Ni Wenjun (; died 1357) was a rebel leader of the

Red Turban Rebellions The Red Turban Rebellions () were uprisings against the Yuan dynasty between 1351 and 1368, eventually leading to its collapse. Remnants of the Yuan imperial court retreated northwards and is thereafter known as the Northern Yuan in historiogr ...

who fought against the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

in the 1360s. Ni Wenjun was born in

Huangpi Huangpi District () is one of 13 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China, situated on the northern (left) bank of the Yangtze River. The Sheshui enters the Yangtze at Huangpi. The district i ...

to a fishing family; he promoted legends about himself, including the story that a white tiger appeared in his mother's bedchamber at the moment of his birth. He established a regional polity around Hanyang (modern day

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

) and invited

Xu Shouhui Xu Shouhui () (1320–1360) was a 14th-century Chinese rebel leader who proclaimed himself emperor of the Tianwan (天完) dynasty during the late Yuan dynasty period of China. He was also known as Xu Zhenyi (徐真一 or 徐真逸, romanized i ...

to include Hanyang in the areas under Red Turban control. As an early supporter of the Tianwan cause, he was given the post of ''chengxiang'' (prime minister) in the Qishui court. One of Ni's famous subordinates was

Chen Youliang Chen Youliang (; 1320 – 3 October 1363For those cross-referencing the Mingshi, in the old Chinese calendar refers to the year 1363 CE, refers to 8月29日 or 29 August, and refers to 10月3日 or 3 October.) was the founder and first ...

, who later founded the short-lived Chen Han dynasty. Ni Wenjun was later trapped and assassinated by Chen Youliang in 1357, who sought to thwart Ni's intended coup against their commander, Xu Shouhui.

References

Red Turban rebels Generals from Hubei Yuan dynasty people 14th-century Chinese people People from Xiantao 1357 deaths Year of birth unknown {{china-mil-bio-stub