The “Ming Dynasty edict to the King of Ryukyu,” recently re-exhibited at the Lushun Museum in Dalian, Northeast China’s Liaoning Province, has drawn widespread attention. Han Xingfang, former deputy director of the museum who has long engaged in related research, believes that the edict reveals an important historical fact – that Ryukyu was once a vassal state of China – and provides significant evidence for the study of Ryukyu’s history as well as Japan’s history of aggression against it, Xinhua News Agency reported.The edict on display this time is a replica, with the original preserved in the archives of the Dalian Lushun Museum. The edict is dated to the second year of the Chongzhen reign of the Ming Dynasty (1629). It is made of yellow paper, bordered with golden cloud-and-dragon motifs, and bears a square vermilion seal reading “Imperial Seal of Expansive Fortune.” The text is written in neat regular script
The edict formally confirms Shang Feng’s succession to the Ryukyu throne following the death of King Shang Ning, authorizing Ming envoys to confer his investiture and bestowing ceremonial gifts. It praises the late king’s loyalty and service, urges the new ruler to govern with caution, uphold royal statutes, safeguard the realm, and maintain Ryukyu’s duties as a vassal state. The document concludes with a detailed list of imperial gifts.
Han, who has conducted extensive research on this artifact, wrote in an article that the phrase “suffered harassment from a neighboring state” in the edict refers to the 1612 incident in which Japan dispatched 3,000 troops to invade Ryukyu and captured King Shang Ning. This event is also recorded in the History of the Ming: Ryukyu had long resisted pressure from powerful neighbors while faithfully maintaining its tributary missions, yet in the 40th year of the reign of Emperor Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Japan indeed sent 3,000 soldiers to seize the kingdom, abduct its king, plunder its ancestral treasures and withdraw.
The chronicle then notes that the king was later released and Ryukyu resumed its tribute missions. It further records that in the 44th year of Wanli, when Japan was considering seizing Jilong Mountain – an area known as Taiwan, close to Fujian – King Shang Ning dispatched envoys to inform the Ming court, prompting the imperial order to strengthen coastal defenses.
These records show that King Shang Ning served the Ming court with loyalty, diligence, and prudence, which is why the edict praises his conduct, summarized in the phrase “your father upheld the royal mandate, defended the maritime realm, and fulfilled his duties with unwavering loyalty.”
According to Han’s research, the Ming Dynasty conducted a total of 15 investiture missions to Ryukyu, with the one issued during the reign of Emperor Chongzhen being the last. In the 1th year of the reign of the Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), King Shang Zhi of Ryukyu dispatched envoys to Beijing to return “two old imperial edicts, one imperial decree, and a gilded silver seal,” and requested new investiture documents and seals, Xinhua reported.
Through this process, the Chongzhen-era edict eventually found its way back to China. Thereafter, the Qing Dynasty largely followed the Ming system and continued the investiture of Ryukyu’s rulers, per Xinhua.