Download Hist 331: Civil War and Reconstruction (Fall 2001)

China:
1400-1800
China: 1400-1800
Introduction
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In 1400, China could justly claim to
be the most advanced and ancient
civilization on Earth
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It had been a continuous civilization
back to the Bronze Age
It had invented gunpowder, printing,
and people the world over sought
its goods—silk especially
It had absorbed many invaders
It also had a coherent social
philosophy—Confucianism—that
was 2000 years old and copied
throughout Asia
Hence, the Chinese image of
themselves, the “Middle Kingdom,”
had a strong basis in reality
So why was China poised in 1400
on the precipice of a great decline in
international power and prestige?
Zheng
He
China: 1400-1800
Ming Dynasty
 In 1400, China was ruled by the
Ming Dynasty
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In 1368, the Chinese had overthrown
the rule of the hated Mongols
 Hong Wu
The first Ming emperor
 Strengthened the peasantry through
land reform, but made occupations
hereditary
 Helped restore China’s status, but the
socio-economic order he established
set the stage for stagnation and
decline
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 There was a brief period under
Yongle when China embarked on
period of asserting its power abroad
through diplomatic and trade
missions
Hong Wu
(1368-1398)
Yongle (1402-1424)
The Ming emperor
that sponsored
Zheng He’s voyages
China: 1400-1800
Decline of the Ming Dynasty
 The Ming emperors that followed
Hong Wu and Yongle were not as
forceful or competent
They were increasingly inclined to
wallow in the luxury of the Forbidden
City, the emperor’s compound in
Beijing
 The emperor increasingly a pawn of
two rival groups of courtiers, who
fought between themselves for power
(eunuchs eventually won)
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 With the court distracted, Ming China
went into decline
Corruption became rampant
 Ming soldiers went unpaid and turned
outlaw
 Crop failures led to widespread
famine
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Mandarins:
imperial
bureaucrats
Court eunuchs:
manage the
Forbidden City
China: 1400-1800
Rise of the Qing (1)
 The collapse of the Ming Dynasty
was an opportunity for the Manchu
Manchu were last of a long series of
northern barbarians to invade and
takeover China
 Like all previous invaders, they
eventually were absorbed into Han
Chinese culture, although most Han
Chinese never totally accepted their
legitimacy
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 Mongol connection
The early Qing emperors saw
themselves as the successors to the
Mongol rulers of China
 They emphasized this source of
legitimacy by marrying Mongol
princesses
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Manchu archer
China: 1400-1800
Rise of the Qing (2)
 Yet the Qing, still had to reckon with
the much more numerous Han
Chinese in order to solidify their rule
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They reinforced their legitimacy by
not only increasingly adopting the
Chinese language and culture, but
also by appealing to long-standing
Han Chinese notions and institutions
 The Mandate of Heaven
The notion that the emperor has
divine authority to rule as long as his
rule is wise and just
 Qing propaganda suggested the Ming
had lost this mandate by their weak
rule and corruption
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 The Qing also reconstituted restored
the Mandarins to their traditional
place in the government
China: 1400-1800
Decline of the Qing
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Although the Qing Dynasty would
survive until the establishment of the
Chinese Republic in 1912, by
restoring the Mandarins they sowed
the seeds of their eventual
destruction
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Although the Mandarins were a
great force for stability they clung to
their Confucian ideology while the
nations of Europe began an
overseas expansion which would
eventually threaten China itself
China under the Qing, stubbornly
clung to the notion of their own
superiority
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No ministry of foreign affairs
Foreigners who wished to trade had
to visit China, kowtow, and pay for
their purchases in silver