Download China: Ming Dynasty Part 2

Ming Dynasty
(part 2)
Ming Achievements
Current Great Wall Constructed
Ming Porcelain:
China’s finest china
Ming Ceramics with Arabic Script?
Naval Advances:
Early 1400s
Ming Navigation: Sextant and Star Charts
Exploration: 1400 Visit Persian Gulf
– Return with souvenirs
– Some knowledge of outside world
Colonization?
– Why don’t we speak Chinese?
Wang Yangming
Philosopher (1472-1529)
Proponent of Neo-Confucian
thought
Government official
Focused on agricultural
problems
Solution: Communitarian arrangement (communal
living)
Correct bad behavior through public criticism and
social pressure
– This idea gets reprised under Mao as “struggle meetings”
Ming Meets West
Jesuits arrive in China: 1600
Matteo Ricci
Who are the Jesuits
– Priestly Brotherhood
– “Society of Jesus”
– Scholarly -- Educators
– Worldly
– Wealthy
– Focus on converting ruling
class
Jesuits in Ming China
Jesuits work with Gentry and Confucian Scholars
Learn Chinese and create dictionaries
Adopt robes and habits of Confucian Scholars
Recognize China’s high and admirable culture
Conclude that Ancestor Veneration is a secular
form of respect and honor
– NOT worship of ancestors
– NOT a violation of the first 2 Commandments
Jesuits in Ming China
Adapt well to China
Have very little success in converting
Chinese
Introduce Western cartography,
astronomy, and science
Serve as effective ambassadors of
Western society for China’s ruling class
Ming Collapse: 1664 CE
Dynasty weakened by:
Factions
Corruption
Eunuch problems
Natural disasters
Manchu nation in Manchuria put pressure on
China
Ming Collapse:
1664 CE
Invading Manchu armies are resisted
by Chinese forces for a while
Chinese general decides to switch sides and allies
with Manchu forces, surrendering all of Northern
China
Alternating explanations:
– Emperor had violated the General’s wife
– Emperor ordered general’s family killed,
mistakenly believing the general was disloyal,
and this drove the general to betrayal
New Manchurian Dynasty
Qing Dynasty Established
1664 CE
Manchu Dynasty