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Ming Dynasty
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Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
Great Ming
大明
←
1368–1644
→
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Ming China at its greatest extent under the reign of the Yongle Emperor
Capital
Nanjing
(1368–1421)
Beijing
(1421–1644)
Language(s)
Chinese
Religion
Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Chinese folk religion
Government
Monarchy
Emperor
- 1368–1398
Hongwu Emperor
- 1627–1644
Chongzhen Emperor
Chancellor
- 1402–1407
Xie Jin
- 1644
Wei Zaode
History
- Established in Nanjing
January 23, 1368
- Fall of Beijing to Li Zicheng
June 6, 1644
- End of the Southern Ming
April, 1662
Area
Ming Dynasty
2
[1]
6500000 km2 (2509664 sq mi)
- 1450
Population
- 1393 est.
72,700,000
- 1400 est.
65,000,000¹
- 1630 est.
192,510,000a[›]
- 1644 est.
152,470,000b[›]
Currency
Chinese cash, Chinese coin, Paper currency (later abolished)
Remnants of the Ming Dynasty ruled southern China until 1662, a dynastic period which is known as the Southern Ming.
¹The numbers are based on estimates made by CJ Peers in Late Imperial Chinese Armies: 1520–1840
Ming Dynasty
Chinese
明朝
Literal meaning
Ming Dynasty
Transcriptions
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin Míng Cháo
- Wade–Giles
Ming Ch'ao
Wu
- Romanization men zau
Cantonese
- IPA
mǐŋ tʂʰɑ̌ʊ̯
alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese
大明帝國
Simplified Chinese
大明帝国
Literal meaning
Empire of the Great Ming
Transcriptions
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin Dà Míng Dì Guó
- Wade–Giles
Ta Ming Ti Kuo
Wu
- Romanization da men di kueh/koh
The Ming Dynasty, or anachronistically referred to as Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China
from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of
orderly government and social stability in human history",[2] was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han
Chinese. Although the Ming capital Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng who established the Shun
Dynasty, which was soon replaced by the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, regimes loyal to the Ming throne (collectively
called the Southern Ming) survived until 1662.
Ming Dynasty
3
Ming rule saw the construction of a vast navy and a standing army of one million troops.[3] Although private
maritime trade and official tribute missions from China had taken place in previous dynasties, the tributary fleet
under the Muslim eunuch admiral Zheng He in the 15th century far surpassed all others in size. There were
enormous construction projects, including the restoration of the Grand Canal and the Great Wall and the
establishment of the Forbidden City in Beijing during the first quarter of the 15th century. Estimates for the
late-Ming population vary from 160 to 200 million.[4]
Emperor Hongwu (r. 1368–98) attempted to create a society of self-sufficient rural communities in a rigid, immobile
system that would have no need to engage with the commercial life and trade of urban centers. His rebuilding of
China's agricultural base and strengthening of communication routes through the militarized courier system had the
unintended effect of creating a vast agricultural surplus that could be sold at burgeoning markets located along
courier routes. Rural culture and commerce became influenced by urban trends. The upper echelons of society
embodied in the scholarly gentry class were also affected by this new consumption-based culture. In a departure
from tradition, merchant families began to produce examination candidates to become scholar-officials and adopted
cultural traits and practices typical of the gentry. Parallel to this trend involving social class and commercial
consumption were changes in social and political philosophy, bureaucracy and governmental institutions, and even
arts and literature.
By the 16th century the Ming economy was stimulated by trade with the Portuguese, the Spanish, and the Dutch.
China became involved in a new global trade of goods, plants, animals, and food crops known as the Columbian
Exchange. Trade with European powers and the Japanese brought in massive amounts of silver, which then replaced
copper and paper banknotes as the common medium of exchange in China. During the last decades of the Ming the
flow of silver into China was greatly diminished, thereby undermining state revenues and indeed the entire Ming
economy. This damage to the economy was compounded by the effects on agriculture of the incipient Little Ice Age,
natural calamities, crop failure, and sudden epidemics. The ensuing breakdown of authority and people's livelihoods
allowed rebel leaders such as Li Zicheng to challenge Ming authority.
History
Founding
Revolt and rebel rivalry
The Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) ruled before the establishment of
the Ming Dynasty. Alongside institutionalized ethnic discrimination against Han
Chinese that stirred resentment and rebellion, other explanations for the Yuan's
demise included overtaxing areas hard-hit by inflation, and massive flooding of
the Yellow River as a result of the abandonment of irrigation projects.[5]
Consequently, agriculture and the economy were in shambles and rebellion broke
out among the hundreds of thousands of peasants called upon to work on
repairing the dykes of the Yellow River.[5]
A cannon from the Huolongjing,
compiled by Jiao Yu and Liu Ji
before the latter's death in 1375.
A number of Han Chinese groups revolted, including the Red Turbans in 1351.
The Red Turbans were affiliated with the White Lotus, a Buddhist secret society.
Zhu Yuanzhang was a penniless peasant and Buddhist monk who joined the Red
Turbans in 1352, but soon gained a reputation after marrying the foster daughter
of a rebel commander.[6] In 1356, Zhu's rebel force captured the city of
Nanjing,[7] which he would later establish as the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
Ming Dynasty
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With the Yuan Dynasty crumbling, competing rebel groups began fighting for control of the country and thus the
right to establish a new dynasty. In 1363, Zhu Yuanzhang eliminated his arch rival and leader of the rebel Han
faction Chen Youliang in the Battle of Lake Poyang, arguably the largest naval battle in history. Known for its
ambitious use of fire ships, Zhu's force of 200,000 Ming sailors were able to defeat a Han rebel force over triple their
size, claimed to be 650,000-strong. The victory destroyed the last opposing rebel faction, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang in
uncontested control of the bountiful Yangtze River Valley and cementing his power in the south. After the dynastic
head of the Red Turbans suspiciously died in 1367 while a guest of Zhu, no one remotely capable of contesting his
march to the throne, and he made his imperial ambitions known by sending an army toward the Yuan capital Dadu
(present-day Beijing) in 1368.[8] The last Yuan emperor fled north to Shangdu and Zhu declared the founding of the
Ming Dynasty after razing the Yuan palaces in Dadu to the ground;[8] the city was renamed Beiping in the same
year.[9] Zhu Yuanzhang took Hongwu, or 'Vastly Martial,' as his reign title.
Reign of the Hongwu Emperor
Hongwu made an immediate effort to rebuild state infrastructure. He built a 48 km (30 mile) long wall around
Nanjing, as well as new palaces and government halls.[8] The History of Ming states that as early as 1364 Zhu
Yuanzhang had begun drafting a new Confucian law code, the Da Ming Lü, which was completed by 1397 and
repeated certain clauses found in the old Tang Code of 653.[10] Hongwu organized a military system known as the
weisuo, which was similar to the fubing system of the Tang Dynasty (618–907).
