' is the capital and the largest municipality of Fujian province, People's Republic of China.The city is also referred to as Rongcheng ' ' onMouseout='HidePop("54368")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Indonesia">Indonesia
The Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
exclusively at
GuangzhouGuangzhou , in English formerly known as Canton and also known as Kwangchow, is a sub-provincial city and the capital of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the People's Republic of China.It is a port on the Pearl River,...
. Even then the Japanese were only allowed into port once every ten years and were allowed to bring a maximum of three hundred men on two ships; these laws encouraged many Chinese merchants to engage in widespread illegal trade and smuggling.
The low point in relations between Ming China and Japan occurred during the rule of the great Japanese warlord Hideyoshi, who in 1592 announced he was going to conquer China. In two campaigns that are known collectively as the Imjin War, the Japanese fought with the Korean and Ming armies. Both sides won victories in the war, which was fought almost entirely in Korea and the surrounding waters. Decisive battles were won by Ming and Korean forces, and with Hideyoshi's death in 1598, the Japanese gave up their last Korean bases and retreated to Japan. However, the victory came at an enormous cost to the Ming government's treasury: some 26,000,000 ounces of silver.
Trade and contact with Europe
Although
Jorge ÁlvaresJorge Álvares is credited as the first Portuguese explorer to have reached China and Hong Kong. The Fundação Jorge Álvares , founded by Vasco Joaquim Rocha Vieira prior to the handover of Macau, got its name for also having reached there.-Exploration:In May 1513 Álvares sailed under the...
was the first to land on Lintin Island in the
Pearl River DeltaThe Pearl River Delta in southern People's Republic of China is the low-lying area alongside the Pearl River estuary where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Since economic liberalisation was adopted by the Chinese government in the late 1970s, the delta has become one of the leading...
in May of 1513, it was
Rafael PerestrelloRafael Perestrello was a Portuguese explorer and a cousin of Filipa Moniz Perestrello, the wife of the famed explorer Christopher Columbus...
—a cousin of the famed
Christopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus was a navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere...
—who became the first European explorer to land on the southern coast of mainland China and trade in
GuangzhouGuangzhou , in English formerly known as Canton and also known as Kwangchow, is a sub-provincial city and the capital of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the People's Republic of China.It is a port on the Pearl River,...
in 1516, commanding a
PortugueseThe Portuguese Empire was the first global empire in history, with territories in South America, Africa, India and South East Asia...
vessel with a crew from a Malaysian junk that had sailed from
MalaccaMalacca is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south. The capital is Malacca Town...
. The Portuguese sent a large subsequent expedition in 1517 to enter port at Guangzhou and open formal trade relations with Chinese authorities. During this expedition the Portuguese attempted to send an inland delegation in the name of
Manuel I of PortugalManuel I , the Fortunate , 14th king of Portugal and the Algarves was the son of Infante Fernando, Duke of Viseu, , by his wife, Infanta Beatriz of Portugal.His mother was the granddaughter of King John I of...
to the court of the Ming emperor Zhengde; instead the diplomatic mission languished in a Chinese jail and died there. After the death of Zhengde in April 1521, the conservative faction at court that was against expanding commercial relations ordered that the
Portuguese conquest of MalaccaPortuguese Malacca was the territory of Malacca that, for more than a century, was a Portuguese colony.-Origins:From the writing of the Portuguese historian Emanuel Godinho de Erédia in the middle of the 16
th century, the site of the old city of Malacca was named after the Myrobalans,...
—a loyal vassal to the Ming—was grounds enough to reject the Portuguese embassy. Simão de Andrade, brother to ambassador
Fernão Pires de AndradeCaptain Fernão Pires de Andrade was a Portuguese merchant, pharmacist, and official diplomat under the explorer and Malacca governor Afonso de Albuquerque...
, had also stirred Chinese speculation that the Portuguese were kidnapping Chinese children to eat them; Simão had purchased kidnapped children as slaves who were later found in
DiuDiu or DIU may mean or stand for:* Diu, India, city in India, and the related** Battle of Diu** the IATA code for the Diu Airportas well as:* Diu , a Cantonese profanity.* Dresden International University, Germany...
,
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. In 1521, Ming Dynasty naval forces fought and repulsed Portuguese ships at
Tuen MunTuen Mun is a market town near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in Hong Kong which can be dated back to the Neolithic period...
, where some of the first
breech-loadingA breech-loading weapon is a firearm in which the bullet or shell is inserted or loaded at the rear of the barrel, or breech; the opposite of muzzle-loading....
culverins were introduced to China. Despite initial hostilities, by 1549 the Portuguese were sending annual trade missions to
Shangchuan IslandShangchuan Island is an island on the southern coast of China, part of the Guangdong province, in the South China Sea...
. In 1557 the Portuguese managed to convince the Ming court to agree on a legal port treaty that would establish
MacauThe Macau Special Administrative Region , commonly known as Macau or Macao , is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong...
as an official Portuguese trade colony on the coasts of the
South China SeaThe South China Sea is a marginal sea*south of mainland China and Taiwan,*west of the Philippines,*north west of Sabah , Sarawak and Brunei,*north of Indonesia,*north east of the Malay peninsula and Singapore, and...
. The Portuguese friar Gaspar da Cruz (c. 1520 - February 5, 1570) traveled to Guangzhou in 1556 and wrote the first complete book on China and the Ming Dynasty that was published in Europe (fifteen days after his death); it included information on its geography, provinces, royalty, official class, bureaucracy, shipping, architecture, farming, craftsmanship, merchant affairs, clothing, religious and social customs, music and instruments, writing, education, and justice.
From China the major exports were silk and porcelain. The
Dutch East India CompanyThe Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia. It was the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock...
alone handled the trade of 6 million porcelain items from China to Europe between the years 1602 to 1682.
Antonio de MorgaAntonio de Morga Sánchez Garay was a Spanish lawyer and a high-ranking colonial official in the Philippines, New Spain and Peru. He was also a historian. He published the book Sucesos de las islas Filipinas in 1609, one of the most important works on the early history of the Spanish colonization...
(1559-1636), a
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
official in
ManilaThe City of Manila , or simply Manila or Maynila, is the capital of the Philippines and one of the 17 cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila. It is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay, on the western portion of the National Capital Region, in the western side of Luzon...
, listed an extensive inventory of goods that were traded by Ming China at the turn of the 17th century, noting there were "rarities which, did I refer to them all, I would never finish, nor have sufficient paper for it". After noting the variety of silk goods traded to Europeans, Ebrey writes of the considerable size of commercial transactions:
In one case a galleon to the Spanish territories in the New World carried over 50,000 pairs of silk stockings. In return China imported mostly silver from Peruvian and Mexican mines, transported via Manila. Chinese merchants were active in these trading ventures, and many emigrated to such places as the Philippines and Borneo to take advantage of the new commercial opportunities.
After the Chinese had banned direct trade by Chinese merchants with Japan, the Portuguese filled this commercial vacuum as intermediaries between China and Japan. The Portuguese bought Chinese silk and sold it to the Japanese in return for Japanese-mined silver; since silver was more highly valued in China, the Portuguese could then use Japanese silver to buy even larger stocks of Chinese silk. However, by 1573—after the Spanish established a trading base in Manila—the Portuguese intermediary trade was trumped by the prime source of incoming silver to China from the Spanish Americas.
Although the bulk of imports to China were silver, the Chinese also purchased
New WorldThe New World is one of the names used for the non-Afro-Eurasian parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and possibly Australia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia,...
crops from the
Spanish EmpireThe Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in world history, and one of the first global empires. It included territories and colonies in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, from the 15th century through—in the case of its African holdings—the latter portion of the 20th century...
. This included
sweet potatoThe sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Amongst the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of this family, only I. batatas is a crop plant whose large, starchy, sweet tasting tuberous roots are an important root vegetable...
es,
maizeMaize , is a herbaceous plant domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents...
, and
peanutThe peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume family native to South America, Mexico and Central America. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing 30 to 50 cm tall...
s, foods that could be cultivated in lands where traditional Chinese staple crops—wheat, millet, and rice—couldn't grow, hence facilitating a rise in the population of China. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), rice had become the major staple crop of the poor; after sweet potatoes were introduced to China around 1560, it gradually became the traditional food of the lower classes.
Reign of the Wanli Emperor
The financial drain of the Imjin War in Korea against the Japanese was one of the many problems—fiscal or other—facing Ming China during the reign of the
Wanli EmperorThe Wanli Emperor was emperor of China between 1572 and 1620. His era name means "Ten thousand calendars". Born Zhu Yijun, he was the Longqing Emperor's son. His rule of forty eight years would be the longest in the Ming dynasty and it witnessed the steady decline of the dynasty...
(r. 1572-1620). In the beginning of his reign, Wanli surrounded himself with able advisors and made a conscientious effort to handle state affairs. His Grand Secretary
Zhang JuzhengZhang Juzheng or Chang Chü-cheng was a powerful Grand Secretary in the Ming Dynasty under the Longqing and Wanli emperors. Zhang was born in Jiangling, Hubei province, China and died in Beijing....
(in office from 1572 to 1582) built up an effective network of alliances with senior officials. However, there was no one after him skilled enough to maintain the stability of these alliances; officials soon banded together in opposing political factions. Over time Wanli grew tired of court affairs and frequent political quarreling amongst his ministers, preferring to stay behind the walls of the Forbidden City and out of his officials' sight.
Officials aggravated Wanli about which of his sons should succeed to the throne; he also grew equally disgusted with senior advisors constantly bickering about how to manage the state. There were rising factions at court and across the intellectual sphere of China stemming from the philosophical debate for or against the teaching of
Wang YangmingWang Yangming was a Ming Chinese idealist Neo-Confucian philosopher, official, educationist, calligraphist and general. After Zhu Xi, he is commonly regarded as the most important Neo-Confucian thinker, with interpretations of Confucianism that denied the rationalist dualism of the orthodox...
(1472-1529), the latter of whom rejected some of the orthodox views of
Neo-ConfucianismNeo-Confucianism / is a form of Confucianism that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty. It formed the basis of Confucian orthodoxy in the Qing Dynasty of China. It was a philosophy that attempted to merge certain...
. Annoyed by all of this, Wanli began neglecting his duties, remaining absent from court audiences to discuss politics, lost interest in studying the
Confucian ClassicsChinese classic texts or Chinese canonical texts refer to the pre-Qin Chinese texts, especially the Confucian Four Books and Five Classics . All of these pre-Qin text were written in classical Chinese...
, refused to read petitions and other state papers, and stopped filling the recurrent vacancies of vital upper level administrative posts. Scholar-officials lost prominence in administration as eunuchs became intermediaries between the aloof emperor and his officials; any senior official who wanted to discuss state matters had to persuade powerful eunuchs with a bribe simply to have his demands or message relayed to the emperor.
Role of eunuchs
It was said that Hongwu forbade eunuchs to learn how to read or engage in politics. Whether or not these restrictions were carried out with absolute success in his reign, eunuchs in the Yongle reign period and after managed huge imperial workshops, commanded armies, and participated in matters of appointment and promotion of officials. The eunuchs developed their own bureaucracy that was organized parallel to but was not subject to the civil service bureaucracy. Although there were several dictatorial eunuchs throughout the Ming, such as Wang Zhen, Wang Zhi, and
Liu JinLiu Jin , , was a well-known Chinese eunuch during the Ming Dynasty. Liu was famous for being one of the most corrupt officials in Chinese history and the standing emperor for some time....
