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Ming China 1368- 1644



Yuan Mandate of Heaven lost

A Ming legend tells of farmers digging along the Huang-he

River finding a statue with only one eye and the inscription

"Do not despise this oneeyed statue: it will be the herald of

rebellion all throughout the empire." (makes me want to

burying a statue of my own for future generations to find!)

Famine, floods, rebellions all made the inscription ring

true: the Mongols had lost the Mandate of Heaven, the t'ien

ming

Revolution had begun

Hongjinjun (literally “army with red scarf in the head”)

peasant army was one of the important powers in

overthrowing the Yuan Emperor


Geography


Politics Capital moved from Xi’an to Peking

(Beijing) in 1421.

Time of greatest wealth in Chinese history

last native Han Emperors in Chinese history.

first to deal with large #s of European

merchants arriving

Population of about 100 million

Very prosperous time in China

Confucians dominate govt. again


The Forbidden City: China’s New Capital


Confucian Centralized authority

Emperor directly ruled rather than use chief ministers as Mongols had

Updated Confucian code of laws. The Code regulated all aspects of social affairs, for the harmony of political, economic, military, familial, ritual, international, and legal relations in the empire

Civil service exam re-instated so govt workers chosen based on Confucian knowledge and ability

Careful records kept (census, hereditary social hierarchy) and used to control peasants and strengthen kingdom


Daming Lu Law Code (The Great Ming Code)


Chinese Naval Power Expeditions sailed to

East Asia, Southeast

Asia, southern India,

Ceylon, the Persian

Gulf, the Middle East

and Africa.

China the world's

greatest commercial

naval power in the

world at the time, far

superior to any

European power.


Zheng He Armada

Seven voyages for diplomacy and trade.

The armada included treasure boats (or Bao-Chuan), which are the largest wooden ships ever built.

covered 10,000 miles with a fleet of more than 300 ships and crews totaling 30,000 men.

sailed from China, crossed the South China Sea, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea and went as far as East Africa.


Admiral Zheng He (1371-1435)

From 1405 to 1433, Emperor

Chengzu sent a Muslim eunuch

named Zheng He to cross the

Indian Ocean.

In 1435 court scholars convinced

the emperor that the voyages

were wasteful, encouraged

foreign ideas, and would ruin

China

The Emperor ended Naval

exploration and tribute and

destroyed the records of the

voyages


Tribute System


Economy China continued its shift from agricultural and

rural to commercial and urban

Porcelain production and painting became VERY important

Commercial port cities including Beijing, Nanjing, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Xian and Chengdu grew to trade with Japan and Europe

Farming still important; especially rice and tea

Markets and merchants more important than before


Ming China

Europe traded silver from S. America to China for porcelain

Resold all over Europe

Linked China to Europe via sea trade

Also sold to Middle East along Silk Rd


Agricultural Developmentscrop rotation introduced in China

– fields could be kept continuously in cultivation

– while still maintaining their fertility

stocking the rice paddies with fish

- fertilized the rice and provided peasants w/protein .

food production and new farming tools improved

nutrition for peasants and city dwellers

peasants grew cash crops, such as cotton for clothing,

indigo for clothing dyes, and cane.

dramatic population growth, largely due to the increased

food supply on account of the agricultural revolution.


Better Rice

• Champa rice introduced

from southeast Asia:

• grown in a little over

half the growing season

• much larger harvests.


Reforestation of China

Hong-Wu (founder of Ming Dynasty) - reforestation

beginning in the 1390's.

Nanjing was reforested with 50 million trees in1391; these

trees became the lumber that built the naval fleet put

together by Yung-lo in the early1400's.

one billion trees were planted in this decade in a

reforestation project that greatly replenished both the

timber and the food supply.


Ming Industrial Development Textiles, paper, silk, and porcelain traded with Japan,

Europe (especially Spain), India, SE Asia and Indonesian islands

China received firearms, and American goods such as sugar, potatoes, and tobacco, raw goods such as silver—probably half the silver mined in the Americas from the mid-1500's to 1800 ended up in China—

Technological boom in every area.

So, were the scholars and advisors correct in ending the expeditions?


Tea TimeThe Dutch imported tea

from China and other

parts of Asia and started

the English and

European love of tea

Dutch East India Tea

Company and later the

British East India Tea

Company become

powerful and wealthy

from this trade

Trading tea from China was

more profitable than

trading silver to China as

the Spanish had done


Religion/Philosophy

Neo-Confucianism

Matteo Ricci the first Christian missionary started nearly 300 Catholic churches

Christian influence condemned in late Ming and early Qing


Social Life

Confucianism dominates

Interaction with Japan and Europe increases

Patriarchical

Cities provide opportunity for parties with music and drama


Intellectual Life

Literacy increased and books became cheaper because of the printing press and a stable govt.

Yongle Dadian - biggest and earliest encyclopedia in the world.

Many inventions to China from Europe (telescope)

Gunpowder Weapons improved

Revolving cannon with 10 shots

Toothbrush invented (pigs hair for bristles)

Great furnaces for porcelain


How to Handle Corrupt Government Officials

• Adopted the Sui and Yuan practice of

publicly beating incompetent or corrupt

bureaucratic officials.

• Mainly beaten on the buttocks by more than

a hundred soldiers with clubs, almost nobody

who was punished survived

• Not a bad idea for today?!?


Ming Great Wall

Great Walls had been built in earlier times, most of what is seen today was either built or repaired by the Ming. The brick and granite work was enlarged, the watch towers were redesigned and cannons were placed along the wall


Art

Beautiful harmonious landscape art

China and sculpture important

Drama and poetry important

Ming great wall through the mountains is spectacular art


Ming Landscape and Poetry


Fall of Ming Corruption of the court officials and the

domination of the eunuchs.

Natural disasters like famine from “little ice age” and worst earthquake of all time in Shaanxi (800,000 dead)

Rebellions that racked the country in the 17th

century and the aggressive military expansion of

the Manchus.

By 1643 the government was bankrupt from

fighting and the peasants were broke because of

the constant taxes imposed to pay the armies to

fight


The Ming ends

Northern Chinese Manchu slowly grew in power until they threatened the Ming Dynasty

As Ming military grew weak they often used Manchu to stop “barbarians” from taking “Xin”

Li Zicheng, leader of peasant rebels, captured Beijing in Apr 1644 and the last Ming Emperor, Chongzhen, hanged himself from a tree overlooking the forbidden palace.

Zicheng became Emperor of the Shun Dynasty (1643-45) but was defeated by the Manchu (Qing) after only 2 months.

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