In 1380 Hongwu had the Chancellor Hu Weiyong (胡惟庸) executed upon
suspicion of a conspiracy plot to overthrow him; after that Hongwu abolished the
Chancellery and assumed this role as chief executive and emperor, a precedent
mostly followed throughout the Ming period.[11] [12] With a growing suspicion of
his ministers and subjects, Hongwu established the Jinyi Wei, a network of secret
police drawn from his own palace guard. They were partly responsible for the
loss of 100,000 lives in several purges over three decades of his rule.[11] [13] For
details of the many Ming policies laid down by the Hongwu Emperor, see
History of the Ming Dynasty and Hongwu Emperor.
Portrait of the Hongwu Emperor (r.
1368–98)
Ming Dynasty
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South-Western Frontier
In Qinghai, the Salar Muslims voluntarily came under Ming rule, their
clan leaders capitulating around 1370. Uyghur troops under Uyghur
general Hala Bashi suppressed the Miao Rebellions of the 1370s and
settled in Changde, Hunan.[14] Hui Muslim troops also settled in
Changde, Hunan after serving the Ming in campaigns against other
aboriginal tribes.[15] In 1381, the Ming Dynasty annexed the areas of
the southwest that had once been part of the Kingdom of Dali
following the successful effort by Hui Muslim Ming armies to defeat
The old south gate of the ancient city of Dali,
Yuan-loyalist
Mongol and Hui Muslim troops holding out in Yunnan
Yunnan
province (see Ming conquest of Yunnan). The Hui troops under
General Mu Ying, who was appointed Governor of Yunnan, were resettled in the region as part of a colonization
effort.[16] By the end of the 14th century, some 200,000 military colonists settled some 2,000,000 mu (350,000 acres)
of land in what is now Yunnan and Guizhou. Roughly half a million more Chinese settlers came in later periods;
these migrations caused a major shift in the ethnic make-up of the region, since formerly more than half of the
population were non-Han peoples. Resentment over such massive changes in population and the resulting
government presence and policies sparked more Miao and Yao revolts in 1464 to 1466, which were crushed by an
army of 30,000 Ming troops (including 1,000 Mongols) joining the 160,000 local Guangxi. After the scholar and
philosopher Wang Yangming (1472–1529) suppressed another rebellion in the region, he advocated single, unitary
administration of Chinese and indigenous ethnic groups in order to bring about sinification of the local peoples.[17]
Relations with Tibet
Scholarship outside China generally regards Tibet as having been independent
during the Ming Dynasty, whereas historians in China today take an opposing
point of view. The Mingshi — the official history of the Ming Dynasty compiled
later by the Qing Dynasty in 1739 — states that the Ming established itinerant
commanderies overseeing Tibetan administration while also renewing titles of
ex-Yuan Dynasty officials from Tibet and conferring new princely titles on
leaders of Tibet's Buddhist sects.[20] However, Turrell V. Wylie states that
censorship in the Mingshi in favor of bolstering the Ming emperor's prestige and
reputation at all costs obfuscates the nuanced history of Sino-Tibetan relations
during the Ming era.[21]
Modern scholars still debate on whether or not the Ming Dynasty really had
sovereignty over Tibet at all, as some believe it was a relationship of loose
suzerainty which was largely cut off when the Jiajing Emperor (r. 1521–67)
persecuted Buddhism in favor of Daoism at court [21] [22] [23] and some scholars
argue that the significant religious nature of the relationship of the Ming court
with Tibetan lamas is underrepresented in modern scholarship.[24] [25] Others
underscore the commercial aspect of the relationship, noting the Ming Dynasty's
insufficient amount of horses and the need to maintain the tea-horse trade with
Tibet.[26] [27] [28] [29] [30]
A 17th century Tibetan thangka of
Guhyasamaja Akshobhyavajra; the
Ming Dynasty court gathered various
tribute items which were native
products of Tibet (such as
[18]
thangkas),
and in return granted
[19]
gifts to Tibetan tribute-bearers.
The Ming initiated sporadic armed intervention in Tibet during the 14th century, while at times the Tibetans also
used successful armed resistance against Ming forays.[31] [32] Patricia Ebrey, Thomas Laird, Wang Jiawei, and
Nyima Gyaincain all point out that the Ming Dynasty did not garrison permanent troops in Tibet,[33] [34] [35] unlike
the former Mongol Yuan Dynasty.[33] The Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–620) made attempts to reestablish Sino-Tibetan
Ming Dynasty
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relations in the wake of a Mongol-Tibetan alliance initiated in 1578, the latter of which affected the foreign policy of
the subsequent Manchu Qing Dynasty (1644–912) of China in their support for the Dalai Lama of the Yellow Hat
sect.[21] [36] [37] [38] [39] By the late 16th century, the Mongols proved to be successful armed protectors of the
Yellow Hat Dalai Lama after their increasing presence in the Amdo region, culminating in Güshi Khan's (1582–655)
conquest of Tibet in 1642.[21] [40] [41] [42]
Reign of the Yongle Emperor
Rise to power
The Hongwu Emperor specified his grandson Zhu Yunwen as his successor, and
he assumed the throne as the Jianwen Emperor (1398–1402) after Hongwu's
death in 1398. The most powerful of Hongwu's sons, Zhu Di, then the militarily
mighty Prince of Yan disagreed with this, and soon a political showdown erupted
between him and his nephew Jianwen.[43] After Jianwen arrested many of Zhu
Di's associates, Zhu Di plotted a rebellion, a rebellion that sparked a three
year-civil war. Under the guise of rescuing the young Jianwen from corrupting
officials, Zhu Di personally led forces in the revolt; the palace in Nanjing was
burned to the ground, along with Jianwen himself, his wife, mother, and
courtiers. Zhu Di assumed the throne as the Yongle Emperor (1402–1424); his
reign is universally viewed by scholars as a "second founding" of the Ming
Dynasty since he reversed many of his father's policies.[44]
Portrait of the Yongle Emperor (r.
1402–24)
New capital and foreign engagement
Yongle demoted Nanjing to a secondary capital and in 1403 announced the new capital of China was to be at his
power base in Beijing. Construction of a new city there lasted from 1407 to 1420, employing hundreds of thousands
of workers daily.[45] At the center was the political node of the Imperial City, and at the center of this was the
Forbidden City, the palatial residence of the emperor and his family. By 1553, the Outer City was added to the south,
which brought the overall size of Beijing to 4 by 4½ miles.[46]
Yongle also used Zheng He's treasure fleet to expand China's tributary
trade system farther afield than ever before, used woodblock printing
to spread Chinese culture, and used the military (especially cavalry) to
expand China's borders north into Manchuria and south into Vietnam.
The Ming Dynasty Tombs located 50 km (31
miles) north of Beijing; the site was chosen by
Yongle.
