1. Early Ming China: 1

2. China and the Ming Dynasty
Restoration of ethnic Chinese rule under the Ming Dynasty (after Yuan dynasty Mongol rule) ( )
Largest population of any civilization of the time
Renewed agricultural/commercial growth
Europeans use New World bullion to pay for goods
High degree of technology
Large numbers of skilled engineers and artisans
Centralized bureaucracy

4. China and the Ming Dynasty-Hongwu
Zhu Yuanzhang declares himself the Hongwu Emperor
First Ming Emperor
Hongwu=“Vast Military”
Wants to rid China of all traces of the “barbarian” Mongols
Mongol dress was discarded
Mongol names were dropped
Mongol palaces were destroyed

5. China and the Ming Dynasty-Hongwu
Return of the Scholar-Gentry
Somewhat suspicious of this class because of his Peasant upbringings
Scholars versed in Confucian classics were appointed to high positions in government
Civil Service Examination system was reinstated
Abolished the position of chief minister
Instituted Public beatings for bureaucrats found guilty of corruption and incompetence

6. China and the Ming Dynasty-Hongwu
Hongwu exiled all potential rivals to the throne to estates in the provinces
Forbade them to be involved in political affairs

7. China and the Ming Dynasty-Hongwu
Introduced measures to improve lives of peasants
Public works projects
Unoccupied land would become the tax-exempt property of those who cleared and cultivated it

8. China and the Ming Dynasty
Women: subordinate to men as per Confucianism.
Played role in Hongwu’s court
Hundreds/Thousands of women would wait at the palace to be seen by the emperor as one of his concubines
Status was defined as to their ability to bear male children

9. Ming China
Territory controlled was not as expansive as in the T’ang Dynasty
Commercial and Population boom began in the Song Dynasty was continued
Spanish and Portuguese mercantile contacts imports crops from the New World
From the Andes highlands
Maize, sweet potatoes, peanuts
Grown on inferior soil with little irrigation
Cultivation spread quickly through marginal areas

11. Ming China
Food crop importation is key to hedging famine amongst HUGE population growth

12. Ming China Commercial growth:
Advanced handicraft industries
Silk textiles
Tea
Fine ceramics
Balance of trade was VERY MUCH in China’s favor
Arab, Asian, and now European traders arrive at Macao and Canton
These are the only two places where Europeans were allowed to do business in Ming China

13. Ming China Merchants make lots of money in this trade
Taxes paid to scholar-gentry (bribes, too)
Merchants invested more in land
Ming prosperity was reflected in the fine arts
Development of Chinese literature (the Novel)

14. Ming China
Between 1405 and 1423 China launched a series of impressive expeditions at Sea
During Yunglo’s reign
Went to Southeast Asian kingdoms, Persia, southern Arabia, East Africa

15. Ming China Zhenghe’s expeditions
62 ships (4 for De Gama, 3 for Columbus)
28,000 sailors, merchants, soldiers
400 foot long, 190 foot wide ships
China had the capacity to expand at least a century before the Europeans rounded the Cape of Good Hope.

16. Zheng He

17. Ming China After 1400, China aims to LIMIT China’s overseas commerce
Ming war fleet dramatically declines
As the Chinese shut themselves in, the Europeans were irresistibly drawn to the Middle Kingdom for converts.
Some scholars show interest in Christianity, but never took a real hold on the court, or the people.

18. Ming China-Decline
Highly centralized, absolutist structure developed by Hongwu and continued by Yunglo could not be continued.
Official corruption
Isolation of weak rulers
Public works projects fall into disrepair.
Floods, droughts, famine afflict the land
Increased foreign threats, mostly by the Manchu
The last emperor of the Ming, Chongzhen, commits suicide as the walls of the Forbidden City are scaled by rebels…the Dynasty ends in 1644.

19. Elsewhere in Asia…

20. Korea, Mongols, and Koryo
Leaders initially resisted Mongol invasions but gave up in 1258 when king of Koryo surrendered and joined his family to the Mongols by marriage.
Koryo kings fell under the influence of the Mongols.

21. Profit
Korea profited from exchange with the Yuan in which new technologies were introduced. Some examples include:
Cotton
Astronomy
Gunpowder
Calendar making
Celestial clocks

22. Collapse and Rise Koryo collapsed shortly after the fall of the Yuan.
Replaced by Yi dynasty.
Yi reestablished local identity and restored the status of Confucian scholarship.
Maintained Mongol administrative practices and institutions.

23. Korean Military Technology
Patrol ships with mounted cannons
Gunpowder arrow-launchers
Armored ships