Xu Shouhui
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Xu.
Xú Shòuhuī (徐壽輝, in Wade-Giles Hsü Shou-hui (died 1360) was a 14th century Chinese rebel leader who proclaimed himself emperor during the late Yuan Dynasty period. He was also known as Xu Zhenyi (真一 or 真逸, in WG Hsü Chen-i).
Born in Luotian (羅田, now in Hubei), Xu was a cloth vendor by profession. In August 1351, he worked with others in Qízhōu (蘄州) to establish the rebel army of Red Turbans under the pretense of the Buddhist White Lotus Society. In the following months, they captured Qishui (蘄水) and made it the command centre of the Red Turbans and the capital of the newly declared Empire of Tianwan (天完), with himself as the emperor with the era name of Zhiping (治平).
The number of his supporters increased rapidly as he claimed to be a Milofo reincarnate (彌勒佛下生) who sought to "destroy the rich to benefit the poor" (摧富益貧). In 1352, he invaded more of Hebei, and moved on to take Jiangxi, Anhui, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Hunan.
After being temporarily defeated by the Mongol army, he fled to Huangmei Mountain (黃梅山), but returned in 1355 to invade once again and move the capital to Hanyang.
Five years later, Xu Shouhui was assassinated by his former co-fighter, Chen Youliang, thus causing the collapse of the Tianwan Empire.
