Face to face with history

The landscape of history is littered with mysteries for people today to dig up and unravel. One such unsolved conundrum from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) regards the visage of the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who rose from humble beginnings as an illiterate, destitute peasant to that of a victorious rebel leader who built a new empire.

Official portraits released by the Ming royal court show Zhu as a good-looking, dignified man with a round face, replete with bushy beard and moustache, depicting the emperor both in his prime and his twilight years.

Zhu was portrayed more than any other member of the Ming monarchy: He appears on 13 out of 62 royal portraits of Ming emperors and empresses, which were once housed at the Forbidden City's Nanxun Hall.