The Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty began construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing in 1406 and officially relocated the imperial capital there from Nanjing by 1420. The project involved hundreds of thousands of workers and consumed enormous resources, transforming a regional city into the political and cultural centre of the largest empire on earth. The move consolidated northern frontier defences and inaugurated one of the most sustained periods of imperial patronage in Chinese literary and artistic history.

The Yongle Emperor was himself a patron of letters who commissioned the monumental Yongle Dadian encyclopaedia, the largest in Chinese history, bringing thousands of scholars together to compile and preserve classical texts, poetry, and learning. The establishment of Beijing as cultural capital concentrated poets, examination candidates, and court literati in one place, intensifying the networks through which classical verse traditions were transmitted and debated. The city's canals, gardens, and ceremonial architecture would inspire centuries of Chinese poetry mourning or celebrating imperial grandeur.