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Plate 15.2 Statues of Zhenwu and four
attendants in the Golden Hall, Palace of
Supreme Harmony, Mount Wudang, Hubei,
Ming dynasty, Yongle period (r. 1403–24)
strongly prohibited religious festivals and performances for mass rebellion. Moreover, such theatre performances often
territorial cults, including those involving thunder marshals, conveyed ‘the notion of supernatural powers that may assist
and imposed severe punishment on their organisers and the living at times they are threatened by alien invasions’,
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soldiers of the imperial army who participated in them. which undermined the rulership of the Mongol Yuan court.
The Yuan government showed intense fear of local religious After the fall of the Yuan, the subsequent emperors of the
theatre because of its subversive potential for instigating Ming dynasty adopted a radically different policy and
endeavoured to harness the spirits of the local soil by
Plate 15.3 Statue of Zhenwu in the Hall of Imperial Peace, employing masters of thunder ritual at court, asking them to
Forbidden City, Beijing, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (r. 1403–24) transform unruly spirits into defenders of the empire.
Meulenbeld even argues that the imperial patronage of
Zhenwu who has command over demonic forces is one
major aspect of the Ming project aimed at incorporating
unruly spirits for the purpose of territorial protection. True
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as that may be, thunder marshals did not receive imperial
acknowledgement as protectors of the empire as Zhenwu did
in the early Ming period. Indeed, thunder marshals were not
recognised by the Ming court as the troops of Zhenwu until
the second half of the 15th century.
We can observe the change in the Ming court’s attitude
towards thunder marshals by studying imperial donations to
temples at Mount Wudang 武當山, the sacred mountain of
Zhenwu, in present-day Hubei province. Based on two
gazetteers, both with the title Gazetteer of the Great Mountain of
Supreme Harmony (Dayue Taiheshan zhi 大嶽太和山志), Noelle
Giuffrida has compiled a summary showing imperial
donations of statues of Zhenwu and his retinue to Mount
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Wudang throughout the Ming dynasty. The Yongle
emperor, who supported the reconstruction and renovation
of Daoist temples on the mountain, is recorded to have
donated one set of five statues to the Golden Hall (Jinding
金頂) at Taihegong 太和宮 (Palace of Supreme Harmony),
situated at the peak of the mountain. This set, which
remains installed in the Golden Hall, consists of statues of
Zhenwu and four attendants, namely Numinous Official
(lingguan 靈官), Jade Maiden (yunü 玉女), Flag Holder (zhiqi
持旗) and Sword Holder (pengjian 捧劍) (Pl. 15.2). It closely
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resembles another set of five gilt bronze statues now
preserved in the Hall of Imperial Peace in the Forbidden
City, noted earlier, which is also said to have been produced
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under the auspices of the Yongle emperor (Pl. 15.3). No

136 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450