1. Andrea Nebhut and McKayla Ramsey
Ming Empire
Andrea Nebhut and McKayla Ramsey

2. Establishment Founded by Zhu Yuanzang, who ruled as Hongwu
Former monk, soldier and bandit
Capital was placed at Nanjing on the Yangzi River

3. Changes from Yuan Changes made were more ideological than structural
Rejected culture of the Mongols
Closed off trade with Central Asia and the Middle East
Tried to reassert Confucianism
Attempted to switch from the use of paper money to silver coins

4. Continued from Yuan Employed Mongol translators
Yuan Provincial Structure
Hierarchal professional categories
The Mongol calendar

5. Yongle’s Coup Returned capital to Beijing The Forbidden City:
Enlarged and improved imperial complex Khubilai had built
The Forbidden City:
Central part of the complex
Had moats, outer vermilion walls, golden roofs, alabaster bridges
Intended to be a combination fortress, religious site, bureaucratic center and imperial residential part

6. Expeditions to SE Asia & Indian Ocean
Sponsored by the emperor Yongle
Under eunuch admiral Zheng He
He was Muslim, which allowed him to be an effective ambassador to the states of the Indian Subcontinent
Goals:
To reestablish trade links with Middle East
Bring SE Asian countries and their oversea Chinese populations under Chinese control or, at least, strongly under their influence.
He slaughtered community on Sumatra for resisting.

7. Expeditions Used routes that had been traveled before
Imported luxury goods
ex. exotic animals such as giraffes, which were a court favorite.
Added 50 countries to China’s tributaries resulting in sporadic embassies to Beijing

8. End of Zheng He voyages Did not use new technology
Much of it came from song period
Accomplish long-distance navigation before the Europeans
Should not be compared to European exporation
Undertaken only as a personal project of the Yongle Emperor
May have been to prove his worth
Ended due to:
Need to use limited resources for other projects.
Such as defense against:
Japanese pirates along coastline
Mongols from the north and west
Not the end of Chinese seafaring, but was the end of state’s organization and funding of such large-scale expeditions

9. Technology and Population
Less technologically innovation than the Song
This was especially true in agriculture
Mongols brought peace removing need to manufacture weapons
Metallurgy declined
Lost knowledge of how to make high-quality bronze and steel
Reasons for this:
High cost of metals and wood
Revival of civil service examination system
Rewarded scholarship and administration
Excess of laborers: pushed away commercial agriculture replacing it with staple crops
Lack of pressure from technologically sophisticated enemies
Fear of technology transfer
state to the people or china to foreign nations
Korea and Japan moved ahead of China in technological innovation
Korea: firearms, shipbuilding, meteorology, calendar making
Japan: mining, metallurgy, novel household goods

10. Ming Achievements
Period of great wealth consumerism and cultural brilliance
Developed vernacular novels:
Water Margin: Based on the raucous performances of the Yuan period
Romance of the Three Kingdoms: About a doomed war leader’s attempted to restore the Han empire
Known for:
Porcelain
was among the most prized commercial products of Eurasia promoted by Ming industrial organization
Furniture making
Lacquered screens
Silk