, excessive tyrannical eunuch power did not become evident until the 1590s when Wanli increased their rights over the civil bureaucracy and granted them power to collect provincial taxes.
The eunuch
Wei ZhongxianWei Zhongxian is considered by most historians as the most powerful and notorious eunuch in Chinese history. He was a hoodlum and gambler, initially named Li Jinzhong, who became a eunuch and entered palace service to escape from his creditors. After entering the palace, he got into the service...
(1568-1627) dominated the court of the
Tianqi EmperorThe Tianqi Emperor was the 15th emperor of the Ming dynasty from 1620 to 1627. Born Zhu Youjiao, he was the Taichang Emperor's eldest son. His era name means "Heavenly opening".-Biography:...
(r. 1620-1627) and had his political rivals tortured to death, mostly the vocal critics from the faction of the "
Donglin SocietyThe Donglin movement was an ideological and philosophical movement of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties of China.The movement was established in 1604, during the Wanli era, when Gu Xiancheng The Donglin movement was an ideological and philosophical movement of the late Ming and early Qing...
". He ordered temples built in his honor throughout the Ming Empire, and built personal palaces created with funds allocated for building the previous emperor's tombs. His friends and family gained important positions without qualifications. Wei also published a historical work lambasting and belitting his political opponents. The instability at court came right as natural calamity, pestilence, rebellion, and foreign invasion came to a peak. Although the
Chongzhen EmperorThe Chongzhen Emperor was the 16th and last emperor of the Ming Dynasty in China. He reigned from 1627 to 1644, under an era name that means "honorable and auspicious".- Early years :Born Zhu Youjian , Chongzhen was the fifth son of the Taichang Emperor...
(r. 1627-1644) had Wei dismissed from court—which led to Wei's suicide shortly after—the problem with court eunuchs persisted until the dynasty's collapse less than two decades later.
Economic breakdown and disaster
During the last years of Wanli's reign and those of his two successors, an economic crisis developed that was centered around a sudden widespread lack of the empire's chief medium of exchange: silver. The
ProtestantProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
powers of the
Dutch RepublicThe Republic of the Seven United Netherlands was a European republic between 1581 and 1795, in about the same location as the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands,...
and the
Kingdom of EnglandThe Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state and island country to the northwest of continental Europe. At its zenith, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands—what is today the legal unit of...
staged frequent raids and acts of piracy against the
CatholicCatholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole...
-based empires of Spain and Portugal in order to weaken their global economic power. Meanwhile,
Philip IV of SpainPhilip IV was King of Spain between 1621 and 1665, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, and King of Portugal until 1640. On the eve of his death in 1665, the Spanish empire reached its territorial zenith spanning almost 3 billion acres...
(r. 1621-1665) began cracking down on illegal smuggling of silver from Mexico and
PeruCreated in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of Lima...
across the
PacificThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
towards China, in favor of shipping American-mined silver directly from Spain to Manila. In 1639, the new
TokugawaThe Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which now is called Tokyo...
regime of Japan shut down most of its foreign trade with European powers, causing a halt of yet another source of silver coming into China. However, the greatest stunt to the flow of silver came from the Americas, while Japanese silver still came into China in limited amounts. Some scholars even assert that the price of silver rose in the 17th century due to a falling demand for goods, not declining silver stocks.
These events occurring at roughly the same time caused a dramatic spike in the value of silver and made paying taxes nearly impossible for most provinces. People began hoarding precious silver as there was progressively less of it, forcing the ratio of the value of copper to silver into a steep decline. In the 1630s, a string of one thousand copper coins was worth an ounce of silver; by 1640 this was reduced to the value of half an ounce; by 1643 it was worth roughly one-third of an ounce. For peasants this was an economic disaster, since they paid taxes in silver while conducting local trade and selling their crops with copper coins.
In this early half of the 17th century, famines became common in northern China because of unusual dry and cold weather that shortened the growing season; these were effects of a larger ecological event now known as the
Little Ice AgeThe Little Ice Age was a period of cooling that occurred after a warmer era known as the Medieval Warm Period. While not a true ice age, the term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939...
. Famine, alongside tax increases, widespread military desertions, a declining relief system, and natural disasters such as flooding and inability of the government to properly manage irrigation and flood-control projects caused widespread loss of life and normal civility. The central government was starved of resources and could do very little to mitigate the effects of these calamities. Making matters worse, a widespread epidemic spread across China from Zhejiang to Henan, killing a large but unknown number of people. The deadliest earthquake of all times, the Shaanxi earthquake of 1556 that killed approximately 830,000 people, occurred during the
Jiajing EmperorThe Jiajing Emperor was Emperor of China from 1521 to 1567, the 11th emperor of the Ming dynasty. Born Zhu Houcong, he was the Zhengde Emperor's cousin. His era name means "Admirable tranquility".-Early years:As the nephew of the Hongzhi Emperor, Jiaqing was not brought up to succeed to the throne...
's reign.
Rise of the Manchu
A remarkable tribal leader named
NurhaciNurhaci was an important Manchu chieftain who rose to prominence in the late 16th Century in what is today Northeastern China...
(r. 1616-1626), starting with just a small tribe, rapidly gained control over all the
ManchuriaManchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within China, or is divided between China and Russia...
n tribes. During the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), he offered to lead his tribes in support of the Ming and
JoseonJoseon , was a Korean sovereign state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo Kingdom at what is today the city of Kaesong...
army. This offer was declined, but he was granted honorific Ming titles for his gesture. Recognizing the weakness of Ming authority north of their border, he took control over all of the other unrelated tribes surrounding his homeland. In 1610 he broke relations with the Ming court; in 1618 he demanded the Ming pay tribute to him to redress the
seven grievances which he documented and sent to the Ming court. This was effectively a declaration of war as the Ming were not about to pay money to a former tributary.
Under the brilliant commander
Yuan ChonghuanYuan Chonghuan was a famed patriot and military commander of the Ming Dynasty who battled the Manchus in Liaoning. He was known to have excelled in artillery warfare and successfully incorporated western tactics into the East...
(1584-1630), the Ming were able to fight off the Manchus repeatedly, notably in 1626 at the
Battle of NingyuanThe Battle of Ningyuan was a battle between the Ming Dynasty and the Manchurian Later Jin in 1626. The Ming won this battle. This battle marked the temporary resurgence of the Imperial Ming army after a long series of defeats....
(in which Nurhaci was mortally wounded) and in 1628. Under Yuan's command the Ming had securely fortified the Shanhai pass, thus blocking the Manchus from crossing the pass to attack Beijing. Using knowledge of European firearms that he might have acquired from his cook, Yuan was able to stave off Nurhaci's advances along the
Liao RiverThe Liao He is the principal river in southern Manchuria . The province of Liaoning and the Liaodong Peninsula derive their name from the river....
. Although he was named field marshal of all the northeastern forces in 1628, he was executed in 1630 on trumped-up charges of colluding with the Manchus as they staged their raids. Succeeding generals proved unable to eliminate the Manchu threat.
Unable to attack the heart of Ming directly, the Manchu instead bided their time, developing their own artillery and gathering allies. They were able to enlist Ming government officials and generals as their strategic advisors. A large part of the Ming Army deserted to the Manchu banner. In 1632, they had conquered much of
Inner MongoliaInner Mongolia is a Mongol autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the country's north....
, resulting in a large scale recruitment of Mongol troops under the
Manchu bannerThe Eight Banners were administrative divisions into which all Manchu families were placed. They provided the basic framework for the Manchu military organization...
and the securing of an additional route into the Ming heartland.
By 1636, the Manchu ruler Huang Taiji renamed his dynasty from the "Latter Jin" to "
QingThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
" at
ShenyangShenyang , or Mukden , is a sub-provincial city and capital of Liaoning province in Northeast China.Along with its nearby cities, Shenyang is an important industrial center in China, and the transportation and commercial centre of China's northeastern region.The city was also known as Shengjing or...
, which had fallen to the Manchu in 1621 and was made their capital in 1625. Huang Taiji also adopted the Chinese imperial title
huangdiThe Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning since the founding of China, united by Fu Xi in 2852 BCE until the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title created no later than Shang Dynasty, the Emperor was recognized...
, took the reign title Chongde ("Revering Virtue"), and changed the ethnic name of his people from Jurchen to
ManchuThe Manchu people are a Tungusic people who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the seventeenth century, with the help of Ming rebels , they conquered the Ming Dynasty and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which established a...
. In 1638 the Manchu defeated and conquered Ming China's traditional ally Joseon with an army of 100,000 troops. Shortly after the Koreans renounced their long-held loyalty to the Ming Dynasty.
Rebellion, invasion, collapse
A peasant soldier named
Li ZichengLi Zicheng , born Lĭ Hóngjī , was one of the major figures in the rebellion that brought down the Ming Dynasty China. He proclaimed himself Chuǎng Wáng , or "The Roaming King".-Biography:...
(1606-1645) mutinied with his fellow soldiers in western Shaanxi in the early 1630s after the government failed to ship much-needed supplies there. In 1634 he was captured by a Ming general and released only on the terms that he return to service. The agreement soon broke down when a local magistrate had thirty-six of his fellow rebels executed; Li's troops retaliated by killing the officials and continued to lead a rebellion based in Rongyang, central
HenanHenan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the eastern central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is 豫 , named after Yuzhou Province , a Han Dynasty province that included parts of Henan...
province by 1635. By the 1640s, an ex-soldier and rival to Li—
Zhang XianzhongZhang Xianzhong or Chang Hsien-chung , nicknamed Yellow Tiger, was a Chinese rebel leader who conquered Sichuan Province in the middle of the 17th century. Upon capturing it, he declared himself emperor of the Daxi Dynasty.According to Chinese chronicles, many scholars rejected that claim, so he...
(1606-1647)—had created a firm rebel base in
ChengduChengdu , located in southwest People's Republic of China, is the capital of Sichuan province and a sub-provincial city. Chengdu is also one of the most important economic centers, transportation and communication hubs in Southwestern China...
,
Sichuan' is a province in Southwestern China with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, 四川 , is an abbreviation of 四川路 , or "Four circuits of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from 川峡四路 , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the...
, while Li's center of power was in
Hubei' is a central province of the People's Republic of China. Its abbreviation is 鄂 , an ancient name associated with the eastern part of the province since the Qin Dynasty. The name Hubei means "north of the lake", referring to Hubei's position north of Lake Dongting...
with extended influence over Shaanxi and Henan.
In 1640, masses of Chinese peasants who were starving, unable to pay their taxes, and no longer in fear of the frequently defeated Chinese army, began to form into huge bands of rebels. The Chinese military, caught between fruitless efforts to defeat the Manchu raiders from the north and huge peasant revolts in the provinces, essentially fell apart. Unpaid and unfed, the army was defeated by Li Zicheng—now self-styled as the Prince of Shun—and deserted the capital without much of a fight. Li's forces were allowed into the city when the gates were treacherously opened from within. On May 26, 1644, Beijing fell to a rebel army led by Li Zicheng; during the turmoil,
the last Ming emperorThe Chongzhen Emperor was the 16th and last emperor of the Ming Dynasty in China. He reigned from 1627 to 1644, under an era name that means "honorable and auspicious".- Early years :Born Zhu Youjian , Chongzhen was the fifth son of the Taichang Emperor...
hanged himself
on a tree in the imperial gardenThe Guilty Chinese Scholartree , a specimen of Pagoda Tree located in Beijing's Jingshan park, is a famous tree and national landmark on which the last Ming Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself after a group of peasants successfully stormed the Forbidden City in 1644.The tree was uprooted during the...
outside the Forbidden City.