Ming Dynasty
7
Treasure fleet
Beginning in 1405, the Yongle Emperor entrusted his favored eunuch
commander Zheng He (1371–1433) as the admiral for a gigantic new fleet of
ships designated for international tributary missions. The Chinese had sent
diplomatic missions over land and west since the Han Dynasty (202 BCE – 220
CE) and had been engaged in private overseas trade leading all the way to East
Africa for centuries — culminating in the Song and Yuan dynasties — but no
government-sponsored tributary mission of this grandeur and size had ever been
assembled before. To service seven different tributary missions abroad, the
Nanjing shipyards constructed two thousand vessels from 1403 to 1419, which
included the large treasure ships that measured 112 m (370 ft) to 134 m (440 ft)
in length and 45 m (150 ft) to 54 m (180 ft) in width.[47]
A giraffe brought from the Ajuuraan
Empire in the Horn of Africa, during
the 12th year of Yongle (1414); the
Chinese associated the giraffe with
the mythical qilin.
Tumu Crisis and the Ming Mongols
The Oirat Mongol leader Esen Tayisi launched an invasion into Ming
China in July of 1449. The chief eunuch Wang Zhen encouraged
Emperor Zhengtong (r. 1435–49) to personally lead a force to face the
Mongols after a recent Ming defeat; marching off with 50,000 troops,
Zhengtong left the capital and put his half-brother Zhu Qiyu in charge
of affairs as temporary regent. On September 8, Esen routed
Zhengtong's army, and Zhengtong was captured — an event known as
the Tumu Crisis.[48] The Mongols held the Zhengtong Emperor for
ransom. However, this scheme was foiled once Zhengtong's younger
The Great Wall of China; although the rammed
brother assumed the throne as the Jingtai Emperor (r. 1449–57); the
earth walls of the ancient Warring States were
Mongols were also repelled once Jingtai's confidant and defense
combined into a unified wall under the Qin and
minister Yu Qian (1398–457) gained control of the Ming armed forces.
Han dynasties, the vast majority of the brick and
stone Great Wall as it is seen today is a product
Holding Zhengtong in captivity was a useless bargaining chip for the
of the Ming Dynasty.
Mongols as long as another sat on his throne, so they released him
back into Ming China.[48] Zhengtong was placed under house arrest in
the palace until the coup against Jingtai in 1457 known as the "Wresting the Gate Incident".[49] Zhengtong retook the
throne as the Tianshun Emperor (r. 1457–64).
Once Zhengtong regained the throne, his new reign as Tianshun proved to be a troubled one and Mongol forces
within the Ming military structure continued to be problematic. On August 7, 1461, the Chinese general Cao Qin and
his Ming troops of Mongol descent staged a coup against Tianshun out of fear of being next on his purge-list of those
who aided Jingtai's succession.[50] Cao's rebel force managed to set fire to the western and eastern gates of the
Imperial City (doused by rain during the battle) and killed several leading ministers before his forces were finally
cornered and he was forced to commit suicide.[51]
While the Yongle Emperor had staged five major offensives north of the Great Wall against the Mongols, the
constant threat of Mongol incursions prompted the Ming authorities to fortify the Great Wall from the late 15th
century to the 16th century; nevertheless, John Fairbank notes that "it proved to be a futile military gesture but
Ming Dynasty
8
vividly expressed China's siege mentality."[52] Yet the Great Wall was not meant to be a purely defensive
fortification; its towers functioned rather as a series of lit beacons and signalling stations to allow rapid warning to
friendly units of advancing enemy troops.[53]
Decline and Fall of the Ming Dynasty
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 Emperor (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 Juzheng (in office from 1572 to 82) 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;[54] 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.[55]
Scholar-officials lost prominence in administration as eunuchs became
Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620)
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.[56]
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 during Yongle's reign 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.[46] Although
there were several dictatorial eunuchs throughout the Ming, such as
Wang Zhen, Wang Zhi, and Liu Jin, excessive tyrannical eunuch
power did not become evident until the 1590s, when the Wanli
Emperor increased their rights over the civil bureaucracy and granted
them power to collect provincial taxes.[57] [56] [58]
Tianqi era teacups, from the Nantoyōsō
Collection in Japan; the Tianqi Emperor was
heavily influenced and largely controlled by the
eunuch Wei Zhongxian (1568–627).
The eunuch Wei Zhongxian (1568–1627) dominated the court of the Tianqi Emperor (r. 1620–1627) and had his
political rivals tortured to death, mostly the vocal critics from the faction of the Donglin Society. 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 belittling his political opponents.[59] The instability at court came right as
natural calamity, pestilence, rebellion, and foreign invasion came to a peak. Although the Chongzhen Emperor (r.
1627–44) 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.
Ming Dynasty
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.
Philip IV of Spain (r. 1621–65) began cracking down on illegal
smuggling of silver from Mexico and Peru across the Pacific towards
China, in favor of shipping American-mined silver directly from Spain
to Manila. In 1639, the new Tokugawa 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. These events occurring at
Spring morning in a Han palace, by Qiu Ying
roughly the same time caused a dramatic spike in the value of silver
(1494–1552); excessive luxury and decadence
and made paying taxes nearly impossible for most provinces. People
were hallmarks of the late Ming period, spurred
began hoarding precious silver as there was progressively less of it,
by the enormous state bullion of incoming silver
forcing
the ratio of the value of copper to silver into a steep decline. In
and private transactions involving silver.
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.[60] For peasants this was an economic disaster, since they paid taxes in silver while conducting local trade
and selling their crops with copper coins.[61]
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 Age.[62] 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.[62] 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.[63] The deadliest earthquake of all
times, the Shaanxi earthquake of 1556 that killed approximately 830,000 people, occurred during the Jiajing
Emperor's reign.[64]
9
Ming Dynasty
Rise of the Manchu
A Jurchen tribal leader named Nurhaci (r. 1616–26), starting with just a small
tribe, rapidly gained control over all the Manchurian tribes. During the Japanese
invasions of Korea (1592–1598), he offered to lead his tribes in support of the
Ming and Joseon 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 united all of the adjacent northern tribes and consolidated power
in the region surrounding his homeland as the Jurchen-led Jin Dynasty
(1115-1234 had done previously. [65] 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.
By 1636, the Nurhaci's son Huang Taiji renamed his dynasty from the "Later Jin"
Shanhaiguan along the Great Wall,
the gate where the Manchus were
to "Great Qing" at Shenyang, which had fallen to Qing forces in 1621 and was
[66] [67]
repeatedly repelled before being
made their capital in 1625.
