The Four Major Cases of the early Ming dynasty (Chinese: 明初四大案; pinyin: Míngchū Sìdà'àn / Chinese: 明初四大獄; pinyin: Míngchū Sìdàyù) refer to the following mass executions and persecutions perpetrated by the Hongwu Emperor (Zhu Yuanzhang) at the start of the Ming dynasty:
As they occurred during the reign of the Hongwu Emperor, they were also called the Four Major Cases of the Hongwu era (Chinese: 洪武四大案; pinyin: Hóngwǔ Sìdà'àn / Chinese: 洪武四大獄; pinyin: Hóngwǔ Sìdàyù).[1][2]
They are bracketed together as practices of the emperor's key idea: ruling with severe punishment. Each case, except the prestamped documents case, led to large numbers of people being involved, and consequently, tens of thousands of executions.[3]
Traditionally, Chinese historians grouped these cases into the Hu-Lan cases (Chinese: 胡藍之獄; pinyin: Hú Lán Zhīyù / Chinese: 胡藍黨獄; pinyin: Hú Lán Dǎngyù), combining the former two cases against the meritorious officials and officers of the Hu-Lan cliques,[4] while the targets of the rest were common officials.[3]