Seizing opportunity, the Manchus crossed the Great Wall after the Ming border general
Wu SanguiWu Sangui was a Ming Chinese general who was instrumental in the succession of rule to the Qing Dynasty in 1644...
(1612-1678) opened the gates at
Shanhai PassShanhaiguan, or Shanhai Pass, is a part of the city of Qinhuangdao in the Chinese province of Hebei. In 1961, Shanhaiguan became a site of China First Class National Cultural Site. Along with Jiayuguan and Juyongguan, it is one of the major passes of the Great Wall of China.It is a popular tourist...
. This occurred shortly after he learned about the fate of the capital and an army of Li Zicheng marching towards him; weighing his options of alliance, he decided to side with the Manchus. The Manchu army under the Manchu Prince
DorgonDorgon , also known as Hošoi Mergen Cin Wang, the Prince Rui , was one of the most influential Manchu princes in the early Qing dynasty. He laid the groundwork for the Manchu rule of China.-Early Life:Dorgon was born in Yenden, Manchuria [now Xinbin, Liaoning province], China...
(1612-1650) and Wu Sangui approached Beijing after the army sent by Li was destroyed at Shanhaiguan; the Prince of Shun's army fled the capital on the fourth of June. On June 6 the Manchus and Wu entered the capital and proclaimed the young
Shunzhi EmperorThe Shunzhi Emperor was the second emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the first Qing emperor to rule over China proper from 1644 to 1661...
ruler of China. After being forced out of
Xi'anXi'an , is the capital of the Shaanxi province in the People's Republic of China and a sub-provincial city...
by the Manchus, chased along the
Han RiverThe Han River is a left tributary of the Yangtze River with a length of 1532 km. Historically it was referred to as Hànshuǐ and the name is still occasionally used today....
to Wuchang, and finally along the northern border of
Jiangxi' is a southern province of the People's Republic of China, spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south....
province, Li Zicheng died there in the summer of 1645, thus ending the
Shun DynastyThe Shun Dynasty was an imperial dynasty created in the brief lapse from Ming to Qing rule in China. The dynasty was founded in Xi'an on 8 February 1644, the first day of the lunar year, by Li Zicheng, the leader of a large peasant rebellion. Li, however, only went by the title of King, not Emperor...
. One report says his death was a suicide; another states that he was beaten to death by peasants after he was caught stealing their food. Zhang Xianzhong was killed in January of 1647 by Manchu troops after he fled Chengdu and employed
scorched earthA scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
policy.
Scattered Ming remnants still existed after 1644, including those of
KoxingaKoxinga is the traditional Western spelling of the popular appellation of Zheng Chenggong . He was a Ming loyalist and military leader during of the Southern Ming Dynasty that opposed the Manchu-ruled Qing Dynasty...
. Despite the loss of Beijing and the death of the emperor, Ming power was by no means totally destroyed. Nanjing, Fujian, Guangdong, Shanxi, and Yunnan were all strongholds of Ming resistance. However, there were several pretenders for the Ming throne, and their forces were divided. Each bastion of resistance was individually defeated by the Qing until 1662, when the last real hopes of a Ming revival died with the Yongli emperor, Zhu Youlang. Despite the Ming defeat, smaller loyalist movements continued until the proclamation of the
Republic of ChinaThe Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, is a state in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition and jurisdiction over China into a democratic state with limited international recognition and jurisdiction only over Taiwan and minor islands, though it...
.
Province, prefecture, subprefecture, county
The Ming emperors took over the provincial administration system of the Yuan Dynasty, and the thirteen Ming provinces are the precursors of the modern provinces. Throughout the Song Dynasty, the largest political division was the circuit (
lu 路). However, after the
Jurchen invasionThe Jingkang Incident , the Humiliation of Jingkang , or the The Disorders of the Jingkang Period took place in 1127 when invading Jurchen soldiers from the Jin Dynasty besieged and sacked Bianjing , the capital of the Song Dynasty of China...
in 1127, the Song court established four semi-autonomous regional command systems based on territorial and military units, with a detached service secretariat that would become the provincial administrations of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Copied on the Yuan model, the Ming provincial bureaucracy contained three commissions: one civil, one military, and one for surveillance. Below the level of the
provinceA province, in the context of Chinese government, is a translation of sheng , which is an administrative division. Together with municipalities, autonomous regions, and the special administrative regions, provinces make up the first level of administrative division in China...
(
sheng 省) were
prefecturesPrefecture, in the context of China, is used to refer to several unrelated political divisions in both ancient and modern China.In a modern context, prefecture-level is used to refer to a level of division between the province and county levels...
(
fu 府) operating under a prefect (
zhifu 知府), followed by subprefectures (
zhou 州) under a subprefect. The lowest unit was the
countyIn the context of Political divisions of China, county is the standard English translation of Xiàn . In the People's Republic of China , counties are found in the third level of the administrative hierarchy in Provinces and Autonomous regions, and the 2nd level in municipalities and Hainan...
(
xian 縣), overseen by a magistrate. Besides the provinces, there were also two large areas that belonged to no province, but were metropolitan areas (
jing 亰) attached to Nanjing and Beijing.
Institutional trends
Departing from the main central administrative system generally known as the
Three Departments and Six MinistriesThe Three Departments and Six Ministries system was the main central administrative system adopted in ancient China. The system first took shape after the Western Han Dynasty , was officially instituted in Sui Dynasty , and matured during Tang Dynasty...
system,
which was instituted by various dynastiesThe Han Dynasty of ancient China was the second imperial dynasty of China, following the Qin Dynasty . It was divided into the periods of Western Han and Eastern Han , and briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of Wang Mang...
since late
HanThe Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the peasant rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
(202 BCE - 220 CE), the Ming administration had only one Department, the Secretariat, that controlled the Six Ministries. Following the execution of the
ChancellorThe Chancellor , variously translated as Prime Minister, Premier or Chief Councillor, was a generic name given to the highest-ranking official in the imperial government in ancient China...
Hu Weiyong in 1380, emperor Hongwu abolished the Secretariat, the
CensorateThe Censorate was a top-level surveillance agency in ancient China, first instituted in Qin Dynasty ....
, and the Chief Military Commission and personally took charge of the Six Ministries and the regional Five Military Commissions. Thus a whole level of administration was cut out and only partially rebuilt by subsequent rulers. The
Grand SecretariatThe Grand Secretariat was nominally a coordinating agency but de facto the highest institution in the Ming imperial government. It first took shape after Emperor Hongwu abolished the office of Chancellor in 1380 and gradually evolved into an effective coordinating organ superimposed on the Six...
, at the beginning a secretarial institution that assisted the emperor with administrative paperwork, was instituted, but without employing grand counselors, or
chancellorsThe Chancellor , variously translated as Prime Minister, Premier or Chief Councillor, was a generic name given to the highest-ranking official in the imperial government in ancient China...
. The ministries, headed by a minister and run by directors remained under direct control of the emperor until the end of the Ming.
The Hongwu Emperor sent his heir apparent to Shaanxi in 1391 to "tour and soothe" (
xunfu) the region; in 1421 the Yongle Emperor commissioned 26 officials to travel the empire and uphold similar investigatory and patrimonial duties. By 1430 these
xunfu assignments became institutionalized. Hence, the Censorate was reinstalled and first staffed with investigating censors, later with censors-in-chief. By 1453, the "grand coordinators"—or "touring pacifiers" as Michael Chang notes—were granted the title vice censor-in-chief or assistant censor-in-chief and were allowed direct access to the emperor. As in prior dynasties, the provincial administrations were monitored by a travelling inspector from the Censorate. Censors had the power to impeach officials on an irregular basis, unlike the senior officials who were to do so only in triennial evaluations of junior officials.
Although decentralization of state power within the provinces occurred in the early Ming, the trend of central government officials delegated to the provinces as virtual provincial governors began in the 1420s. By the late Ming Dynasty, there were central government officials delegated to two or more provinces as supreme commanders and viceroys, a system which reined in the power and influence of the military by the civil establishment.
Grand Secretariat and Six Ministries
Governmental institutions in China conformed to a similar pattern for some two thousand years, but each dynasty installed special offices and bureaus, reflecting its own particular interests. The Ming administration had the Grand Secretaries assisting the emperor, with paperwork handled by them under
YongleYǒnglè was a Chinese era name after Jiànwén and before Hóngxī. This period spanned from 1403 through 1424. The reigning emperor was Emperor Yongle .
...
's reign and finally appointed as top officials of agencies and Grand Preceptor, a top-ranking, non-functional civil service post, under the
Hongxi EmperorThe Hongxi Emperor was an emperor of the Ming dynasty in China. He succeeded his father, Yongle, in 1424. His era name means "Vastly bright".-Biography:...
(r. 1424-1425). The Grand Secretariat drew its members from the
Hanlin AcademyThe Hanlin Academy was an academic and administrative institution founded in eighth century Tang dynasty China by Emperor Xuanzong....
and were considered part of the imperial authority, not the ministerial one (hence being at odds with both the emperor and ministers at times). The Secretariat was a coordinating agency, whereas the Six Ministries—which were Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, and Public Works—were direct administrative organs of the state. The Ministry of Personnel was in charge of appointments, merit ratings, promotions, and demotions of officials, as well as granting of honorific titles. The Ministry of Revenue was in charge of gathering census data, collecting taxes, and handling state revenues, while there were two offices of currency that were subordinate to it. The Ministry of Rites was in charge of state ceremonies, rituals, and sacrifices; it also oversaw registers for Buddhist and Daoist priesthoods and even the reception of envoys from tributary states. The Ministry of War was in charge of the appointments, promotions, and demotions of military officers, the maintenance of military installations, equipment, and weapons, as well as the courier system. The Ministry of Justice was in charge of judicial and penal processes, but had no supervisory role over the Censorate or the Grand Court of Revision. The Ministry of Works was in charge of government construction projects, hiring of artisans and laborers for temporary service, manufacturing government equipment, the maintenance of roads and canals, standardization of weights and measures, and the gathering of resources from the countryside.
Bureaus and offices for the imperial household
The imperial household was staffed almost entirely by eunuchs and ladies with their own bureaus. Female servants were organized into the Bureau of Palace Attendance, Bureau of Ceremonies, Bureau of Apparel, Bureau of Foodstuffs, Bureau of the Bedchamber, Bureau of Handicrafts, and Office of Staff Surveillance. Starting in the 1420s, eunuchs began taking over these ladies' positions until only the Bureau of Apparel with its four subsidiary offices remained. Hongwu had his eunuchs organized into the Directorate of Palace Attendants, but as eunuch power at court increased, so did their administrative offices, with eventual twelve directorates, four offices, and eight bureaus. The dynasty had a vast imperial household, staffed with thousands of eunuchs, who were headed by the Directorate of Palace Attendants. The eunuchs were divided into different directorates in charge of staff surveillance, ceremonial rites, food, utensils, documents, stables, seals, apparel, and so on. The offices were in charge of providing fuel, music, paper, and baths. The bureaus were in charge of weapons, silverwork, laundering, headgear, bronzework, textile manufacture, wineries, and gardens. At times, the most influential eunuch in the Directorate of Ceremonial acted as a
de facto dictator over the state.
