The Life and Identity of Jiang Zhu To understand the weight of Jiang Zhu’s output, one must first grasp the precarious nature of his lineage. Born in 1626 in Nanchang, Jiangxi, within the Ming Empire, he was a member of the House of Zhu. As a descendant of a Ming imperial prince, his very existence was tied to a collapsing political order. He was born into a family of accomplished scholars and artists, a background that provided the t…