Top 10 insane emperors in ancient China

By Zhang Junmian
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, September 2, 2011
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   Toghun Temür 元顺帝妥欢贴睦尔

Toghun Temür (1320-1370), Emperor Shun, was the 11th and last emperor of the Yuan Dynasty (1260-1368). He ascended to the throne in 1333 when he was only 13 years old. He was remembered as an airhead who only had strong interest in sex.


Emperor Shun was engaged in learning of sexual skills, and favored group sex in the palace. He had a grand stage built to satisfy his desire of watching dance performances day and night. He advocated national discrimination and oppression policies against the Han, and ordered his associates to slaughter the Han people with the surnames of Zhang, Wang, Liu, Li and Zhao.

During his reign, the political struggles in the court became more and more fierce, and the de factor rulers in succession, namely Bo Yan, Tuo Tuo and Ha Ma were the culprits who plunged the state administration into chaos. The corrupted imperial envoys he dispatched managed to feather their nests by looting from the local officials, who in turn imposed heavy taxes on the people.

In late 1340's, frequent droughts, high inflations and famines, along with the oppressions on dam workers around the Yellow River, led to large-scale peasant uprisings. In 1367, the troop led by Zhu Yuanzhang captured the Yuan capital Dadu (today's Beijing), and Emperor Shun fled to Yingchang (southwest of Dalinuoer in Inner Mongolia today), where he died of diarrhoea in 1370.

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