Kingdom of Great or Greater Zhou (Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

: 大周, pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

: Dà Zhōu; 1354–1367), was a state established in 1354 by Zhang Shicheng

Zhang Shicheng

Zhang Shicheng （1321－1367）was one of the leaders of the Red Turban Rebellion in the late Yuan Dynasty China. Later he established the Kingdom of Dazhou with reigning name Tianyou .-Life:...

, one of the leaders of the Red Turban Rebellion

Red Turban Rebellion

The Red Turban Rebellion was an uprising much influenced by the White Lotus Society members that targeted the ruling Yuan Dynasty.- Causes :...

. Kingdom of Dazhou lasted for only 13 years and had only one King.

Founding

Since the 1340s, the Mongol-ruled Yuan Dynasty

Yuan Dynasty

The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...

 began to face numerous crises. The Yellow River

Yellow River

The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into...

 flooded constantly, and other natural disasters also occurred. At the same time, the Yuan Dynasty required considerable military expenditure to maintain its vast empire. This was solved mostly through additional taxation that fell mainly on the Han

Han Chinese

Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...

 Chinese population which constituted the lowest two castes in the four castes of the Yuan Dynasty. From this chaos, heroes arose from many places throughout the empire. Zhang Shicheng, who was a salt shipper from Jiangsu

Jiangsu

' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...

 province rebelled against the Yuan Dynasty in 1353. Zhang with his brother soon conquered Taizhou

Taizhou

Taizhou may refer to two prefecture-level cities of the People's Republic of China:*Taizhou, Jiangsu *Taizhou, Zhejiang...

, Xinghua

Xinghua

This article is about the city. For other uses, see Xinghua.Xinghua City is a county-level city in Taizhou, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China...

 and Gaoyou in 1353.

In 1354 Zhang established Kingdom of Dazhou and declared himself as king with era name Chengwang (诚王). Soon afterward, on the same year Zhang controlled Yangzhou

Yangzhou

Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, and Zhenjiang across...

, an important center of salt trade on the Grand Canal of China

Grand Canal of China

The Grand Canal in China, also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the longest canal or artificial river in the world. Starting at Beijing, it passes through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the city of Hangzhou...

, just north of the Yangtze. In 1356 Zhang seized Suzhou

Suzhou

Suzhou , previously transliterated as Su-chou, Suchow, and Soochow, is a major city located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in Eastern China, located adjacent to Shanghai Municipality. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Taihu Lake and is a part...

, the main hub of transportation and commerce of Jiangnan

Jiangnan

Jiangnan or Jiang Nan is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including the southern part of the Yangtze Delta...

 (the "South of the Lower Yangtze" region), and made the city his capital. Zhang appointed his brother Zhang Shixin as prime minister and Zhang Shide as General commander. Many ethnic Han Yuan generals submitted to Zhang after he had established the Kingdom Of Dazhou.

Economy & Culture

Kingdom of Dazhou was one of the country's main granaries and also produced over half of all salt in China. Dazhou became the most prosperous kingdom compared to its rivals such as the Yuan, Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang

Chen Youliang

Chen Youliang was the founder of the insurgent state of Dahan in the late Yuan Dynasty period of Chinese history.-Biography:...

. Zhang's regime was mostly patterned on the Yuan Dynasty model, but made use of some of the earlier traditional Chinese terminology as well.

Reference

• Edward L. Farmer, Zhu Yuanzhang and Early Ming Legislation: The Reordering of Chinese Society Following the Era of Mongol Rule. BRILL, 1995. ISBN 9004103910, 9789004103917. On Google Books. P. 23.