Zhu Ying

King Suzhuang Zhu Qi (October 10, 1376 – January 5, 1420), the first King of Su in the Ming Dynasty, was the fourteenth son of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, mother Gao Shi. He was born on the 27th day of the ninth lunar month in the ninth year of Hongwu (1376).

On the first day of the first lunar month in the eleventh year of Hongwu (1378), he was granted the title of Wang (Prince) of Han and stationed in Hanzhong Prefecture, Shaanxi Province, but remained in the imperial capital due to his young age. On April 13 of the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu (1391), he was re-titled as Prince of Su. The following year (1392), along with five other princes—Prince Wei Zhu Zhi, Prince Gu Zhu Xie, Prince Qingjing Zhu Dian, Prince Ningxian Zhu Quan, and Prince Minzhuang Zhu Pian—he practiced martial skills in Linqing. In the same year, on the third day of the sixth lunar month, he officially moved to serve in Ganzhou, establishing a princely office to oversee military affairs of the five guard troops in Gansu under the Shaanxi administration.

In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu (1393), he was stationed in Pingliang. In the thirtieth year of Hongwu (1397), he supervised troop provisioning and led campaigns against barbarian tribes. In the first year of the Jianwen reign (1399), he submitted a petition requesting transfer of his fief; thus, his title was relocated to Lantou County in Linxia Prefecture.

In the sixth year of Yongle (1408), he arrested envoys from Hami and other officials. He died in the seventeenth year of Yongle (1420), after ruling for 42 years. He was 44 years old at his death. He was posthumously titled Zhuang and was buried in Jin County’s Pingdili in Laizipu Township, Yuzhong County.

In the twenty-second year of Yongle (1424), his eldest surviving son, Zhu Shanyan, succeeded him. Though a princely heir, Zhu Qi’s annual stipend was only 500 dan (a measure of grain), below the standard of 10,000 dan stipulated by Ming Taizu.

His wife was Lady Sun (daughter of Commander Sun Jida). In the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu, she was granted the title of Princess Suzhuang. He also had mistresses, including Lady Xue (awarded the title of Princess Suzwang) and Lady Zhang (who became Princess Suzhuang’s Lady and the mother of Zhu Shanyan). His children included his eldest son Zhu Shanyan, his eldest daughter Princess Chongxin (married to Yinbin Zhang Duan, died young), and a third daughter, Lady Didao County.