By the sound of it, it was one of his favorite, priceless, Ming vases.
Its present name, which signifies the "mild district," and is correctly descriptive of the climate, though not of the inhabitants, was given to it during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
The native dynasty (Ming) which supplanted them established their residence at Nan-king ("South Court"), but this proved so inconvenient that Yunglo, the third sovereign of the dynasty, reoccupied Ta-tu, giving it then, for the first time, the name of Pe-king ("North Court").
In 1644 the Ming succumbed to the attacks of the Manchus, a northern tribe who captured Peking and founded the present imperial house.
The inhabitants are mentioned in the official works of the Yuan dynasty as Tung fan or eastern barbarians; and under the Ming dynasty the island begins to appear as Kilung.