Although the imperial household was staffed mostly by eunuchs and palace ladies, there was a civil service office called the Seal Office, which cooperated with eunuch agencies in maintaining imperial seals, tallies, and stamps. There were also civil service offices to oversee the affairs of imperial princes.
Scholar-officials
After the reign of Hongwu—who from 1373 to 1384 staffed his bureaus with officials gathered through recommendations only—the scholar-officials who populated the many ranks of bureaucracy were recruited through a rigorous examination system that was first established by the
Sui DynastyThe Sui Dynasty followed by the Tang Dynasty and preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China. It ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes....
(581-618). Theoretically the system of exams allowed anyone to join the ranks of imperial officials (although frowned upon for merchants to join); in reality the time and funding needed to support the study in preparation for the exam generally limited participants to those already coming from the landholding class. However, the government did exact provincial quotas while drafting officials. This was an effort to curb monopolization of power by landholding gentry who came from the most prosperous regions, where education was the most advanced. The expansion of the printing industry since Song times enhanced the spread of knowledge and number of potential exam candidates throughout the provinces. For young schoolchildren there were printed
multiplication tableIn mathematics, a multiplication table is a mathematical table used to define a multiplication operation for an algebraic system....
s and
primerPrimer can refer to:*Primer , a 1995 music album by the musical group Rockapella*Primer , a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth...
s for elementary vocabulary; for adult examination candidates there were mass-produced, inexpensive volumes of Confucian classics and successful examination answers.
As in earlier periods, the focus of the examination was classical Confucian texts, while the bulk of test material centered on the
Four BooksThe Four Books of Confucianism , are Chinese classic texts that Zhu Xi selected, in the Song dynasty, as an introduction to Confucianism: the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects of Confucius, and the Mencius...
outlined by
Zhu XiZhu Xi or Chu Hsi was a Song Dynasty Confucian scholar who became the leading figure of the School of Principle and the most influential rationalist Neo-Confucian in China...
in the 12th century. Ming era examinations were perhaps more difficult to pass since the 1487 requirement of completing the "
eight-legged essayThe eight-legged essay was a style of essay writing that had to be mastered to pass the imperial examinations during the Ming and Qing Dynasties...
", a departure from basing essays off progressing literary trends. The exams increased in difficulty as the student progressed from the local level, and appropriate titles were accordingly awarded successful applicants. Officials were classified in nine hierarchic grades, each grade divided into two degrees, with ranging salaries (nominally paid in piculs of rice) according to their rank. While provincial graduates who were appointed to office were immediately assigned to low-ranking posts like the county graduates, those who passed the palace examination were awarded a
jinshi ('presented scholar') degree and assured a high-level position. In 276 years of Ming rule and ninety palace examinations, the number of doctoral degrees granted by passing the palace examinations was 24,874. Ebrey states that "there were only two to four thousand of these
jinshi at any given time, on the order of one out of 10,000 adult males." This was in comparison to the 100,000
shengyuan ('government students'), the lowest tier of graduates, by the 16th century.
The maximum tenure in office was nine years, but every three years officials were graded on their performance by senior officials. If they were graded as superior then they were promoted, if graded adequate then they retained their ranks, and if graded inadequate they were demoted one rank. In extreme cases, officials would be dismissed or punished. Only capital officials of grade 4 and above were exempt from the scrutiny of recorded evaluation, although they were expected to confess any of their faults. There were over 4,000 school instructors in county and prefectural schools who were subject to evaluations every nine years. The Chief Instructor on the prefectural level was classified as equal to a second-grade county graduate. The Supervisorate of Imperial Instruction oversaw the education of the heir apparent to the throne; this office was headed by a Grand Supervisor of Instruction, who was ranked as first class of grade three.
Lesser functionaries
Scholar-officials who entered civil service through examinations acted as executive officials to a much larger body of non-ranked personnel called lesser functionaries. They outnumbered officials by four to one; Charles Hucker estimates that they were perhaps as many as 100,000 throughout the empire. These lesser functionaries performed clerical and technical tasks for government agencies. Yet they should not be confused with lowly lictors, runners, and bearers; lesser functionaries were given periodic merit evaluations like officials and after nine years of service might be accepted into a low civil service rank. The one great advantage of the lesser functionaries over officials was that officials were periodically rotated and assigned to different regional posts and had to rely on the good service and cooperation of the local lesser functionaries.
Eunuchs, princes, and generals
Eunuchs during the Ming Dynasty gained unprecedented power over state affairs. One of the most effective means of control was the secret service stationed in what was called the Eastern Depot at the beginning of the dynasty, later the Western Depot. This secret service was overseen by the Directorate of Ceremonial, hence this state organ's often totalitarian affiliation. Eunuchs had ranks that were equivalent to civil service ranks, only theirs had four grades instead of nine.
Princes and descendants of the first Ming emperor were given nominal military commands and large land estates without title. These estates were not feudatories, the princes did not serve any administrative function, and it was only during the reign of the first two emperors that they partook in military affairs. By contrast, princes in the Han and Jin Dynasties had been installed as local kings. Although princes served no organ of state administration, princes, consorts of imperial princesses, and ennobled relatives did staff the Imperial Clan Court, which took care of the imperial
genealogyGenealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
.
Like scholar-officials, military generals were ranked in a hierarchic grading system and were given merit evaluations every five years (as opposed to three years for officials). However, military officers had less prestige than officials. This was due to their hereditary service (instead of solely merit-based) and Confucian values that dictated those who chose the profession of violence (wu) over the cultured pursuits of knowledge (wen). Although seen as less prestigious, military officers were not excluded from taking civil service examinations and after 1478 the military even held their own examinations to test military skills. In addition to taking over the established bureaucratic structure from the Yuan period, the Ming emperors established the new post of the travelling military inspector. In the early half of the dynasty, men of noble lineage dominated the higher ranks of military office; this trend was reversed during the latter half of the dynasty as men from more humble origins eventually displaced them.
Literature and arts
As in earlier dynasties, the Ming Dynasty saw a flourishing in the arts, whether it was
paintingChinese painting is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. The earliest paintings were not representational but ornamental; they consisted of patterns or designs rather than pictures. Stone Age pottery was painted with spirals, zigzags, dots, or animals...
,
poetryChinese poetry is the most highly regarded literary genre in China. Traditionally, it is divided into shi , ci and qu . There is also a kind of prose-poem called fu . During the modern period, there also has developed free verse in Western style...
,
musicThe music of China dates back to the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents and artifacts providing evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty...
,
literatureChinese literature extends back thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novel that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
, or
dramatic theaterChinese opera is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far as the third century CE. There are numerous regional branches of Chinese opera, of which the Beijing opera is one of the most notable.-Dynastic periods:Canjun opera of the Three Kingdoms period was...
. Carved designs in
lacquerwareLacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. The lacquer is sometimes inlaid or carved. Lacquerware includes boxes, tableware and even coffins painted with lacquer in cultures mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere.-History:...
s and designs glazed onto
porcelainPorcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
wares displayed intricate scenes similar in complexity to those in painting. These items could be found in the homes of the wealthy, alongside embroidered silks and wares in
jadeChinese jade is any of the carved-jade objects produced in China from the Neolithic Period onward. The Chinese regarded carved-jade objects as intrinsically valuable, and they metaphorically equated jade with human virtues because of its hardness, durability, and beauty.-Faux jade:In almost all...
, ivory, and
cloisonnéCloisonné, an ancient metalworking technique, is a multi-step process used to produce jewelry, vases, and other decorative items. The technique can be used either for enamel, today much the most commonly found, or for gemstone inlays...
. The houses of the rich were also furnished with rosewood furniture and feathery
latticeworkLatticework is an ornamental, lattice framework consisting of a criss-crossed pattern of strips of building material, usually wood or metal, but it can be made of any building material. The design is created by crossing the strips to form a decorative network...
. The writing materials in a scholar's private study, including elaborately carved brush holders made of stone or wood, were all designed and arranged ritually to give an aesthetic appeal.
Connoisseurship in the late Ming period centered around these items of refined artistic taste, which provided work for art dealers and even underground scammers who made phony imitations of originals and false attributions to works of art. This was noted even by the Jesuit
Matteo RicciMatteo Ricci, SJ was an Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission, as it existed in the 17th-18th centuries.-Early life:...
while staying in Nanjing, writing that Chinese scam artists were ingenious when it came to making forgeries of artwork and made huge profits. However, there were guides to help the wary new connoisseur; in
Liu TongLiu Tong was a Chinese prose master and official from Macheng in Huanggang. He was a figure in the Ming Dynasty's Jingling school of Chinese prose literature in contrast to the Gongan school and the well known Yuan Hongdao and his brothers...
's (d. 1637) book printed in 1635, he told his readers various ways to spot a fake and authentic pieces of art. He revealed that a Xuande era (1426-1435) bronzework could be authenticated if one knew how to judge its sheen; porcelain wares from the Yongle era (1402-1424) could be judged authentic by their thickness.
There was a great amount of literary achievement in the Ming Dynasty.
Xu XiakeXu Xiake , born Xu Hongzu , courtesy name Zhenzhi , was a Chinese travel writer and geographer of the Ming Dynasty known best for his famous geographical treatise, and noted for his bravery and humility...
(1587-1641), a
travel literatureTravel literature is travel writing of literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or...
author, published his
Travel Diaries in 404,000 written characters, with information on everything from local
geographyThis article explores the history of geography.-Ancient geography:The ancient Greeks saw the poet Homer as the founder of geography. His works the Iliad and the Odyssey are works of literature, but both contain a great deal of geographical information. Homer describes a circular world ringed by a...
to
mineralogyMineralogy is an Earth Science focused around the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their...
. The first reference to the publishing of private newspapers in Beijing was in 1582; by 1638 the Beijing
GazetteThe term gazette normally refers to a newspaper.The word comes from gazzetta, a Venetian coin used to buy early Italian newspapers; the coin became a name for the papers themselves...
switched from using
woodblock printWoodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. As a method of printing on cloth, the earliest surviving examples from China date to before 220, and...
to
movable typeMovable type is the system of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document . The first known movable type system was invented in China by Bi Sheng out of ceramic between 1041 and 1048. Metal movable type was first invented in Korea during the Goryeo...
printing. The new literary field of the moral guide to business ethics was developed by the late Ming period, for the readership of the merchant class. Although short story fiction was popular as far back as the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and the work of contemporaneous authors such as Xu Guangqi, Xu Xiake, and Song Yingxing were often technical and encyclopedic, the Ming era witnessed the development of the novel. While the gentry elite were educated enough to fully comprehend the language of
Classical ChineseClassical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...
, those with rudimentary education—such as women in educated families, merchants, and shop clerks—became a large, potential audience for literature and performing arts that employed
Vernacular ChineseVernacular Chinese is a style or register of the written Chinese language essentially modeled after the spoken language and associated with Standard Mandarin. This term is not to be confused with the various present-day vernacular spoken varieties of Chinese...
