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Plate 15.1a–b a) (above) Twelve Thunder
Marshals. Painting on paper adhering to
the northern interior wall of the Hall of
Imperial Peace, Forbidden City, Beijing;
b) (left) Floor plan of the Qin’an dian (Hall
of Imperial Peace) with author’s own
addition of Marshals’ names based on a
plain floor plan found in Wang Zilin 2007,
fig. 33

subsequently absorb them into the armies of the Thunder position, often regarded as second only to the Jade Emperor
Division (Leibu 雷部). The thunder marshals discussed here (Yuhuang 玉皇). Despite their inferior position, thunder
were unruly spirits that had been incorporated into the marshals were reverenced and thunder rituals widely
divine troops of the Thunder Division after undergoing a popular from the Southern Song, through the Yuan, to the
Daoist process of transformation. Their connections with Ming period.
Zhenwu within the liturgical structure of Daoism were Although both the Yuan and the early Ming courts
firmly established no later than the 13th century. While the patronised Zhenwu, they adopted very different strategies
thunder marshals constitute the lowest group of the for dealing with the widespread cults of thunder marshals.
liturgical structure, the Dark Emperor occupies a pivotal As Meulenbeld incisively notes, the Yuan government

Table 1 Table showing the combination of Celestial Lords and Marshals as visually represented on different occasions in the 15th century
Deng Xin Zhang Tao Gou Bi Pang Liu Ma Zhao Wen Guan Yin Wang
Celestial Lords & 鄧 辛 張 陶 苟 畢 龐 劉 馬 趙 溫 關 殷 王
Marshals
(year)
a. Hall of Imperial Peace √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
(unknown)
b. Scripture of the Jade √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Emperor (1424)
c. Golden Writings √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
(Xuantian jiao dushu)
(1433)
d. Ming Daoist Canon √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
(Zhengtong Daozang)
(1445)
e. Golden Hall at Mount √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Wudang (1473)
f. Palace of Five Dragons √ √ √ √
at Mount Wudang (1483)
g. Palace of the Southern √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Rock (Nanyangong)
(1494)

Enshrining the Dark Troops: The Printing of Daoist Books in the Early Ming Dynasty | 135