Four Major Cases of the early Ming dynasty

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:

• Hu Weiyong case (Chinese: 胡惟庸案; pinyin: Hú Wéiyōng àn): resulted in the executions and deaths of Hu Weiyong, Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen and 30,000 other Chinese people
• Lan Yu case (Chinese: 藍玉案; pinyin: Lán Yù àn): resulted in the execution of Lan Yu and 15,000 other Chinese people,
• the prestamped documents case (Chinese: 空印案; pinyin: Kōngyìn àn),
• the Guo Huan case (Chinese: 郭桓案; pinyin: Guō Huán àn).

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).

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.

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, while the targets of the rest were common officials.