Huang Taiji also adopted the Chinese imperial
finally let through by Wu Sangui in
title huangdi, took the reign title Chongde ("Revering Virtue"), and changed the
1644.
ethnic name of his people from Jurchen to Manchu.[67] [68] 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.[68]
Rebellion, invasion, collapse
A peasant soldier named Li Zicheng (1606–45) mutinied with his fellow soldiers
in western Shaanxi in the early 1630s after the Ming government failed to ship
much-needed supplies there.[62] In 1634 he was captured by a Ming general and
released only on the terms that he return to service.[69] 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 Henan province by 1635.[70] By the 1640s, an ex-soldier and
rival to Li — Zhang Xianzhong (1606–47) — had created a firm rebel base in
Chengdu, Sichuan, while Li's center of power was in Hubei with extended
influence over Shaanxi and Henan.[70]
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 Shunzhi Emperor (1644–61),
the provinces, essentially fell apart. Unpaid and unfed, the army was defeated by
proclaimed the ruler of China on
Li Zicheng — now self-styled as the Prince of Shun — and deserted the capital
October 8, 1644.
[71]
without much of a fight.
On May 26, 1644, Beijing fell to a rebel army led by
Li Zicheng when the city gates were treacherously opened from within.[71] ;
during the turmoil, the last Ming emperor hanged himself on a tree in the imperial garden outside the Forbidden
City.[71]
Seizing opportunity, the Manchus crossed the Great Wall after the Ming border general Wu Sangui (1612–1678)
opened the gates at Shanhai Pass. 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.[72] The
10
Ming Dynasty
11
Manchu army under the Manchu Prince Dorgon (1612–50) 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 Emperor ruler of China. After being forced
out of Xi'an by the Manchus, chased along the Han River to Wuchang, and finally along the northern border of
Jiangxi province, Li Zicheng died there in the summer of 1645, thus ending the Shun Dynasty. 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.[73]
Scattered Ming remnants held out after 1644, including that of Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong) on Taiwan (Formosa).
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 China.
Government
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).[74] However, after the Jurchen
invasion in 1127, the Song court established four semi-autonomous
regional command systems based on territorial and military units, with
Processional figurines from the Shanghai tomb of
a detached service secretariat that would become the provincial
Pan Yongzheng, a Ming Dynasty official who
administrations of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.[75] Copied on
lived during the 16th century
the Yuan model, the Ming provincial bureaucracy contained three
commissions: one civil, one military, and one for surveillance. Below the level of the province (sheng 省) were
prefectures (fu 府) operating under a prefect (zhifu 知府), followed by subprefectures (zhou 州) under a subprefect.
The lowest unit was the county (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.[76]
Institutions and bureaus
Institutional trends
Departing from the main central administrative system generally
known as the Three Departments and Six Ministries system, which was
instituted by various dynasties since late Han (202 BCE – 220 CE), the
Ming administration had only one Department, the Secretariat, that
controlled the Six Ministries. Following the execution of the
Chancellor Hu Weiyong in 1380, emperor Hongwu abolished the
Secretariat, the Censorate, and the Chief Military Commission and
personally took charge of the Six Ministries and the regional Five
Military Commissions.[77] [78] Thus a whole level of administration
was cut out and only partially rebuilt by subsequent rulers.[77] The
Grand Secretariat, at the beginning a secretarial institution that assisted
The Forbidden City, the official imperial
household of the Ming and Qing dynasties from
1420 until 1924, when the Republic of China
evicted Puyi from the Inner Court.
Ming Dynasty
the emperor with administrative paperwork, was instituted, but without employing grand counselors, or chancellors.
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.[79] 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.[79] [80]
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.[81] >
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 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 Emperor (r. 1424–5).[82] The
Grand Secretariat drew its members from the Hanlin Academy and were
considered part of the imperial authority, not the ministerial one (hence being at
odds with both the emperor and ministers at times).[83] The Secretariat was a
A portrait of the official Jiang
coordinating agency, whereas the Six Ministries—which were Personnel,
Shunfu (1453–1504), now in the
Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, and Public Works—were direct administrative
Nanjing Museum. The decoration of
organs of the state.[84] The Ministry of Personnel was in charge of appointments,
two cranes on his chest is a "rank
badge" that indicates he was a civil
merit ratings, promotions, and demotions of officials, as well as granting of
official of the first rank.
honorific titles.[85] 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.[86] 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.[87] 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.[88] 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.[89] 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.[89]
12
Ming Dynasty
Bureaus and offices for the imperial household
The imperial household was staffed almost entirely by eunuchs and
ladies with their own bureaus.[90] 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.[90] Starting in the 1420s,
Ming coinage, 14–17th century
eunuchs began taking over these ladies' positions until only the Bureau
of Apparel with its four subsidiary offices remained.[90] 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.[90] 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.[91] The offices were in charge of providing fuel, music, paper, and
baths.[91] The bureaus were in charge of weapons, silverwork, laundering, headgear, bronzework, textile
manufacture, wineries, and gardens.[91] At times, the most influential eunuch in the Directorate of Ceremonial acted
as a de facto dictator over the state.[92]
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.[93]
There were also civil service offices to oversee the affairs of imperial princes.[94]
Personnel
Scholar-officials
After the reign of Hongwu—who from 1373 to 84 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 Dynasty (581–618).[96]
[97] [98]
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.[99] This was an effort to curb monopolization of power by landholding
Candidates who had taken the civil
gentry who came from the most prosperous regions, where education was the
service examinations would crowd
most advanced.[100] The expansion of the printing industry since Song times
around the wall where the results
enhanced the spread of knowledge and number of potential exam candidates
were posted; detail from a handscroll
throughout the provinces.[101] For young schoolchildren there were printed
in ink and color on silk, by Qiu Ying
[95]
(1494–552).
multiplication tables and primers for elementary vocabulary; for adult
examination candidates there were mass-produced, inexpensive volumes of
Confucian classics and successful examination answers.[102]
As in earlier periods, the focus of the examination was classical Confucian texts,[96] while the bulk of test material
centered on the Four Books outlined by Zhu Xi in the 12th century.[103] Ming era examinations were perhaps more
difficult to pass since the 1487 requirement of completing the "eight-legged essay", a departure from basing essays
off progressing literary trends.[104] [103] The exams increased in difficulty as the student progressed from the local
13
Ming Dynasty
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.[105] 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.[106] [107] In 276 years of Ming rule and ninety palace
examinations, the number of doctoral degrees granted by passing the palace examinations was 24,874.[106] 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."[99] This was in comparison to the 100,000 shengyuan ('government students'), the lowest tier of
graduates, by the 16th century.[99]
The maximum tenure in office was nine years, but every three years officials were graded on their performance by
senior officials.[108] 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.[80] 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.[109] 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.[94]
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
The Xuande Emperor playing chuiwan with his
confused with lowly lictors, runners, and bearers; lesser functionaries
eunuchs, a game similar to golf, by an
were given periodic merit evaluations like officials and after nine years
anonymous court painter of the Xuande period
[110]
of service might be accepted into a low civil service rank.
The one
(1425–35).
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.[111]
14
Ming Dynasty
15
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.[91] Eunuchs had ranks that were equivalent to civil service
ranks, only theirs had four grades instead of nine.[112]
Detail of The Emperor's Approach showing
the Wanli Emperor's royal carriage being
pulled by elephants and escorted by cavalry
(full panoramic painting here)
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.[113] 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
genealogy.[94]
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).[114] 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).[114] [115] 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.[116] 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.[117]
Society and culture
Literature and arts
As in earlier dynasties, the Ming Dynasty saw a flourishing in the arts,
whether it was painting, poetry, music, literature, or dramatic theater.