. The
Jin Ping MeiJin Ping Mei or The Plum in the Golden Vase is a Chinese naturalistic novel composed in the vernacular during the late Ming Dynasty. The author was Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng, a clear pseudonym. Earliest versions of the novel exist only in handwritten scripts; the first block-printed book was...
—published in 1610—is considered by some to be the fifth great novel of pre-modern China, in reference to the
Four Great Classical NovelsThe Four Great Classical Novels, or the Four Major Classical Novels of Chinese literature, are the four novels commonly counted by scholars to be the greatest and most influential of classical Chinese fiction...
. Two of these novels, the
Water MarginWater Margin is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature...
and
Journey to the WestJourney to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Originally published anonymously in the 1590s during the Ming Dynasty, and even though no direct evidence of its authorship survives, it has been ascribed to the scholar Wu Cheng'en since the 20th century.In...
were products of the Ming Dynasty. To complement the work of novels, the theater scripts of playwrights were equally imaginative. One of the most famous plays in Chinese history,
The Peony PavilionThe Peony Pavilion is a play written by Tang Xianzu in the Ming Dynasty and first performed in 1598 at the Pavilion of Prince Teng. One of Tang's "Four Dreams", it has traditionally been performed as a Kunqu opera, but Chuan and Gan opera versions also exist...
, was written by the Ming playwright
Tang XianzuTang Xianzu , courtesy name Yireng , was a Chinese playwright of the Ming Dynasty.Tang was a native of Linchuan, Jiangxi and his career as an official consisted principally of low-level positions. He successfully participated in the Provincial examinations at the age of 21 and at the imperial...
(1550-1616), with its first performance at the
Pavilion of Prince TengThe Pavilion of Prince Teng or Tengwang Pavilion is a building in the north west of the city of Nanchang, in Jiangxi province, China, on the east bank of the Gan River and is one of the Four Great Towers of China. It has been destroyed and rebuilt many times over its history...
in 1598.
In contrast to Xu Xiake, who focused on technical aspects in his travel literature, the Chinese poet and official
Yuan HongdaoYuan Hongdao was Chinese poet of the Ming Dynasty, and one of the Three Yuan Brothers. His life spanned nearly the whole of the Wanli period in Chinese history. Yuan was from Gong'an in Hukuang. His family had been military officials for generations. Yuan showed an interest in literature from...
(1568-1610) used travel literature to express his desires for individualism as well as autonomy from and frustration with Confucian court politics. Yuan desired to free himself from the ethical compromises which were inseparable from the career of a scholar-official. This anti-official sentiment in Yuan's travel literature and poetry was actually following in the tradition of the Song Dynasty poet and official
Su ShiSu Shi was a writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, pharmacologist, and statesman of the Song Dynasty, and one of the major poets of the Song era. His courtesy name was Zizhan and his pseudonym was Dongpo Jushi , and he is often referred to as Su Dongpo...
(1037-1101). Yuan Hongdao and his two brothers—Yuan Zongdao (1560-1600) and
Yuan ZhongdaoYuan Zhongdao 袁中道, , Chinese poet, essayist, travel diarist and official was born in Kung-an in Hukuang. He shares his fame with two other brothers, Yuan Zongdao and Yuan Hongdao . The three brothers dominated the literature of the period. From a family of financial means, they printed and...
(1570-1623)—were the founders of the Gong'an School of letters. This highly individualistic school of poetry and prose was criticized by the Confucian establishment for its association with intense sensual lyricism, which was also apparent in Ming vernacular novels such as the
Jin Ping Mei. Yet even gentry and scholar-officials were affected by the new popular romantic literature, seeking courtesans as soulmates to reenact the heroic love stories which arranged marriages often could not provide or accommodate.
There were many famous visual artists in the Ming period, including
Ni ZanNí Zàn is considered to be one of the four "Late Yuan" masters. He was born into a wealthy family in Wuxi. Ni Zan was born after the death of the Kublai Khan, the Mongolian ruler who defeated the Song and established dominance over all that had traditionally been considered China...
,
Shen ZhouShen Zhou , courtesy name Qinan , was a Chinese painter in Ming Dynasty.-Life:Shen Zhou was born into a wealthy family in Xiangcheng, near the thriving city of Suzhou, in the Jiangsu province, China...
,
Tang YinTang Yin , better known by his courtesy name Tang Bohu , was a Chinese scholar, painter, calligrapher, and poet of the Ming Dynasty period whose life story has become a part of popular lore...
,
Wen ZhengmingWen Zhengming was a leading Ming Dynasty painter, calligrapher, and scholar.Born in present-day Suzhou, he claimed to be a descendant of the Song Dynasty prime minister and patriot Wen Tianxiang. Wen’s family was originally from Hengyang, Hunan, where his family had established itself shortly...
,
Qiu YingQiu Ying was a Chinese painter who specialized in the gongbi brush technique.Qiu Ying's courtesy name was Shifu , and his pseudonym was Shizhou . He was born to a peasant family in Taicang and studied painting under Zhou Chen in Suzhou...
,
Dong QichangDong Qichang , courtesy name Xuanzai , was a Chinese painter, scholar, calligrapher, and art theorist of the later period of the Ming Dynasty.-Painter:...
, and many others. They drew upon the techniques, styles, and complexity in painting achieved by their Song and Yuan predecessors, but added some new techniques and styles. Well-known Ming artists could make a living simply by painting, due to the high costs they demanded for their artworks and the great demand by the highly cultured community to collect precious works of art. The artist Qiu Ying was once paid 2.8 kg (100 oz) of silver to paint a long handscroll for the occasion of an eightieth birthday celebration for the mother of a wealthy patron. Renowned artists often gathered an entourage of followers, some who were amateurs who painted while pursuing an official career and others who were full-time painters.
Beyond painters, some potters also became renowned for their artwork, such as
He ChaozongHe Chaozong 何朝宗 was a celebrated early 17th century Chinese potter. He Chaozong fashioned mainly Buddhist white porcelain statuary in the tradition of the Dehua kilns in Fujian Province, known in the west as Blanc-de-Chine. Little documentary evidence remains for He Chaozong apart from extant...
in the early 17th century for his style of white porcelain sculpture. The major production centers for porcelain items in the Ming Dynasty were
JingdezhenJingdezhen , is a prefecture-level city, previously a town, in Jiangxi Province, China, with a total population of 1,554,000 . It is known as the "Porcelain Capital" because it has been producing quality pottery for 1700 years...
in
Jiangxi' is a southern province of the People's Republic of China, spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south....
province and
DehuaDehua is located in central Fujian, one of the provinces on the southeast coast of China.-Description:Dehua is rich in kaolin and famous for ceramic products, especially crafts and dinnerware, including candle holders, Piggy banks, photo frames, jewel boxes, flower baskets, jars, vases, plaques,...
in
Fujian' is a province on the southeast coast of China. Fujian borders Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
province. The Dehua porcelain factories catored to European tastes by creating
Chinese export porcelainChinese export porcelain concerns a wide range of porcelain that was made and decorated in China exclusively for export to Europe and later to North America between the 16th and the 20th century.-Early China porcelain trade:...
by the 16th century. In
The Ceramic Trade in Asia, Chuimei Ho estimates that about 16% of late Ming era Chinese ceramic exports were sent to Europe while the rest were destined for Japan and South East Asia.
Religion
For thousands of years the beliefs in ancestor worship and practices of the ancestral cult were key features of Chinese civilization. The Chinese believed in a host of deities in what is termed as
Chinese folk religionChinese folk religion is a collective label given to various folkloric beliefs that draws heavily from Chinese mythology. It comprises the religion practiced in much of China for thousands of years which included ancestor worship and drew heavily upon concepts and beings within Chinese mythology...
. Other religious denominations in the Ming included the ancient native ideology of Daoism (Taoism) and foreign originated Buddhism, although distinct Chinese Buddhism had long since developed.
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
had existed in China since at least the
Tang DynastyThe Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
(618-907), yet the late Ming period saw the first arrival of
Jesuit missionariesThe history of the missions of the Jesuits in China in the early modern era stands as one of the notable events in the early history of relations between China and the Western world, as well as a prominent example of relations between two cultures and belief systems in the pre-modern age...
from Europe such as
Matteo RicciMatteo Ricci, SJ was an Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission, as it existed in the 17th-18th centuries.-Early life:...
and
Nicolas TrigaultNicolas Trigault was a French Jesuit, and a missionary to China. He was also known by his latinised name Trigautius or Trigaultius, and his Chinese name Jīn Nígé .-Life and Work:...
. There were also other denominations including the
DominicansThe Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France...
and
FranciscanThe term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic religious orders, also known as the Orders of Friars Minor, that follow a body of regulations known as "The rule of St. Francis", or a member of one of these orders. As well as Roman Catholic there are also small Old Catholic and...
s.
Ricci worked with the Chinese mathematician, astronomer, and agronomist
Xu GuangqiXu Guangqi , courtesy name Zixian , was a Chinese bureaucrat, agricultural scientist, astronomer, and mathematician in the Ming Dynasty. Xu was a colleague and collaborator of the Italian Jesuits Matteo Ricci and Sabatino de Ursis and they translated several classic Western texts into Chinese,...
to translate the Greek mathematical work
Euclid's ElementsEuclid's Elements is a mathematical and geometric treatise consisting of 13 books written by the Greek mathematician Euclid in Alexandria circa 300 BC. It comprises a collection of definitions, postulates , propositions , and mathematical proofs of the propositions...
into Chinese for the first time in 1607. The Chinese were impressed with European knowledge in astronomy, calendrical science, mathematics, hydraulics, and geography. Most European monks presented themselves more as educated elites than religious figures, in an effort to gain trust and admiration from the Chinese. However, most Chinese were suspicious and even outright critical of Christianity due to Chinese beliefs and practices that did not coincide with the Christian faith. The highpoint of this contention was the Nanjing Religious Incident of 1616-1622, a temporary triumph of the Confucian traditionalists when Western missionaries and science were rejected in favor of the belief that Western science derived from a superior Chinese model; this was soon rejected in favor of once again staffing the Imperial Astronomical Board with Western missionaries learned in science.
Besides Christianity, the
Kaifeng JewsThe Kaifeng Jews are members of a small Jewish community that has existed in Kaifeng, in the Henan province of China, for hundreds of years. Although Jews in modern China have traditionally called themselves Youtai in Mandarin Chinese — also the predominant contemporary Chinese language term...
had a long history in China; Ricci discovered this when he was contacted by one of them in Beijing and learned of
their history in ChinaJews and Judaism in China have had a long history. Jewish settlers are documented in China as early as the 7th or 8th century CE, but may have arrived during the mid Han Dynasty, or even as early as 231 BCE. Relatively isolated communities developed through the Tang and Song Dynasties Jews and...
.
Islam in ChinaIslam in China has a rich heritage. China has some of the oldest Muslim history, dating back to as early as 650, when the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Sa`ad ibn Abi Waqqas, was sent as an official envoy to Emperor Gaozong during Caliph Uthman's era...
had existed since the early 7th century
during the Tang DynastyThe History of Islam in China goes back to the earliest years of Islam. Only eighteen years after Muhammad's death, the third Caliph of Islam, Uthman ibn Affan sent a delegation led by Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas, the maternal uncle of Muhammad, to the Chinese Gaozong Emperor.-Origins:During the Tang...
