Ming Xia


The Xia, officially the Great Xia and known as Ming Xia today, was a short-lived Chinese dynasty in modern Sichuan and Chongqing during the chaotic late Yuan dynasty. It was founded by the Red Turban rebel general Ming Yuzhen whose army expelled Yuan loyalists from the region in the late 1350s. He refused to recognize Chen Youliang, who killed the Red Turban leader Xu Shouhui to found his Chen Han empire, so in 1362 Ming declared himself emperor of Xia, with the capital in Chongqing. He defended his empire from Chen Han, and tried, unsuccessfully, to conquer Yunnan from the warlord Basalawarmi. After his death in 1366, his teenaged son Ming Sheng succeeded him, but the empire began to disintegrate into regional military commands. In 1371, the Ming dynasty under emperor Zhu Yuanzhang made a two-pronged attack and conquered Xia relatively easily. Ming Sheng who surrendered was exiled to Goryeo, and became the progenitor of the Korean Namwon Seung clan, Yeonan Myeong clan and Seochok Myeong clan.