Thursday, February 01, 2007

**Ming Dynasty** [1368–1644]

--MaP--
















--TeChNoLoGy/EcOnOmIc--
Ming dynasty was stable an
d prosperous; many new inventions were made during this period of time. One of the greatest medical works of ChinaBencao Gangmuwritten by Li Shizhen was created during the Ming dynasty. The improvement of porcelain, wood-cut and block printing are also beginning. Wood-cut and block printing are getting more popular and the main market for these art works are for people who moved in the cities from the country areas. There is more diversity in porcelain; blue and white porcelain became the normal form, and there are two or three colors used for each porcelain. During the Ming Dynasty, the wooden movable type of printing was refined and books were printed using the two-color printing process. This was a huge improvement and it shows how fast China was improving its printing technology. Ship building was also very advanced during the beginning of the Ming dynasty. At that time, China has the strongest and largest ships; 137 meters long with 12 sails and also an 11-meter long tiller. By the mid-Ming dynasty, the ships can already sail against the winds and steer in all directions.

During 1370 - 1398, China experienced an agricultural revolution. The Ming dynasty introduced the use of Champa rice from Southeast Asia and replaced the Chinese rice. The Champa rice was less nutritious than Chinese rice, but it produces much larger harvests and is easier to be grown. Crop rotation was also introduced to the farmers during the Ming dynasty. This helped the peasants a lot, because the fields can maintain in cultivation while the fertility is still present.

The third emperor of the Ming dynasty, Yung-lo began to sponsor naval expeditions and this increased the area of trade in China [Africa, East Asia, Southeast Asia, southern India, Persian Gulf, and Ceylon]. At this time, China became the greatest commercial naval power. Between the years 1405 to 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of 7 naval expeditions. Zheng He was placed as the leader for these voyages.


--SoCiAl ChAnGeS--
A great social
change was the development of novels; developed from the writings of Chinese storytellers. These writings are written in everyday language rather than the language of the nobility. These novels were also divided into chapters, so the storyteller can stop and collect money. During the Ming dynasty, the numbers of signs for the Chinese characters were also deducted from 540 and more signs to only 214 signs. There were also changes in costumes during the Ming dynasty. The buttons on the forepart replaced the use of band knots which were used for thousands of years. The popularity of Confucianism also effected the dressing style. The garment [jacket] became longer to shorten the length of the exposed skirt, and the collar changed from a symmetrical shape to the main circular type. Short embroidered capes worn over a woman's shoulder were also famous during the Ming dynasty. They are also called Rosy Cloud Cape, because the capes were as beautiful as rosy clouds.


--GoVeRnMeNt--
Hong Wu was the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. He was a peasant so when he became an emperor, he created laws which improved the lives of peasants. Hong Wu kept the land tax low and also kept the granaries stocked to guard against famine. Even though Hong Wu was nice and sympathetic to the peasants, he was harsh in organizing the government. Hong Wu eliminated the prime minister's office and secretariat. To control the highest officials at the court, the emperor set up the Brocade Guards. The Brocade Guards was a secret service with only people who Hong Wu trusted,

named the eunuchs. The Ming dynasty was most famous for the influence of eunuchs on political affairs. Most of the eunuchs came from poor families and now these eunuchs are educated. Hong Wu also wrote a set of codes of law for China, called the Ta-Ming lu. The Ta-Ming lu [immutable laws] is one of the most famous of Chinese code of laws. This law protected the slaves and also the free citizens; it also laid great emphasis on family relations. The Ta-Ming lu was mainly based on Confucianism and was one of the factors dominating the law of China until the end of the nineteenth century.



--ReLiGiOn/PhIlOsOpHy--
During the Ming dynasty, the dominant philosophy in China became the Neo-Confucianism. Neo-Confucianism was brought to be famous by Zhu-Xi. This philosophy said that there is an immaterial principle [li] that inhered in all things and gave to all things form and essence. This branch of Neo-Confucianism was called "The School of Principle." Another branch of Neo-Confucianism was "The School of Mind." This was founded by Ch'eng Hao and he also agreed that the material world was built from a single, immutable principle [li].

The Hong Wu emperor was a Buddhist monk in his early life, so after he became emperor, he was active in promoting native Chinese schools of Buddhism. Other than Buddhism, Hong Wu was also very interested in Taoism. He also wrote a commentary on the "Tao te Ching" in order to guide his followers. However, the Chia-ching emperor [1522-1566] was devoted to Taoism and he discouraged Buddhism in the capital. Because of his strong obsession towards Taosim, this allowed for the corrupt autocracy of his Grand Secretary. But, later in the year 1572 when Wan-li became emperor, Buddhism became the dominant religion again towards the end of the dynasty because this emperor was a devout Buddhism.

Islam had also affected some traditional Chinese cultures, especially in food preparation. But the Muslims and Chinese were many times in tension due to religion differences. The Islamic community was separated from the Chinese community and they lived in different villages apart from each other. Christianity was also introduced to China during the Ming dynasty by Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit missionary. Matteo Ricci was thoroughly educated in European science and mathematics, and he was fluent in Chinese. He highly influenced the Chinese government due to his wide range of knowledge about Chinese thought, and this allowed missionaries to enter China. By the end of Mind dynasty, there were over 150,000 Catholic Chinese and Jesuit missionaries.