Carved designs in lacquerwares and designs glazed onto porcelain
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 jade, ivory, and cloisonné.
The houses of the rich were also furnished with rosewood furniture and
feathery latticework. 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.[118]
Connoisseurship in the late Ming period centered around these items of
refined artistic taste, which provided work for art dealers and even
A Ming Dynasty red lacquer box with intricate
carving of people in the countryside, surrounded
by a floral border design.
Ming Dynasty
underground scammers who made phony imitations of originals and false attributions to works of art.[118] This was
noted even by the Jesuit Matteo Ricci while staying in Nanjing, writing that Chinese scam artists were ingenious
when it came to making forgeries of artwork and made huge profits.[119] However, there were guides to help the
wary new connoisseur; in Liu Tong's (d. 1637) book printed in 1635, he told his readers various ways to spot a fake
and authentic pieces of art.[120] He revealed that a Xuande era (1426–35) bronzework could be authenticated if one
knew how to judge its sheen; porcelain wares from the Yongle era (1402–24) could be judged authentic by their
thickness.[121]
There was a great amount of literary achievement in the Ming Dynasty.
Xu Xiake (1587–641), a travel literature author, published his Travel
Diaries in 404,000 written characters, with information on everything
from local geography to mineralogy.[122] [123] The first reference to the
publishing of private newspapers in Beijing was in 1582; by 1638 the
Beijing Gazette switched from using woodblock print to movable type
printing.[124] 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.[125] Although short story fiction was popular as far
back as the Tang Dynasty (618–907),[126] 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
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 Chinese.[127] The Jin Ping Mei, published in 1610, is
considered by some to be the fifth great novel of pre-modern China, in
reference to the Four Great Classical Novels. Two of these novels, the
Water Margin and Journey to the West were products of the Ming
Dynasty. To complement the work of novels, the theater scripts of
Lofty Mount Lu, by Shen Zhou, 1467.
playwrights were equally imaginative. One of the most famous plays in
Chinese history, The Peony Pavilion, was written by the Ming
playwright Tang Xianzu (1550–616), with its first performance at the Pavilion of Prince Teng in 1598.
In contrast to Xu Xiake, who focused on technical aspects in his travel literature, the Chinese poet and official Yuan
Hongdao (1568–610) used travel literature to express his desires for individualism as well as autonomy from and
frustration with Confucian court politics.[128] 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 Shi (1037–1101).[129] Yuan
Hongdao and his two brothers, Yuan Zongdao (1560–1600) and Yuan Zhongdao (1570–623), were the founders of
the Gong'an School of letters.[130] 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.[130] 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.[131]
16
Ming Dynasty
17
There were many famous visual artists in the Ming period, including
Ni Zan, Shen Zhou, Tang Yin, Wen Zhengming, Qiu Ying, Dong
Qichang, 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 prices 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.[132]
Painting of flowers, a butterfly, and rock
sculpture by Chen Hongshou (1598–652); small
leaf album paintings like this one first became
popular in the Song Dynasty.
Beyond painters, some potters also became renowned for their artwork,
such as He Chaozong in the early 17th century for his style of white
porcelain sculpture. The major production centers for porcelain items
in the Ming Dynasty were Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province and Dehua in Fujian province. The Dehua porcelain
factories catered to European tastes by creating Chinese export porcelain 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.[133]
Religion
The dominant religious beliefs during the Ming dynasty were the traditional
mixtures of ancestor worship, Daoism and Buddhism. The Chinese believed in a
host of deities in what may be termed Chinese folk religion.
The late Ming period saw the first arrival of Jesuit missionaries from Europe
such as Matteo Ricci and Nicolas Trigault. There were also other denominations
including the Dominicans and Franciscans.
Ricci worked with the Chinese mathematician, astronomer, and agronomist Xu
Guangqi to translate the Greek mathematical work Euclid's Elements 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.[134] However, most Chinese were suspicious and even outright critical
Chinese glazed stoneware statue of a
Daoist deity, from the Ming Dynasty,
of Christianity due to Chinese beliefs and practices that did not coincide with the
16th century.
Christian faith.[134] The highpoint of this contention was the Nanjing Religious
Incident of 1616–22, 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.[135]
Besides Christianity, the Kaifeng Jews 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 China.[136] Islam in China had existed since the early 7th
century during the Tang Dynasty; during the Ming Dynasty there were several prominent figures—including Zheng
He—who was Muslim. The Hongwu Emperor also employed Muslim commanders in his army, such as Chang
Ming Dynasty
Yuqun, Lan Yu, Ding Dexing, and Mu Ying.[137]
Philosophy
Wang Yangming's Confucianism
During the Ming Dynasty, the doctrines of the Song Dynasty scholar-official Zhu
Xi (1130–1200) and Neo-Confucianism 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 Shi (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
Yangming (1472–1529), whose critics said that his teachings were contaminated
by Chan Buddhism.[138]
In analyzing Zhu Xi's concept of "the extension of knowledge" (i.e. gaining
Wang Yangming (1472–1529),
considered the most influential
understanding through careful and rational investigation of things and events;
Confucian
thinker since Zhu Xi.
Chinese: 理學, or 格物致知), Wang realized that universal principles were
[139]
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
Confucius and Mencius, and that the writings of the latter two were not the source of truth, but merely guides that
could have flaws if carefully examined.[140] 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.[140]
Conservative reaction
Conservative Confucian officials were wary of Wang's philosophical
interpretation of the Confucian classics, the increasing number of his
disciples while still in office, and his overall socially rebellious
message.[138] To curb his political influence he was often sent out to
deal with military affairs and rebellions far away from the capital.[138]
Yet his ideas penetrated mainstream Chinese thought, and spurred new
interest in Daoism and Buddhism.[138] Furthermore, people began to
question the validity of the social hierarchy and the idea that the
scholar was above the farmer.[138] 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.[138] His contemporary Li Zhi 李贄 (1527–1602) even
A Ming Dynasty print drawing of Confucius on
taught that women were the intellectual equals of men and should be
his way to the Zhou Dynasty capital of Luoyang.
given a better education; both Li and He eventually died in prison,
jailed on charges of spreading "dangerous ideas".[141] Yet these "dangerous ideas" of educating women had long
been embraced with mothers giving their children primary education,[142] as well as courtesans who were as literate
and similarly trained in calligraphy, painting, and poetry as their male hosts.[143]
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
18
Ming Dynasty
the senior officials of the Donglin Academy, which was reestablished in 1604.[144] 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.[144] These two strands of Confucian thought created factionalism amongst
ministers of state, who—like the old days of Wang Anshi and Sima Guang in the Song Dynasty—used any
opportunity to impeach members of the other faction from court.[144]
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.[145] Jonathan Spence 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: 士農工商), since artisans sometimes worked on farms in peak periods and farmers often
traveled into the city to find work during times of dearth.[146]
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.[60] [147] Virtually every town had a brothel where
female and male prostitutes could be had.[148] Male catamites fetched a
higher price than female concubines since pederasty with a teenage
Emperor Minghuang's Journey to Sichuan, a
boy was seen as a mark of elite status, regardless of sodomy being
Ming Dynasty painting after Qiu Ying
repugnant to sexual norms.[149] Public bathing became much more
(1494–552).
