Emperor Ming of Northern Zhou ((北)周明帝) (534 – 30 May 560[2]), personal name Yuwen Yu (宇文毓), Xianbei name Tongwantu (統萬突), was an emperor of the Xianbei-led Chinese Northern Zhou dynasty, although at the start of his reign he used the alternative title "Heavenly Prince" (Tian Wang).
During his term as a provincial governor, he married the daughter of the key general Dugu Xin as his wife.
Later in 557, the 15-year-old Emperor Xiaomin, wanting to exercise full imperial powers, plotted to have Yuwen Hu killed.
Emperor Ming was generally credited with making sensible decisions and being humble toward elders, honoring them appropriately and listening to their advice.
In spring 560, with Xiao Zhuang—a rival claimant to the Liang dynasty throne to Western Liang's Emperor Xuan of Western Liang, who was a Northern Zhou vassal and whom Northern Zhou supported—attacking Chen dynasty territory with his paramount general Wang Lin, Northern Zhou sent its general Shi Ning (史寧) to attack Xiao Zhuang's capital Jiangxia (江夏, in modern Wuhan, Hubei).
Emperor Ming ate them and became ill. Knowing that he was near death, he instructed that, because his sons were young, the throne should be passed to his younger brother Yuwen Yong the Duke of Lu.