;
during the Ming DynastyAs the Yuan Dynasty ended, many Mongols as well as the Muslims who came with them remained in China. Most of their descendants took Chinese names and became part of the diverse cultural world of China. During the following Ming rule , Muslims truly adopted Chinese culture...
there were several prominent figures—including
Zheng HeZheng He , was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who made the voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the travels of "Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean" or "Zheng He to the Western Ocean", from 1405 to 1433.-Life:Zheng He...
—who were Muslim. The Hongwu Emperor also employed Muslim commanders in his army, such as Chang Yuqun,
Lan YuLan Yu was a general of the Ming Dynasty.The founding emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, employed Muslim commanders in his army including Lan Yu, Ding Dexing, and Mu Ying....
, Ding Dexing, and
Mu YingMu Ying was a general during the Ming Dynasty.He was one of the few capable generals who survived the massacre of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. He and his descendants guarded Yunnan, a province near Vietnam, until the end of the Ming Dynasty....
.
Philosophy
Wang Yangming's Confucianism
During the Ming Dynasty, the doctrines of the Song Dynasty scholar-official
Zhu XiZhu Xi or Chu Hsi was a Song Dynasty Confucian scholar who became the leading figure of the School of Principle and the most influential rationalist Neo-Confucian in China...
(1130-1200) and
Neo-ConfucianismNeo-Confucianism / is a form of Confucianism that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty. It formed the basis of Confucian orthodoxy in the Qing Dynasty of China. It was a philosophy that attempted to merge certain...
were embraced by the court and the Chinese literati at large. However, total conformity to a single mode of thought was never a reality in the intellectual sphere of society. There were some in the Ming who—like
Su ShiSu Shi was a writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, pharmacologist, and statesman of the Song Dynasty, and one of the major poets of the Song era. His courtesy name was Zizhan and his pseudonym was Dongpo Jushi , and he is often referred to as Su Dongpo...
(1037-1101) of the Song—were rebels at heart and were not abashed to criticize the mainstream dogmatic modes of thought. Leading a new strand of Confucian teaching and philosophy was the scholar-official
Wang YangmingWang Yangming was a Ming Chinese idealist Neo-Confucian philosopher, official, educationist, calligraphist and general. After Zhu Xi, he is commonly regarded as the most important Neo-Confucian thinker, with interpretations of Confucianism that denied the rationalist dualism of the orthodox...
(1472-1529), whose critics said that his teachings were contaminated by
Chan BuddhismZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, translated from the Chinese word Chán. This word is in turn derived from the Sanskrit dhyāna, which means "meditation" ....
.
In analyzing Zhu Xi's concept of "the extension of knowledge" (i.e. gaining understanding through careful and rational investigation of things and events; Chinese: 理學, or 格物致知), Wang realized that universal principles were concepts espoused in the minds of all. Breaking from the mold, Wang said that anyone, no matter what socioeconomic status or background, could become as wise as the ancient sages
ConfuciusConfucius , lit. "Master Kong," was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese thought and life....
and
MenciusMencius , most accepted dates: 372 – 289 BCE; other possible dates: 385 – 303/302 BCE) was a Chinese philosopher who was arguably the most famous Confucian after Confucius himself.-Life:...
, and that the writings of the latter two were not the source of truth, but merely guides that could have flaws if carefully examined. In Wang's mind, a peasant who had many experiences and drew natural truths from these was more wise than an official who had carefully studied the Classics but had not experienced the real world in order to observe what was true.
Conservative reaction
Conservative Confucian officials were wary of Wang's philosophical interpretation of the
Confucian classicsChinese classic texts or Chinese canonical texts refer to the pre-Qin Chinese texts, especially the Confucian Four Books and Five Classics . All of these pre-Qin text were written in classical Chinese...
, the increasing number of his disciples while still in office, and his overall socially-rebellious message. To curb his political influence he was often sent out to deal with military affairs and rebellions far away from the capital. Yet his ideas penetrated mainstream Chinese thought, and spurred new interest in Daoism and Buddhism. Furthermore, people began to question the validity of the social hierarchy and the idea that the scholar was above the farmer. Wang Yangming's disciple and salt-mine worker Wang Gen gave lectures to commoners about pursuing education to improve their lives, while his follower He Xinyin 何心隱 challenged the elevation and emphasis of the family in Chinese society. His contemporary Li Zhi 李贄 (1527-1602) even taught that women were the intellectual equals of men and should be given a better education; both Li and He eventually died in prison, jailed on charges of spreading "dangerous ideas". Yet these "dangerous ideas" of educating women had long been embraced with mothers giving their children primary education, as well as
courtesanA courtesan was originally a woman courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person. In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
s who were as literate and similarly trained in calligraphy, painting, and poetry as their male hosts.
In opposition to the liberal views of Wang Yangming were the conservative officials in the censorate—a governmental institution with the right and responsibility to speak out against malfeasance and abuse of power—and the senior officials of the
Donglin AcademyThe Donglin Academy , also known as the Guishan Academy , was originally built in A.D. 1111 during the Northern Song dynasty at present-day Wuxi in China...
, which was reestablished in 1604. These conservatives wanted a revival of orthodox Confucian ethics. Conservatives such as Gu Xiancheng (1550-1612) argued against Wang Yangming's idea of innate moral knowledge, stating that this was simply a legitimization for unscrupulous behavior such as greedy pursuits and personal gain. These two strands of Confucian thought created factionalism amongst ministers of state, who—like the old days of
Wang AnshiWang Anshi was a Chinese economist, statesman, chancellor and poet of the Song Dynasty who attempted controversial, major socioeconomic reforms...
and
Sima GuangSīmǎ Guāng was a Chinese historian, scholar, and high chancellor of the Song Dynasty.-Life, profession, and works:Sima Guang was born in 1019 in present-day Yuncheng, Shanxi to a wealthy family, and obtained early success as a scholar and officer...
in the Song Dynasty—used any opportunity to impeach members of the other faction from court.
Urban and rural life
Wang Gen was able to give philosophical lectures to many commoners from different regions because—following the trend already apparent in the Song Dynasty—communities in Ming society were becoming less isolated as the distance between market towns was shrinking. Schools, descent groups, religious associations, and other local voluntary organizations were increasing in number and allowing more contact between educated men and local villagers.
Jonathan SpenceJonathan D. Spence is a British-born historian and public intellectual specializing in Chinese history. He has been Sterling Professor of History at Yale University since 1993. His most famous book is The Search for Modern China, which has become one of the standard texts on the last several...
writes that the distinction between what was town and country was blurred in Ming China, since suburban areas with farms were located just outside and in some cases within the walls of a city. Not only was the blurring of town and country evident, but also of socioeconomic class in the traditional four occupations (Chinese: 仕農工商), since artisans sometimes worked on farms in peak periods and farmers often traveled into the city to find work during times of dearth.
A variety of occupations could be chosen or inherited from a father's line of work. This would include—but was not limited to—coffinmakers, ironworkers and blacksmiths, tailors, cooks and noodle-makers, retail merchants, tavern, teahouse, or winehouse managers, shoemakers, seal cutters, pawnshop owners, brothel heads, and merchant bankers engaging in a proto-banking system involving notes of exchange. Virtually every town had a
brothelA brothel, also known as a bordello, cathouse, whorehouse, sporting house and various other euphemisms, is an establishment specifically dedicated to prostitution, providing the prostitutes a place to meet and to have sexual intercourse with clients.-Legality:Today, brothels are illegal in the vast...
where female and male prostitutes could be had. Male catamites fetched a higher price than female concubines since
pederastyPederasty or paederasty is a relationship between an older man and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family...
with a teenage boy was seen as a mark of elite status, regardless of
sodomySodomy is a term used today predominantly in law to describe the act of anal intercourse, oral intercourse, or bestiality.- Definitions :...
being repugnant to sexual norms.
Public bathingPublic baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness. Often the term public is misleading to some people, as they will have restrictions based upon who can use the facility — elite members of the culture, men only, religious only, etc...
became much more common than in earlier periods. Urban shops and retailers sold a variety of goods such as
special paper moneyJoss paper , also known as ghost money, are sheets of paper that are burned in traditional Chinese deity or ancestor worship ceremonies during special holidays...
to burn at ancestral sacrifices, specialized luxury goods, headgear, fine cloth, teas, and others. Smaller communities and townships too poor or scattered to support shops and artisans obtained their goods from periodic market fairs and traveling peddlers. A small township also provided a place for simple schooling, news and gossip, matchmaking, religious festivals, traveling theater groups, tax collection, and bases of famine relief distribution.
Farming villagers in the north spent their days harvesting crops like wheat and millet, while farmers south of the
Huai RiverThe Huai River is a major river in China. The Huai River is located about mid-way between the Yellow River and Yangtze River, the two largest rivers in China, and like them runs from west to east...
engaged in intensive rice cultivation and had lakes and ponds where ducks and fish could be raised. The cultivation of mulberry trees for silkworms and tea bushes could be found mostly south of the Yangzi River; even further south of this
sugarcaneSugarcane, or sugar cane, is any of six to thirty-seven species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six meters tall...
and citrus were grown as basic crops. Some people in the mountainous southwest made a living by selling lumber from hard bamboo. Besides cutting down trees to sell wood, the poor also made a living by turning wood into charcoal, burning
oysterThe word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
shells to make
limeAgricultural lime, also called garden lime or liming, is a soil additive made from pulverized limestone or chalk. The primary active component is calcium carbonate...
, fired pots, and wove mats and baskets. In the north traveling by horse and carriage was most common, while in the south the myriad of rivers, canals, and lakes provided cheap and easy water transport. Although the south had the characteristic of the wealthy landlord and tenant farmers, there were on average many more owner-cultivators north of the Huai River due to harsher climate, living not far above subsistence level.
Science and technology
Compared to the flourishing of science and technology in the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty perhaps saw fewer advancements in science and technology compared to the pace of discovery in the
Western worldThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
. In fact, key advances in Chinese science in the late Ming were spurred by contact with Europe. In 1626
Johann Adam Schall von BellJohann Adam Schall von Bell was a German Jesuit missionary to China.Born of noble parents in Cologne, Germany, he attended the Jesuit Gymnasium and joined the Society of Jesus in Rome in 1611...
wrote the first Chinese treatise on the
telescopeA telescope is an instrument designed for the observation of remote objects by the collection of electromagnetic radiation. The first known practically functioning telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century...
, the
Yuanjingshuo (
Far Seeing Optic Glass); in 1634 the last Ming
emperor ChongzhenThe Chongzhen Emperor was the 16th and last emperor of the Ming Dynasty in China. He reigned from 1627 to 1644, under an era name that means "honorable and auspicious".- Early years :Born Zhu Youjian , Chongzhen was the fifth son of the Taichang Emperor...
acquired the telescope of the late
Johann SchreckJohann Schreck, also Terrenz or Terrentius Constantiensis, Deng Yuhan Hanpo, Deng Zhen Lohan, was a German Jesuit, Missionary to China and polymath. He is credited with the discovery of the scientific-technical terminology...