common than in earlier periods.[150] Urban shops and retailers sold a
variety of goods such as special paper money to burn at ancestral sacrifices, specialized luxury goods, headgear, fine
cloth, teas, and others.[147] 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.[146]
Farming villagers in the north spent their days harvesting crops like wheat and millet, while farmers south of the
Huai River 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 sugarcane and citrus were grown as basic crops.[146] 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 oyster shells to make lime, fired pots, and wove mats and baskets.[151]
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.[152]
19
Ming Dynasty
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 world. In fact, key advances in Chinese science in the late
Ming were spurred by contact with Europe. In 1626 Johann Adam
Schall von Bell wrote the first Chinese treatise on the telescope, the
Yuanjingshuo (Far Seeing Optic Glass); in 1634 the last Ming emperor
Chongzhen acquired the telescope of the late Johann Schreck
(1576–630).[153] The heliocentric model of the solar system was
rejected by the Catholic missionaries in China, but Johannes Kepler
The puddling process of smelting iron ore to
make pig iron and then wrought iron, with the
and Galileo Galilei's ideas slowly trickled into China starting with the
right illustration displaying men working a blast
Polish Jesuit Michael Boym (1612–59) in 1627, Adam Schall von
furnace, from the Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia,
Bell's
treatise in 1640, and finally Joseph Edkins, Alex Wylie, and
1637.
John Fryer in the 19th century.[154] Catholic Jesuits in China would
promote Copernican theory at court, yet at the same time embrace the Ptolemaic system in their writing; it was not
until 1865 that Catholic missionaries in China sponsored the heliocentric model as their Protestant peers did.[155]
Although Shen Kuo (1031–95) and Guo Shoujing (1231–316) 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.[156] Ironically, some inventions which had their origins in ancient China were reintroduced to China
from Europe during the late Ming; for example, the field mill.[157]
The Chinese calendar was in need of reform since it inadequately measured the solar year at 365 ¼ days, giving an
error of 10 min and 14 sec a year or roughly a full day every 128 years.[158] Although the Ming had adopted Guo
Shoujing's Shoushi calendar of 1281, which was just as accurate as the Gregorian Calendar, 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.[159] A
sixth-generation descendant of Emperor Hongxi, the "Prince" Zhu Zaiyu (1536–611), submitted a proposal to fix the
calendar in 1595, but the ultra-conservative astronomical commission rejected it.[158] [159] This was the same Zhu
Zaiyu who discovered the system of tuning known as equal temperament, a discovery made simultaneously by
Simon Stevin (1548–1620) in Europe.[160] In addition to publishing his works on music, he was able to publish his
findings on the calendar in 1597.[159] A year earlier, the memorial of Xing Yunlu suggesting a calendar improvement
was rejected 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: 崇禎暦書) in 1629 according to Western
standards.[159]
20
Ming Dynasty
21
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 automata, dragon-headed devices that spouted
mists of perfume, and mechanical clocks in the tradition of Yi Xing (683–727)
and Su Song (1020–101) — he associated all of them with the decadence of
Mongol rule and had them destroyed.[161] 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.[161]
Later, European Jesuits such as Matteo Ricci and Nicolas Trigault would briefly
mention indigenous Chinese clockworks that featured drive wheels.[162]
However, both Ricci and Trigault were quick to point out that 16th century
European clockworks were far more advanced than the common time keeping
Portrait of Matteo Ricci by Yu
Wenhui, Latinized as Emmanuel
devices in China, which they listed as water clocks, incense clocks, and "other
Pereira, dated the year of Ricci's
instruments... with wheels rotated by sand as if by water" (Chinese: 沙漏).[163]
death, 1610
Chinese records — namely the Yuan Shi (Chinese: 元史) — describe the
'five-wheeled sand clock', a mechanism pioneered by Zhan Xiyuan (fl. 1360–80)
which featured the scoop wheel of Su Song's earlier astronomical clock and a stationary dial face over which a
pointer circulated, similar to European models of the time.[164] This sand-driven wheel clock was improved upon by
Zhou Shuxue (fl. 1530–58) 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.[165]
The Chinese were intrigued with European technology, but so were visiting Europeans of Chinese technology. In
1584, Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598) featured in his atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum the peculiar Chinese innovation
of mounting masts and sails onto carriages, just like Chinese ships.[166] Gonzales de Mendoza also mentioned this a
year later — noting even the designs of them on Chinese silken robes — while Gerardus Mercator (1512–94)
featured them in his atlas, John Milton (1608–74) in one of his famous poems, and Andreas Everardus van Braam
Houckgeest (1739–801) in the writings of his travel diary in China.[167]
The encyclopedist Song Yingxing (1587–666) 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,[169] nautical technology
such as vessel types and snorkeling gear for pearl divers,[170] [171] [172] the annual
processes of sericulture and weaving with the loom,[173] metallurgic processes
such as the crucible technique and quenching,[174] manufacturing processes such
as for roasting iron pyrite in converting sulphide to oxide in sulfur 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 crystallize[175] — and the use of gunpowder weapons
such as a naval mine ignited by use of a rip-cord and steel flint wheel.[176]
Focusing on agriculture in his Nongzheng Quanshu, the agronomist Xu Guangqi
(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.[177]
Bodhisattva Manjusri in
Blanc-de-Chine, by He Chaozong,
17th century; Song Yingxing devoted
an entire section of his book to the
ceramics industry in the making of
[168]
porcelain items like this.
Ming Dynasty
22
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.[178] The
Huolongjing, compiled by Jiao Yu and Liu Ji sometime before the latter's death on May 16, 1375 (with a preface
added by Jiao in 1412),[179] featured many types of cutting-edge gunpowder weaponry for the time. This includes
hollow, gunpowder-filled exploding cannonballs,[180] land mines that used a complex trigger mechanism of falling
weights, pins, and a steel wheellock to ignite the train of fuses,[181] naval mines,[182] fin-mounted winged rockets for
aerodynamic control,[183] multistage rockets propelled by booster rockets before igniting a swarm of smaller rockets
issuing forth from the end of the missile (shaped like a dragon's head),[184] and hand cannons that had up to ten
barrels.[185]
Li Shizhen (1518–93) — one of the most renowned pharmacologists and physicians in Chinese history — 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 Emei in the late
10th century, the process of inoculation for smallpox patients was in widespread use in China by the reign of the
Longqing Emperor (r. 1567–72), long before it was applied anywhere else.[186] In regards to oral hygiene, the
ancient Egyptians had a primitive toothbrush of a twig frayed at the end, but the Chinese were the first to invent the
modern bristle toothbrush in 1498, although it used stiff pig hair.[187]
Population
Sinologist historians 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.[188] Children were often underreported, especially female
children, as shown by skewed population statistics throughout the
Ming.[189] Even adult women were underreported;[190] for example, the
Daming Prefecture in North Zhili reported a population of 378 167 males
and 226 982 females in 1502.[191] 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.[192]
Appreciating Plums, by Chen Hongshou
(1598–652) showing a lady holding an oval
fan while enjoying the beauty of the plum.
