Download Ming and Qing Dynasties

The Ming Dynasty
1368-1644
• The last native dynasty in history (ruled by Chinese)
– Zhu Yuanzhang 朱元璋 shifted focus onto
production/economy that led to peace/prosperity
– The Great Wall (has Mongols under control)
– Gardens of Suzhou in the south (private scholar
gardens—Zhuōzhèng Yuán or The Humble
Administrator‘s Garden as the epitome of this type of
gardens)
– Zheng He’s voyages 郑和下西洋
– The Imperial Examinations
– Prose fiction (novels)
– Wu Sangui’s role in the fall of Ming
Map of the Ming Dynasty
1368 to 1644
Ming and Qing Dynasties
Last 3 Dynasties (Beijing)
• Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)
– Mongolian
– north of China proper
• Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
– Han Chinese
• Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)
– Manchu
– northeast of China proper
Confucian culture
• Chinese defined by Confucian culture
• civil service exams (605-1905)
– Makes social mobility possible (merit vs.
bloodline) 血统【xuètǒng】 blood
relationship; blood lineage; extraction.
The Great Wall concept was revived during the Ming Dynasty in the
14th century after the Battle of Tumu 土木堡之變, a decisive Mongol
victory in 1449
Three Ancient Projects
The Three “Great Walls”
• use the Index for a quick access
• The Great Wall from the Qin to Ming Dynasty—
military function
• The Grand Canal (from Sui Dynasty on)
economic function
• The Complete Books of the Four Treasures (the
Qing dynasty) (East Asia 321)—cultural
significance
• The Great Firewall 长城防火墙 for the internet
censorship chiefly invented by Fang Binxing 方
滨兴 around 2000.
China’s Tributary System
朝贡制度
• Traditional system for managing foreign
relations
• The “Central Kingdom” worldview
• Ethnocentrism 民族优越感
• Ming dynasty had the most extensive
tributary system
– tributes from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast
Asia, and even West Asia and Africa
Zheng He’s fleet (1405 - 1433)
• Over 200 ships & 20,000 men
• trade and commerce
• Southeast Asia, South Asia, West
Asia, and East Africa
Zheng He’s expeditions
Ebrey 226
Critique of Zheng He’s voyages
• 1. not much returns; more showing off;
• 2. his patron the Yongle Emperor Chengzu died
in 1424
• Vasco da Gama--(c. 1460s – 23 December
1524) was a Portuguese explorer. He is one of
the most famous and celebrated explorers from
the Age of Discovery, being the first European to
reach India by sea.
• Christopher Columbus’s expedition led to the
discovery of America in 1492;
闭关自守【bìguānzìshǒu】 close the country
to international intercourse.
• Yongle (1360–1424): The third emperor of the Ming
dynasty (r. 1402–1424), who commissioned major
oceanic expeditions, led by Zheng He. With Yongle’s
death in 1424, maritime exploration ceased for 400
years.
• Zheng He (c. 1371–1433): A Hui Muslim and imperial
eunuch, Admiral Zheng launched seven oceanic
expeditions between 1405 and 1433. His fleet of 200 sixmasted ships reached ports in Southeast Asia, India,
Ceylon, the Persian Gulf, Arabia, and the Horn of Africa.
River Elegy
河殇【héshāng】 <formal> die young
• River Elegy (by Su Xiaokang & Wang Luxiang) is a TV documentary
(in 1988) that is instrumental in tipping the Incident of Tiananmen in
1989 or the June 4th Massacre;
• The film asserted that the Ming Dynasty's ban on maritime activities
alluded to the building of the Great Wall by China's first emperor
Ying Zheng. China's land-based civilization was defeated by
maritime civilizations backed by modern sciences, and was further
challenged with the problem of life and death ever since the latter
half of the 19th century, landmarked by the Opium War. Using the
analogy of the Yellow River, China was portrayed as once at the
forefront of civilization, but subsequently dried up due to isolation
and conservatism. Rather, the revival of China must come from the
flowing blue seas which represent the explorative, open cultures of
the West and Japan.
• This documentary is highly controversial.