(1576-1630). The
heliocentricIn astronomy, heliocentrism is the theory that the Sun is stationary and at the center of the universe. The word came from the Greek . Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth at the center. Discussions on the possibility of heliocentrism date to classical...
model of the solar system was rejected by the Catholic missionaries in China, but
Johannes KeplerJohannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, and key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution. He is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of...
and
Galileo GalileiGalileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations, and support for Copernicanism...
's ideas slowly trickled into China starting with the Polish Jesuit Michael Boym (1612-1659) in 1627, Adam Schall von Bell's treatise in 1640, and finally
Joseph EdkinsJoseph Edkins was a British Protestant missionary who spent 57 years in China, 30 of them in Beijing. As a Sinologue, he specialized in Chinese religions. He was also a linguist, a translator, and a philologist. Writing prolifically, he penned many books about the Chinese language and the Chinese...
, Alex Wylie, and
John FryerJohn Fryer was the sailing master on the HMAV Bounty, a British vessel made famous by the Mutiny on the Bounty....
in the 19th century. Catholic Jesuits in China would promote
CopernicanNicolaus Copernicus was the first astronomer to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology, which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe...
theory at court, yet at the same time embrace the
PtolemaicClaudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Greek ancestry. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer and a poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under the Roman Empire, and is believed to have been born in the town of...
system in their writing; it was not until 1865 that Catholic missionaries in China sponsored the heliocentric model as their Protestant peers did. Although
Shen KuoShen Kuo or Shen Gua , style name Cunzhong and pseudonym Mengqi Weng , was a polymathic Chinese scientist and statesman of the Song Dynasty...
(1031-1095) and
Guo ShoujingGuo Shoujing , courtesy name Ruosi , was a Chinese astronomer, engineer, and mathematician born in Xingtai, Hebei and lived during the Yuan Dynasty...
(1231-1316) had laid the basis for trigonometry in China, another important work in Chinese trigonometry would not be published again until 1607 with the efforts of Xu Guangqi and Matteo Ricci. Ironically, some inventions which had their origins in ancient China were reintroduced to China from Europe during the late Ming; for example, the
field millA field mill, also known as a camp mill, was a premodern vehicle which acted as a mobile mill used for grinding grains, which had the very practical use of feeding a moving army...
.
The
Chinese calendarThe Chinese calendar is lunisolar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. It is not exclusive to China, but followed by many other Asian cultures. It is often referred to as the Chinese calendar because it was first perfected by the Chinese around 500 BCE...
was in need of reform since it inadequately measured the solar year at 365¼ days, giving an error of 10 min and 14 sec a year or roughly a full day every 128 years. Although the Ming had adopted Guo Shoujing's
Shoushi calendar of 1281, which was just as accurate as the
Gregorian CalendarThe Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas...
, the Ming Directorate of Astronomy failed to periodically readjust it; this was perhaps due to their lack of expertise since their offices had become hereditary in the Ming and the Statutes of the Ming prohibited private involvement in astronomy. A sixth-generation descendant of Emperor Hongxi, the "Prince"
Zhu ZaiyuZhu Zaiyu , a prince of the Ming dynasty of China. He was a musician and one of the first people to describe equal temperament in music in 1584....
(1536-1611), submitted a proposal to fix the calendar in 1595, but the ultra-conservative astronomical commission rejected it. It should be noted that this was the same Zhu Zaiyu who discovered the system of tuning known as
equal temperamentEqual temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. In equal temperament tunings, an interval — usually the octave — is divided into a series of equal steps...
, a discovery made simultaneously by
Simon StevinSimon Stevin was a Flemish mathematician and engineer. He was active in a great many areas of science and engineering, both theoretical and practical...
(1548-1620) in Europe. In addition to publishing his works on music, he was able to publish his findings on the calendar in 1597. A year earlier, the memorial of Xing Yunlu suggesting a calendrical improvement was shot down by the Supervisor of the Astronomical Bureau due to the law banning private practice of astronomy; Xing would later serve with Xu Guangqi in reforming the calendar (Chinese: 崇禎歷書) in 1629 according to Western standards.
When the Ming founder Hongwu came upon the mechanical devices housed in the Yuan Dynasty's palace at Khanbaliq—such as fountains with balls dancing on their jets,
self-operating tiger automataAn automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.- Etymology :...
, dragon-headed devices that spouted mists of perfume, and
mechanical clocksA striking clock is a clock that sounds the hours audibly on a bell or gong.The striking feature of clocks was originally more important than their clock faces; the earliest clocks struck the hours, but had no dials to enable the time to be read...
in the tradition of
Yi XingYi Xing , born Zhang Sui , was a Chinese astronomer, mathematician, mechanical engineer, and Buddhist monk of the Tang Dynasty...
(683-727) and
Su SongSu Song was a renowned Chinese statesman, astronomer, cartographer, horologist, pharmacologist, mineralogist, zoologist, botanist, mechanical and architectural engineer, poet, antiquarian, and ambassador of the Song Dynasty .Su Song was the engineer of a water-driven astronomical clock tower in...
(1020-1101)—he associated all of them with the decadence of Mongol rule and had them destroyed. This was described in full length by the Divisional Director of the Ministry of Works, Xiao Xun, who also carefully preserved details on the architecture and layout of the Yuan Dynasty palace. Later, European Jesuits such as Matteo Ricci and
Nicolas TrigaultNicolas Trigault was a French Jesuit, and a missionary to China. He was also known by his latinised name Trigautius or Trigaultius, and his Chinese name Jīn Nígé .-Life and Work:...
would briefly mention indigenous Chinese clockworks that featured drive wheels. However, both Ricci and Trigault were quick to point out that 16th century European clockworks were far more advanced than the common time keeping devices in China, which they listed as
water clockA water clock or clepsydra is any timepiece in which time is measured by the regulated flow of liquid into or out from a vessel where the amount is then measured.Water clocks, along with sundials, are likely to be the oldest time-measuring instruments, with the only exceptions being...
s,
incense clockThe incense clock is a Chinese timekeeping device that appeared during the Song Dynasty and spread to neighboring countries such as Japan...
s, and "other instruments...with wheels rotated by sand as if by water." (Chinese: 沙漏) Chinese records—namely the
Yuan Shi (Chinese: 元史)—describe the 'five-wheeled sand clock', a mechanism pioneered by Zhan Xiyuan (fl. 1360-1380) which featured the scoop wheel of Su Song's earlier
astronomical clockAn astronomical clock is a clock with special mechanisms and dials to display astronomical information, such as the relative positions of the sun, moon, zodiacal constellations, and sometimes major planets.- Definition:...
and a
stationary dial faceA dial is generally a flat surface, circular or rectangular, with numbers or similar markings on it, used for displaying the setting or output of a timepiece, radio, clock, watch, or measuring instrument...
over which a pointer circulated, similar to European models of the time. This sand-driven wheel clock was improved upon by Zhou Shuxue (fl. 1530-1558) who added a fourth large gear wheel, changed gear ratios, and widened the orifice for collecting sand grains since he criticized the earlier model for clogging up too often.
The Chinese were intrigued with European technology, but so were visiting Europeans of Chinese technology. In 1584,
Abraham Orteliusthumb|180px|right|Abraham Ortelius.Abraham Ortelius was a Flemish cartographer and geographer, generally recognised as the creator of the first modern atlas.-Life:...
(1527-1598) featured in his atlas
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum the peculiar Chinese innovation of mounting masts and sails onto carriages, just like
Chinese shipsA junk is a Chinese sailboat design dating from ancient times and still in use today. Junks were originally developed during the Han Dynasty and were used as ocean going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They were further evolved in the later dynasties, and were built and used throughout...
.
Gonzales de MendozaJuan González de Mendoza was the author of the first Western history of China to publish Chinese characters for Western delectation. Published by him in 1586, Historia de las cosas más notables, ritos y costumbres del gran reyno de la China is an account of observations in China...
also mentioned this a year later—noting even the designs of them on Chinese silken robes—while
Gerardus Mercatorthumb|right|200px|Gerardus MercatorGerardus Mercator was a Flemish cartographer. He was born in Rupelmonde in the County of Flanders. He is remembered for the Mercator projection world map, which is named after him...
(1512-1594) featured them in his atlas,
John MiltonJohn Milton was an English poet, author, polemicist and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England. He is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost and for his treatise condemning censorship, Areopagitica....
(1608-1674) in one of his famous poems, and
Andreas Everardus van Braam HouckgeestAndreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest Dutch-American merchant who is mostly known for his participation in the last Dutch embassy to China under the tributary system.- Early career :...
(1739-1801) in the writings of his travel diary in China.
The encyclopedist
Song YingxingSong Yingxing , born in Yinchuan of Jiangxi, was a Chinese scientist and encyclopedist who lived during the late Ming Dynasty . He was the author of an encyclopedia that covered a wide variety of technical subjects, including the use of gunpowder weapons...
(1587-1666) documented a wide array of technologies, metallurgic and industrial processes in his
Tiangong Kaiwu (Chinese: 天工開物) encyclopedia of 1637. This includes mechanical and hydraulic powered devices for agriculture and irrigation, nautical technology such as vessel types and
snorkelingSnorkeling is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a wetsuit may also be worn...
gear for pearl divers,
[Song (1966), 171-172, 189, 196.] the annual processes of
sericultureSericulture, or silk farming, is the rearing of silkworms for the production of raw silk.Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, Bombyx mori is the most widely used and intensively studied. According to Confucian texts, the discovery of silk production by B...
and weaving with the
loomA loom is a machine or device for weaving thread or yarn into textiles. Looms can range from very small hand-held frames, to large free-standing hand looms, to huge automatic mechanical devices. The ancient Egyptians and Chinese used looms as early as 4000 BC.The basic purpose of any loom is to...
, metallurgic processes such as the
crucibleA crucible is a heat-resistant container in which materials can be heated to very high temperatures. The use of crucibles to manufacture Crucible steel, introduced in England in the eighteenth century, was an important part of the Industrial Revolution....
technique and
quenchA quench refers to a rapid cooling. In polymer chemistry and materials science, quenching is used to prevent low-temperature processes such as phase transformations from occurring by only providing a narrow window of time in which the reaction is both thermodynamically favorable and kinetically...
ing, manufacturing processes such as for roasting iron
pyriteThe mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS
2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold due to its resemblance to gold...
in converting sulphide to oxide in
sulfurSulfur or sulphur is the chemical element that has the atomic number 16. It is denoted with the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Sulfur, in its native form, is a yellow crystalline solid. In nature, it can be found as the pure element and as sulfide and sulfate minerals...
used in gunpowder compositions—illustrating how ore was piled up with coal briquettes in an earthen furnace with a still-head that sent over sulfur as vapor that would solidify and
crystallizeCrystallization is the process of formation of solid crystals precipitating from a solution, melt or more rarely deposited directly from a gas...
—and the use of gunpowder weapons such as a
naval mineA naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of or contact with an enemy ship...
ignited by use of a rip-cord and
steel flint wheelWheellock, wheel-lock or wheel lock, is a mechanism for firing a firearm. It was the next major development in firearms technology after the matchlock and the first self-igniting firearm. The mechanism is so-called because it uses a rotating steel wheel to provide ignition...
.