Ming Dynasty
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.[194] 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.[193] 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.[195]
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.[193] Even the Hongzhi Emperor (r. 1487-505) remarked that the daily
increase in subjects coincided with the daily dwindling amount of registered
civilians and soldiers.[151] William Atwell states that around 1400 the population
of China was perhaps 90 million people, citing Heijdra and Mote.[196]
23
The Xuande Emperor, (r. 1425–35);
he stated in 1428 that his populace
was dwindling due to palace
construction and military adventures,
but in fact the population was rising
under him, a fact noted by Zhou
Chen — Governor of South Zhili —
in his 1432 report to the throne about
[193]
widespread itinerant commerce.
Historians are now turning to local gazetteers of Ming China for clues that would
show consistent growth in population.[189] Using the gazetteers, Brook estimates
that the overall population under the Chenghua Emperor (r. 1464–1487) was
roughly 75 million,[192] despite mid-Ming census figures hovering around 62 million.[151] 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.[197] The Hongzhi and
Zhengde emperors lessened the penalties against those who had fled their home region, while the Jiajing Emperor (r.
1521–67) finally had officials register migrants wherever they had moved or fled in order to bring in more
revenues.[191]
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.[198] Fairbank estimates that the population was perhaps 160 million in the
late Ming Dynasty,[199] while Brook estimates 175 million,[198] and Ebrey states perhaps as large as 200 million.[200]
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 Zhejiang noted more than half the population fell ill that year and that
90% of the local populace in one area was dead by 1642.[201]
Notes
^ a: http:/ / zh. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ %E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E4%BA%BA%E5%8F%A3%E5%8F%B2#.
E6.98.8E
^ b: http:/ / zh. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ %E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E4%BA%BA%E5%8F%A3%E5%8F%B2#.
E6.98.8E
[1] Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires" (http:/ / jwsr. ucr.
edu/ archive/ vol12/ number2/ pdf/ jwsr-v12n2-tah. pdf). Journal of world-systems research 12 (2): 219–229. ISSN 1076–156x. . Retrieved 12
August 2010.
[2] Edwin Oldfather Reischauer, John King Fairbank, Albert M. Craig (1960) A history of East Asian civilization, Volume 1. East Asia: The
Great Tradition, George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
[3] Ebrey (2006), 271.
Ming Dynasty
[4] For the lower population estimate, see (Fairbank & Goldman 2006:128), for the higher estimate see (Ebrey 1999:197).
[5] Gascoigne (2003), 150.
[6] Ebrey (1999), 190–1.
[7] Gascoigne (2003), 151.
[8] Ebrey (1999), 191.
[9] Naquin, Susan (2000). Peking: Temples and City Life, 1400–1900. Berkeley: University of California press. p. xxxiii. ISBN 0-520-21991-0.
[10] Andrew & Rapp (2000), 25.
[11] Ebrey (1999), 192–3.
[12] Fairbank & Goldman (2006), 130.
[13] Fairbank & Goldman (2006), 129–30.
[14] "Ethnic Uygurs in Hunan Live in Harmony with Han Chinese" (http:/ / english. people. com. cn/ english/ 200012/ 28/ eng20001228_59085.
html). People's Daily. 29 December 2000. .
[15] Chih-yu Shih, Zhiyu Shi (2002). Negotiating ethnicity in China: citizenship as a response to the state (http:/ / books. google. com/
books?id=8ePxMW066j8C& pg=PA133& dq=jian+ uyghur+ hunan& hl=en& ei=-BO9TJ3BK4SBlAfLxZ2GDQ& sa=X& oi=book_result&
ct=result& resnum=2& ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage& q& f=false). Psychology Press. p. 133. ISBN 0-415-28372-8. . Retrieved
2010-06-28.
[16] Michael Dillon (1999). China's Muslim Hui community: migration, settlement and sects (http:/ / books. google. com/
books?id=hUEswLE4SWUC& pg=PA34& dq=lan+ yu+ yunnan+ muslim& hl=en& ei=UVjMTLHaKIT6lwf05fjiCA& sa=X&
oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=1& ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage& q& f=false). Richmond: Curzon Press. p. 34.
ISBN 0-7007-1026-4. . Retrieved 2010-06-28.
[17] Ebrey (1999), 197.
[18] Zhang, Yuxin; Xiang, Hongjia; Information Office of the State Council. People's Republic of China (2002). Testimony of History. China:
China Intercontinental Press. p. 73. ISBN 7-80113-885-6.
[19] Wang Jiawei & Nyima Gyaincain (1997), 39–41.
[20] Mingshi-Geography I «明史•地理一»: 東起朝鮮，西據吐番，南包安南，北距大磧。; Geography III «明史•地理三»:
七年七月置西安行都衛於此，領河州、朵甘、烏斯藏、三衛。; Western territory III «明史•列傳第二百十七西域三»
[21] Wylie (2003), 470.
[22] Wang & Nyima (1997), 1–40.
[23] Laird (2006), 106–7.
[24] Norbu (2001), 52.
[25] Kolmas, 32.
[26] Wang & Nyima (1997), 39–40.
[27] Sperling (2003), 474–5, 478.
[28] Perdue (2000), 273.
[29] Kolmas, 28–9.
[30] Laird (2006), 131
[31] Langlois (1988), 139, 161.
[32] Geiss (1988), 417–8.
[33] Laird (2006), 137.
[34] Ebrey (1999), 227.
[35] Wang & Nyima (1997), 38.
[36] Kolmas, 30–1.
[37] Goldstein (1997), 8.
[38] Laird (2006), 143–4.
[39] The Ming Biographical History Project of the Association for Asian Studies (1976), 23.
[40] Kolmas, 34–5.
[41] Goldstein (1997), 6–9.
[42] Laird (2006), 152.
[43] Robinson (2000), 527.
[44] Atwell (2002), 84.
[45] Ebrey (2006), 272.
[46] Ebrey (1999), 194.
[47] Fairbank & Goldman (2006), 137.
[48] Ebrey (2006), 273.
[49] Robinson (1999), 83.
[50] Robinson (1999), 84–5.
[51] Robinson (1999), 79, 101–8.
[52] Fairbank & Goldman (2006), 139.
[53] Ebrey (1999), 208.