The 6 Bu
• Ministries
• 6-Bu system
started in
early Tang
Dynasty (618
- 907)
The 6 Bu (ministries)
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Ministry of Personnel
Ministry of Revenue
Ministry of Rites
Ministry of Military
Ministry of Criminal Justice
Ministry of Public Works
科举【kējǔ】 imperial
examination (91-92)
• 605-1905 from Sui
Dynasty to Qing Dynasty
• Jinshi 进士—”presented
scholar,” most difficult to
pass
• “Palace Test” 殿试 by an
emperor
• Group on Mandarin
square 补子: birds for civil
officials and animals for
military officials
Ming Examination Degrees
(East Asia 229/278)
• 1. Shengyuan or Xiucai (county level)
• 2. Juren (provincial level) — “范进中举”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scholars_%28C
hinese_novel%29
• http://www.tianyabook.com/gudian/rulinwaishi/in
dex.html
• The Scholars (tr. Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys
Yang) HC ISBN 0-231-08153-7 PB ISBN 0-23108153-7
• 3. Jinshi, most difficult (state level exams)
女【nǚ】 woman; female; girl; daughter.
驸马【fùmǎ】 emperor's son-in-law.
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/etJ3Cifeo-g/
• Feng Suzhen冯素贞 as
Feng Shaoming,
• Yan Fengying 严凤英,
widely regarded as the
most famous actress of
the Huangmei Opera
• 三元【sānyuán】
• Ternary champion
• Made to the first place at
three levels of exams
高考【gāokǎo】 college entrance
examinassions.
http://yule.sohu.com/s2009/gk1977/
• Examination 1977
• http://asianmediawiki.
com/Examination_19
77
• A break from 1966 to
1976
• A cultural wasteland
Prose Fiction (Novels)
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo
Guanzhong
• The Scholars by Wu Jingzi
• The Journey to the West by Wu Chengen
(famous Monkey King story)
• Water Margin by Shi Naiꞌan
• Jin Ping Mei, or The Plum in the Golden Vase by
Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng (pseudonym)
The Function of “The Sisters” in Dubliners
Diagnosis for the entire book
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Diagnosis
Write like a woodpecker
Four ways to diagnose:
Observe
Smell
Ask
Feel the pulse
Comprehensive
treatment/root
Transition in Dynasties
• 1. The enduring challenge is how to unify and
govern China/How to Tame the Yellow River—
the Loess Plateau;
• 2. Dynasties embrace ancient virtues:
benevolence (Confucianism); the Natural Way
(Daoism); and the Law (Legalism-reward and
punishment)
• 3. What happens in the transitions?
• A case study of the Ming-Qing Transition
Types of Causes
• 1. multiple contributory causes (it is rare
that a single cause can fully explain a
complex phenomenon);
• 2. Causal chains: a set of linked causes in
which one cause leads to another and
then another until a result is achieved;
• 3. interactive causes: causes rarely
operate independently; they affect each
other
Ripple Effect of
Natural Disasters (238)
• The Little Ice age (1660-1680, 1850–1880 in
China) on a larger scale
• Food shortages
• Aggravated by laid-off soldiers in search of food;
• Instead of easing the pressure, the government
increased taxes
• Li Zicheng uprising: “Equal-field/Tax Exemption 均田
免赋” his popular slogan attracted thousands;
• In 1644, Li Zicheng took over Beijing, and Emperor
Chongzhen committed suicide in Jingshan Park.
• “The Shun Dynasty” founded by Li Zicheng lasted
from February 8 to June 5 in 1644.
Fiscal Problems 314
Riots over Rent vs. supplies of silver
• Internal/Domestic
issue/disorder
• Linked/connected to
external/diplomatic
relationship with Japan
• Japanese invasion of
Korea (1592–1598)
Result: Korean and
Chinese victory;
Japanese withdrawal
from the peninsula.
• 1639, cut-throat move
Part and Whole
• 牵一发而动全身
[qiānyífà‘érdòngquánshēn]
• pull one hair and you move the whole
body; a slight move in one part may affect
the situation as a whole
Internal Power Struggle
If there is no tiger in the mountains, a monkey will
claim the throne
• Donglin Academy: fighting
• Eunuchs control the
corruption (1624)
court—Wei
• Impeachment of Wei
Zhongxian
Zhongxian (24 crimes)
• (Yang Lian 杨涟
(1568~1627)
• /Zuo Guangdou/左光斗、
Huang Zunsu 黄尊素、Zhou
Shunchang 周顺昌
End of The Ming Dynasty
Role of Li Zicheng: Direct Catalyst
• “The time is out of joint: O
cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it
right!”—Hamlet (Irony)
• Natural disasters/food
shortage due to the “Little Ice
Age”;
• Dong Zhongshu’s “correlative
cosmology” 天人感应
• Li Zicheng (1606–1645)
Uprising (Shun Dynasty 大順,
“suitable” for about four
months); Nicknamed as a
“dashing king” brain vs. bran
The Wrath of Wu Sangui vs.
