What the Emperor Built

Winner of the 2023 Bei Shan Tang Monograph Prize, sponsored by the Association for Asian Studies How imperial ideology is given shape in built space One of the most famous rulers in Chinese history, the Yongle emperor (r. 1402–24) gained renown for constructing Beijing’s magnificent Forbidden City, directing ambitious naval expeditions, and creating the world’s largest encyclopedia. What the Emperor Built is the first book-length study devoted to the architectural projects of a single Chinese em