24
Ming Dynasty
[54]
[55]
[56]
[57]
[58]
[59]
[60]
[61]
[62]
[63]
[64]
[65]
[66]
[67]
[68]
[69]
[70]
[71]
[72]
[73]
[74]
[75]
Hucker (1958), 31.
Spence (1999), 16.
Spence (1999), 17.
Ebrey (1999), 194–5.
Hucker (1958), 11.
Spence (1999), 17–8.
Spence (1999), 20.
Spence (1999), 20–1.
Spence (1999), 21.
Spence (1999), 22–4.
Tsunami among world's worst disasters (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/ hi/ asia-pacific/ 4128509. stm). BBC News. December 30, 2004.
Spence (1999), 27.
Spence (1999), 24, 28.
Chang (2007), 92.
Spence (1999), 31.
Spence (1999), 21–2.
Spence (1999), 22.
Spence (1999), 25.
Spence (1999), 32–3.
Spence (1999), 33.
Yuan (1994), 193–4.
Hartwell (1982), 397–8.
[76] Hucker (1958), 5.
[77] Hucker (1958), 28.
[78] Chang (2007), 15, footnote 42.
[79] Chang (2007), 16.
[80] Hucker (1958), 16.
[81] Hucker (1958), 23.
[82] Hucker (1958), 29–30.
[83] Hucker (1958), 30.
[84] Hucker (1958), 31–32.
[85] Hucker (1958), 32.
[86] Hucker (1958), 33.
[87] Hucker (1958), 33–35.
[88] Hucker (1958), 35.
[89] Hucker (1958), 36.
[90] Hucker (1958), 24.
[91] Hucker (1958), 25.
[92] Hucker (1958), 11, 25.
[93] Hucker (1958), 25–26.
[94] Hucker (1958), 26.
[95] Ebrey (1999), 200.
[96] Hucker (1958), 12.
[97] Ebrey (2006), 96.
[98] Ebrey (1999), 145–6.
[99] Ebrey (1999), 199.
[100] Ebrey (1999), 198–9.
[101] Ebrey (1999), 201–2.
[102] Ebrey (1999), 202.
[103] Ebrey (1999), 198.
[104] Hucker (1958), 13.
[105] Hucker (1958), 11–2.
[106] Hucker (1958), 14.
[107] Brook (1998), xxv.
[108] Hucker (1958), 15–6.
[109] Hucker (1958), 17.
[110] Hucker (1958), 18.
[111] Hucker (1958), 18–9.
[112] Hucker (1958), 24–5.
25
Ming Dynasty
[113]
[114]
[115]
[116]
[117]
[118]
[119]
[120]
[121]
[122]
[123]
[124]
[125]
[126]
[127]
[128]
[129]
[130]
[131]
[132]
[133]
[134]
Hucker (1958), 8.
Hucker (1958), 19.
Fairbank & Goldman (2006), 109–12.
Hucker (1958), 19–20.
Robinson (1999), 116–7.
Spence (1999), 10.
Brook (1998), 224–5.
Brook (1998), 225.
Brook (1998), 225–6.
Needham (1986), Volume 3, 524.
Hargett (1985), 69.
Brook (1998), xxi.
Brook (1998), 215–7.
Ebrey (2006), 104–5.
Ebrey (1999), 202–3.
Chang (2007), 318–9.
Chang (2007), 319.
Chang (2007), 318.
Brook (1998), 229–31.
Ebrey (1999), 201.
Brook (1998), 206.
Ebrey (1999), 212.
[135]
[136]
[137]
[138]
[139]
[140]
[141]
[142]
[143]
[144]
[145]
[146]
[147]
[148]
[149]
[150]
[151]
[152]
[153]
[154]
[155]
[156]
[157]
[158]
[159]
[160]
[161]
[162]
[163]
[164]
[165]
[166]
[167]
[168]
Wong (1963), 30–2.
White (1966), Volume 1, 31–8.
Lipman (1998), 39.
Ebrey (2006), 282.
Ebrey (2006), 281.
Ebrey (2006), 281–282.
Ebrey (2006), 283.
Ebrey (1999), 158.
Brook (1998), 230.
Ebrey (1999), 213.
Ebrey (1999), 206.
Spence (1999), 13.
Spence (1999), 12–3.
Brook (1998), 229, 232.
Brook (1998), 232–3.
Schafer (1956), 57.
Brook (1998), 95.
Spence (1999), 14.
Needham (1986), Volume 3, 444–5.
Needham (1986), Volume 3, 444–7.
Wong (1963), 31 (footnote 1).
Needham (1986), Volume 3, 110.
Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 255–7.
Kuttner (1975), 166.
Engelfriet (1998), 78.
Kuttner (1975), 166–7.
Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, pp. 133, 508.
Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 438.
Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 509.
Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 511.
Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 510–1.
Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 276.
Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 274–6.
Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 171–2.
[169] Song (1966), 7–30, 84–103.
[170] Song (1966), 171–2, 189, 196.
[171] Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, 668
26
Ming Dynasty
[172] Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, 634, 649–50, 668–9.
[173] Song (1966), 36–6.
[174] Song (1966), 237, 190.
[175] Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 126.
[176] Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 205, 339 F.
[177] Needham (1986), Volume 6, Part 2, 65–6.
[178] Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 372.
[179] Needam (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 24–5.
[180] Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 264.
[181] Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 203–5.
[182] Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 205.
[183] Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 498–502.
[184] Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 508.
[185] Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 229.
[186] Temple (1986), 137.
[187] "Who invented the toothbrush and when was it invented?" (http:/ / www. loc. gov/ rr/ scitech/ mysteries/ tooth. html). The Library of
Congress. 2007-04-04. . Retrieved 2008-08-18.
[188] Brook (1998), 27.
[189] Brook (1998), 267.
[190] Brook (1998), 97–9.
[191] Brook (1998), 97.
[192] Brook (1998), 28, 267.
[193]
[194]
[195]
[196]
[197]
[198]
[199]
[200]
[201]
Brook (1998), 28.
Brook (1998), 27–8.
Ho (1959), 8–9, 22, 259.
Atwell (2002), 86.
Brook (1998), 94–6.
Brook (1998), 162.
Fairbank & Goldman (2006), 128.
Ebrey (1999), 195.
Brook (1998), 163.
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Ming Dynasty
Further reading
• Huang, Ray (1981). 1587, a Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline. New Haven: Yale University
Press. ISBN 0-300-02518-1.
External links
• The Ming Dynasty at Minnesota State University (http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/
later_imperial_china/ming.html)
• Notable Ming Dynasty Painters and Galleries (http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/painting-masters.php) at
China Online Museum
• Ming Dynasty art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ming/hd_ming.
htm)
• Ming Dynasty (http://china.chinaa2z.com/china/html/history and culture/2008/20081210/
20081210154315150987/20081210161829952794.html) With a total of 16 emperors, the Ming Dynasty lasted
276 years, from 1368 to 1644.
30
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