The Wrath of Achilles (Homer)
• 1. the role of Individual
leaders at a critical
moment
• “The Law of the Few”—
The Tipping Point (80/20
rule)
• Power of an idea/ideal-12 representatives at the
first conference of the
Chinese Communist
Party (1921 in Shanghai)
• 2. What influence
one’s
decision/change
one’s perspective at a
critical moment?
• Ethos/Pathos/Logos
• The Wrath of Wu
Sangui vs. the Wrath
of Achilles
What is the right thing to do
at a critical moment?
• What would be the alternative?
• Imagine if Wu Sangui did not open the
gate to Shanhaiguan, how could history be
rewritten?
• DVD on the Great Wall
• Is it a curse or blessing for the Chinese
people?
Role of Wu Sangui
(1612 – 1678)
• a Ming Chinese general who
was instrumental in the
succession of rule to the Qing
Dynasty in 1644. Considered
by traditional scholars as a
traitor to both the Ming and the
Qing dynasties, Wu declared
himself Emperor of China as
ruler of the Zhou Dynasty in
1678, but his revolt was
quelled by the Qing Kangxi
Emperor.
Another Civil War?
Another age of Division
• The last Ming emperor committed suicide;
• Li Zicheng’s dynasty lasted about four months;
• Zhang Xianzhong broke up with Li Zicheng and
went to Sichuan (his Daxi Dynasty lasted from
1644 to 1646)
• Manchu was rising up in the northeast;
• Were the gate of Shanhai Pass not open, it
would take longer time for Manchu to make it all
the way to Beijing;
Peasants Uprising in China
• http://en.wikipedia.org • Mao Zedong made
/wiki/List_of_rebellion
his name by
s_in_China
organizing peasants
movement
• No coherent program
• Mostly concerned
with land reform/equal
field;
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Shanhaiguan 山海关
【shānhǎiguān】 Shanhai
Pass
the eastern end of the
Ming Dynasty Great Wall.
The "First Pass Under
Heaven“
• In 1961, Shanhaiguan
became a site of China
First Class National
Cultural Site. Along with
Jiayuguan 嘉峪关 and
Juyongguan, it is one of
the major passes of the
Great Wall of China.
The First Pass Under Heaven
• It is nearly 300 km
east of Beijing and
linked via the
Jingshen Expressway
京沈高速公路
(658 km in length,
constructed from
1996 to 2000).
Li Zicheng Held Wu Sangui’s father
as hostage to force Wu Sangui to surrender
• Wu Sangui’s father
• Wu Sangui’s
concubine Chen
• Wu Xiang, Ming’s
Yuanyuan was also in
general in charge of
Beijing
Liaodong Region,
now Liaoning and Jilin
province
• 1631, defeated
• The Battle of Daling
River大淩河之役
1651 “Song of Yuanyuan” by Wu Weiye 吴伟业
Statue of Chen Yuanyuan
in Gold Hall Park in Kunming
Wu’s Reward
• Wu was rewarded with the position of Pingxi Wang (平西
王) in Yunnan by the Qing imperial court, after he
conquered the region from the remnants of Ming
loyalists. It had been extremely rare for someone outside
of the royal family, especially a non-Manchu, to be
granted the title of Wang (king). Those being awarded
the title of Wang who were not members of the royal
family were called Yixing Wang (異姓王, literally meaning
"kings whose surnames are different from that of the
emperor").
Wu Sangui’s Rebellion
against the Qing Dynasty
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Wu Sangui—Yunnan Province
Shang Kexi—Guandong Province
Geng Zhongming—Fujian province
Emperor Kangxi defeated Wu Sangui
et al. (East Asia 319)
The Wrath of Achilles
The Theme of Iliad by Homer
• Achilles accuses
Agamemnon of being
the “greediest for gain
of all men” when
Agamemnon took
Briseis, Achilles's
captive, Briseis, as
compensation after
he lost Chryseis
Achilles’ Withdrawal
Achilles’ Participation
• The first wrath of
Achilles was caused
by the fact that
Agamemnon took his
captive, thus violating
his honor
• Greek culture was a
shame culture;
• The second time Achilles
got angry was because
his best friend Patroklus
was killed, thus spurring
him to go back to the
battlefield.
• As a result, he killed
Hector.
• Patroklus put on Achilles’
armor and assumed his
persona;
Emperor Chongzhen崇祯
killing his daughter before
committing suicide 1644