Focusing on agriculture in his
Nongzheng Quanshu, the agronomist
Xu GuangqiXu Guangqi , courtesy name Zixian , was a Chinese bureaucrat, agricultural scientist, astronomer, and mathematician in the Ming Dynasty. Xu was a colleague and collaborator of the Italian Jesuits Matteo Ricci and Sabatino de Ursis and they translated several classic Western texts into Chinese,...
(1562-1633) took an interest in irrigation, fertilizers, famine relief, economic and textile crops, and empirical observation of the elements that gave insight into early understandings of chemistry.
There were many advances and new designs in gunpowder weapons during the beginning of the dynasty, but by the mid to late Ming the Chinese began to frequently employ European-style artillery and firearms. The
HuolongjingThe Huolongjing is a 14th century military treatise that was compiled and edited by Jiao Yu and Liu Ji of the early Ming Dynasty in China...
, compiled by
Jiao YuJiao Yu was a Chinese military officer loyal to Zhu Yuanzhang , the founder of the Ming Dynasty . He was entrusted by Emperor Hongwu as a leading artillery officer for the rebel army that overthrew the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, and established the Ming Dynasty...
and Liu Ji sometime before the latter's death on May 16, 1375 (with a preface added by Jiao in 1412), featured many types of cutting-edge gunpowder weaponry for the time. This includes hollow, gunpowder-filled
exploding cannonballsRound shot is an obsolete solid projectile without explosive charge, fired from a cannon. As the name implies, round shot is spherical; its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the gun it is fired from.Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, but by the 17th century, from iron...
,
land mineA land mine is a target triggered explosive weapon. Their non-explosive predecessors have been used on the battlefield since ancient times. Landmines were designed to be used to deter, channel, delay and kill an enemy. They have been used in various formats, for centuries and have featured in all...
s that used a complex trigger mechanism of falling weights, pins, and a steel wheellock to ignite the train of fuses, naval mines, fin-mounted winged rockets for aerodynamic control,
multistage rocketA multistage rocket is a rocket that usestwo or more stages, each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A tandem or serial stage is mounted on top of another stage; a parallel stage is attached alongside another stage. The result is effectively two or more rockets stacked on top of...
s propelled by
booster rocketIn spaceflight, a booster may be:* An entire launch vehicle or "launcher" used to lift a spacecraft. Initially all boosters used for human spaceflight and most unmanned boosters used liquid propellant, at least for the core launch vehicle...
s before igniting a swarm of smaller rockets issuing forth from the end of the missile (shaped like a dragon's head), and hand cannons that had up to
ten barrelsA gun barrel is the tube, usually metal, through which a controlled explosion or rapid expansion of gases are released in order to propel a projectile out of the end at a high velocity....
.
Li ShizhenLi Shizhen , courtesy name Dongbi , was one of the greatest physicians and pharmacologists in Chinese history. His major contribution to medicine was his forty-year work, which is found in his epic book the Bencao Gangmu...
(1518-1593)—one of the most renowned
pharmacologistsPharmacology is the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and exogenous chemicals that alter normal biochemical function. If substances have medicinal properties, they are considered pharmaceuticals...
and physicians
in Chinese historyTraditional Chinese Medicine, also known as TCM , includes a range of traditional medical practices originating in China. Although well accepted in the mainstream of medical care throughout East Asia, it is considered an alternative medical system in much of the western world.TCM practices include...
—belonged to the late Ming period. In 1587, he completed the first draft of his
Bencao Gangmu, which detailed the usage of over 1,800 medicinal drugs. Although it purportedly was invented by a Daoist hermit from
Mount EmeiMount Emei is a mountain in Sichuan province of Western China. Mount Emei is often written as 峨眉山 and occasionally 峩嵋山 or 峩眉山 but all three are translated as Mount Emei or Mount Emeishan....
in the late 10th century, the process of
inoculationInoculation is the placement of something to where it will grow or reproduce, and is most commonly used in respect of the introduction of a serum, vaccine, or antigenic substance into the body of a human or animal, especially to produce or boost immunity to a specific disease; but also can be used...
for
smallpoxSmallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple"...
patients was in widespread use in China by the reign of the
Longqing EmperorThe Longqing Emperor was the 12th emperor of the Ming dynasty in China between 1567-1572. His era name means "Great celebration". Born Zhu Zaihou, he was the Jiajing Emperor's son...
(r. 1567-1572), long before it was applied anywhere else. In regards to
oral hygieneTeeth cleaning is the removal of dental plaque from teeth, to prevent cavities , gingivitis, and periodontitis. It is part of a complete program of oral hygiene.-Brushing:...
, the
ancient EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and...
ians had a primitive toothbrush of a twig frayed at the end, but the Chinese were the first to invent the modern
bristle toothbrushThe toothbrush is an instrument consisting of a small brush on a handle used to clean teeth through tooth brushing. Toothpaste, often containing fluoride, is commonly added to a toothbrush to aid in cleaning. Toothbrushes are offered with varying textures of bristles, and come in many different...
in 1498, although it used stiff pig hair.
Population
Sinologist historiansSinology in general use is the study of China and things related to China, but, especially in the American academic context, refers more strictly to the study of classical language and literature, and the philological approach...
still debate the actual population figures for each era in the Ming Dynasty. The historian Timothy Brook notes that the Ming government census figures are dubious since fiscal obligations prompted many families to underreport the number of people in their households and many county officials to underreport the number of households in their jurisdiction. Children were often underreported, especially female children, as shown by skewed population statistics throughout the Ming. Even adult women were underreported; for example, the Daming Prefecture in North Zhili reported a population of 378,167 males and 226,982 females in 1502. The government attempted to revise the census figures using estimates of the expected average number of people in each household, but this did not solve the widespread problem of tax registration.
The number of people counted in the census of 1381 was 59,873,305; however, this number dropped significantly when the government found that some 3 million people were missing from the tax census of 1391. Even though underreporting figures was made a capital crime in 1381, the need for survival pushed many to abandon the tax registration and wander from their region, where Hongwu had attempted to impose rigid immobility on the populace. The government tried to mitigate this by creating their own conservative estimate of 60,545,812 people in 1393. In his
Studies on the Population of China, Ho Ping-ti suggests revising the 1393 census to 65 million people, noting that large areas of North China and frontier areas were not counted in that census. Brook states that the population figures gathered in the official censuses after 1393 ranged between 51 and 62 million, while the population was in fact increasing. Even the
Hongzhi EmperorThe Hongzhi Emperor was emperor of the Ming dynasty in China between 1487 and 1505. Born Zhu Youtang, he was the son of the Chenghua Emperor and his reign as emperor of China is called the Hongzhi Silver Age. His era name means "Great government". He was a wise and peace-loving ruler. Hongzhi took...
(r. 1487-1505) remarked that the daily increase in subjects coincided with the daily dwindling amount of registered civilians and soldiers. William Atwell states that around 1400 the population of China was perhaps 90 million people, citing Heijdra and Mote.
Historians are now turning to local
gazetteerA gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or directory, an important reference for information about places and place names , used in conjunction with a map or a full atlas. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup of a country, region, or continent as well as the social...
s of Ming China for clues that would show consistent growth in population. Using the gazetteers, Brook estimates that the overall population under the
Chenghua EmperorThe Chenghua Emperor was Emperor of the Ming dynasty in China, between 1464 and 1487. His era name means "Accomplished change".-Childhood:...
(r. 1464-1487) was roughly 75 million, despite mid-Ming census figures hovering around 62 million. While prefectures across the empire in the mid-Ming period were reporting either a drop in or stagnant population size, local gazetteers reported massive amounts of incoming vagrant workers with not enough good cultivated land for them to till, so that many would become drifters, conmen, or wood-cutters that contributed to deforestation. The
HongzhiThe Hongzhi Emperor was emperor of the Ming dynasty in China between 1487 and 1505. Born Zhu Youtang, he was the son of the Chenghua Emperor and his reign as emperor of China is called the Hongzhi Silver Age. His era name means "Great government". He was a wise and peace-loving ruler. Hongzhi took...
and
ZhengdeThe Zhengde Emperor was emperor of China between 1505-1521. Born Zhu Houzhao, he was the Hongzhi Emperor's eldest son...
emperors lessened the penalties against those who had fled their home region, while the
Jiajing EmperorThe Jiajing Emperor was Emperor of China from 1521 to 1567, the 11th emperor of the Ming dynasty. Born Zhu Houcong, he was the Zhengde Emperor's cousin. His era name means "Admirable tranquility".-Early years:As the nephew of the Hongzhi Emperor, Jiaqing was not brought up to succeed to the throne...
(r. 1521-1567) finally had officials register migrants wherever they had moved or fled in order to bring in more revenues.
Even with Jiajing's reforms to document migrant workers and merchants, by the late Ming era the government census still did not accurately reflect the enormous growth in population. Gazetteers across the empire noted this and made their own estimations of the overall population in the Ming, some guessing that the population had doubled, tripled, or even grown fivefold since 1368. Fairbank estimates that the population was perhaps 160 million in the late Ming Dynasty, while Brook estimates 175 million, and Ebrey states perhaps as large as 200 million. However, a great epidemic that entered China through the northwest in 1641 ravaged the densely populated areas along the Grand Canal; a gazetteer in northern
ZhejiangZhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
noted more than half the population fell ill that year and that 90% of the local populace in one area was dead by 1642.
See also
- Kaifeng flood of 1642
- List of tributaries of Imperial China
- Luchuan-Pingmian Campaigns
In the middle of the fifteenth century Ming China began a series of four disastrous wars on its frontiers with Burma in Yunnan against Tai chieftainships....
- Ming Dynasty family tree
This is a family tree of Chinese emperors from 1279 to 1912, the third of three periods of 700 years, from the conquest of China by the Mongols to the end of the empire in 1912....
- Ming Dynasty military conquests
The Ming Dynasty military conquests were instrumental to its hold on power during the early stages of the Ming Dynasty.-Hongwu reign :...
- Ming official headwear
The headwear of a Han Chinese official during Ming Dynasty China consisted of a black hat with two wing-like flaps on each side called the wushamao...
- Southern Ming Dynasty
The Southern Ming Dynasty refers to the Ming loyalist regimes that existed in Southern China from 1644 to 1662 following the collapse of the Ming Dynasty and the capture of Beijing first by rebel armies led by Li Zicheng, and then by the forces of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty.On April 24, 1644, Li...
- Ye Chunji
Ye Chunji was a Chinese county official during the Ming Dynasty of China.-Life and career:He was a native of Guangdong province and served as a county official of Huian County in Fujian province...
(for further information on rural economics in the Ming)
- Zheng Zhilong
Zheng Zhilong also known as Nicholas Iquan Gaspard was a 17th century Chinese merchant, pirate and admiral for the Ming Empire. He was the father of Zheng Chenggong , also a military leader. Qing raised Zheng Count of second class...
- 1421 Hypothesis
- Kingdom of Tungning
The Kingdom of Tungning was a Han Chinese government which ruled Taiwan, between 1661 and 1683. It was a pro-Ming Dynasty kingdom, and was founded by Koxinga , after the destruction of Ming power by the Manchu...
Further reading
- Huang, Ray. (1982). 1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline. New Haven: Yale University Press.
- Source for "Fall of the Ming Dynasty":- Dupuy and Dupuy's "Collins Encyclopedia of Military History"
External links