuan, anti-Ming forces in Yunnan and Guizhou. Even though its control over China had not been stable yet, the Ming considered that the Yuan lost the Mandate of Heaven when it abandoned Khanbaliq, and that the Yuan was overthrown in 1368. The Ming did not treat Toghon Temür after 1368 and his successor Ayushiridar as legitimate emperors.

The Ming gave Toghon Temür the posthumous name Shundi (順帝), which implied that he followed the Mandate of Heaven ceding his empire to the Ming. But the Northern Yuan dynasty gave him their own posthumous name Xuanren Pu Xiao Huangdi (宣仁普孝皇帝) and temple name Huizong (惠宗).

Even after Toghon Temür, there was still Yuan resistance to the Ming in the south. In southwestern China, Basalawarmi, the self-styled "Prince of Liang", established a Yuan resistance movement in Yunnan and Guizhou that was not put down until 1381.

Mongolian chronicles such as the Erdeniin Tobchi include a poem known as the Lament of Toghon Temür. It deals with his grieving after the loss of Khanbaliq.

Ji Chang-wook portrayed his role as Toghon Temur in 2013 South Korean TV series, Empress Ki

• The Korean TV dramas Shin Don (2005-2006) and Empress Ki (2013).
• The film A Frozen Flower which features a depiction of Toghon issuing a decree to the Korean king.
• Chuanqi Huangdi Zhu Yuanzhang
• Founding Emperor of Ming Dynasty