--LeAdErS/CoNtEmPoRaRiEs--
The Hong Wu emperor [Zhu Yuan-Zhang] was the founder and the first emperor of the Ming dynasty . Hong Wu was born on October 21, 1328. He was born in a poor family and became an orphan at the age of 16. But despite his poor background, he later became the national rebel leader fighting against the Yuan dynasty. Hong Wu treated the peasants very well; he distributed lands and cut down taxes. Enslaved children who were sold by their parents during the Yuan dynasty were also bought back by Hong Wu's officials. Under the ruling system of Hong Wu, the prime minister's post was also abolished, and a new post called the "Grand Secretary" was set up. Hong Wu believed that agriculture should be a country's source of wealth and trade was not that important. After being an emperor for 30 years, Hong Wu died on June 24, 1398 having 24 sons.

Chong Zhen emperor [Zhu You-Jian] was born on February 6,

1611. He was the 16th and last emperor of the Ming dynasty between 1627 to 1644. Chong Zhen is the son of emperor Taichang and he grew up in a quiet environment. After becoming the emperor , Chong Zhen tried to rule by himself and tried his best to save his dynasty. But due to long years of internal corruptions, it was hard for him to appoint capable ministries to help him. Chong Zhen was also always suspicious towards his officials and if they were disloyal to him, he would impose harsh penalties. This led to a public uproar and there were hardly any generals who can defend Ming from the Manchus. Finally in the year 1644, the Manchus successfully broke through the Ming defense and occupied Beijing. Believing that his dynasty is going to be overthrown, Chong Zhen ordered every imperial household to commit suicide, except for his son. Chong Zhen himself also hanged himself and this ended the Ming dynasty.

Pachacuti Inca Yupangqui was the 9th Sapa Inca of the

kingdom of Cuzco, which he later made into an empire. Pachacuti expanded the Inca dominion from the valley of Cuzco to nearly the whole of civilized South America. Other than expanding his kingdom, Pachacuti also reorganized his empire and rebuilt the army. Pachacuti was not cruel to the people he conquered like some leaders would; but instead, he invited those people to become part of the Inca empire. Many of his conquered neighboring tribes were convinced by Pachacuti's idea about building a strong and unified empire, and this brought down the amount of bloodshed. About 2,500 miles of stone roads were also constructed under his reign. Pachacuti was considered the greatest Inca ruler.

Lorenzo de' Medici was the ruler of the Florentine Republic at

the age of 20 during the Italian Renaissance. He was known as Lorenzo the Magnificent. Lorenzo was born in a rich family who had a great fortune through banking and money-lending. He was a statesman and also strongly supports writers, artists, and scientists. Lorenzo treated artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo with respect and protected them. Lorenzo himself was an artist too; he wrote many poems, mostly about life. But despite his high achievement in art and learning, he was not as successful in the branch of business. During his time, several branches of banks collapsed due to bad loans and later, he had financial difficulties. On the night of April 9th, 1492, Lorenzo passed away peacefully.



--OtHeR--
-Encyclopedias and dictionaries were written containing important information from a variety of fields, such as geography, music, and medicine.

-The Ming dynasty built more parts of the Great Wall of China and completed the whole wall, which were even more stronger and elaborate than the older parts. These newly built walls allowed the Ming empire to defend themselves against the Manchus, but at the end, the Manchus still successfully crossed the Great Wall.
-The Qilin is a mythical oxen-hooved Chinese creature with a dragon like head covered with a pair of horns and flame on top, which is believed to bring rui [serenity or prosperity]. The Qilin was referred to since the Ming dynasty, when Zheng He came back from his expeditions to East Africa bringing back two giraffes. The emperor proclaimed that these two giraffes are magical creatures and it proved the greatness of his power.


--SuMmArY--
-
During the Ming dynasty, many developments were made and because the dynasty was so prosperous and stable, it allowed changes within the nation and also expeditions to the outer world.
-As we can see, changes in writings and novels were made during the Ming dynasty, and also changes in costume partly due to Confucianism.
-Hong Wu was a very generous emperor towards the peasants but in contrary, he didn't treat his officials that well and instead, eliminated many secretariats and set up the Brocade guards.
-As we can see, the Ming dynasty believed in a wide variety of religions and philosophies; including Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and later Catholic.
-During this era of time, nations were all seeking to expand their lands and territories and many of these leaders all became famous afterwards mainly because of their success in conquer and their generosity towards their citizens.



--TiMeLiNe--

1368 -- Ming dynasty - founded by Hong Wu
1403-1433 -- Voyages of Zheng He
1550 -- Renovation of the Great Wall of China completed
1581 -- Christian missionaries Matteo Ricci and Lazaro Cantteo visits China
1600 -- The Chinese empire became the largest nation in the world.
May 26, 1644 -- Fall of the Ming dynasty



--WoRkS CiTeD--

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“The Commercial Revolution.” World Civilizations. 06 June, 1999. 06 February, 2007. <http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MING/COMM.HTM>

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