The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644

From CNN's Visions of China site: "Infighting within the weakened Yuan dynasty, coupled with a number of natural disasters, led to a series of rebellions -- which in turn led to the establishment of the Ming, or "brilliant," dynasty.

The Ming was the last truly "Chinese" dynasty. It expanded trade and relations with other countries -- and under the Yung-lo emperor undertook a series of seven great maritime expeditions that took Chinese explorers as far away as Africa. But the Ming's prosperity was undermined by a weakened government -- which brought about the dynasty's collapse in the mid-1600s.

The Limits of Autocracy: The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644

Leadership:

*Ming Taizu's*　Rise to Power

Floods and famines precede

Rebel Groups: *Red Turbans and the White Lotus Society* (Daoist notions of a heavy-handed ruler)

Motif of the poor peasant turned rebel general. How many times does this recur in Chinese history?

Political Control: A New Cycle?

Taizu's policies (How do they incorporate and break from ideal Confucian policies of the Han and Tang?) Land Reform, movement of capital to Dadu, *The Forbidden City* (modern-day Beijing), reliance on Eunuchs, Expanded *Tribute system,* repression of all dissonance while pursuing a policy of expansion.

How did such policies lead to factionalism and help cause the downfall of the dynasty?

Neo-Confucianism Zhu Xi's commentary on the four books of Mencius was still the standard, but Mencius's parts on the necessity of limiting the power of the emperor were edited out! 

Wang Yangming -- spontaneous moral knowledge, building the bridge between common, illiterate people and the scholar/gentry.

Ming realities

Factional reactions:

Jeopardy: These men became political heroes, staging non-violent protests in factional struggles of convictions. In previous dynasties they had served to uphold the Confucian obligation to the Son of Heaven, to offer constructive criticism and advice.

World Economy: From Marco Polo to *Mateo Ricci*

How did the tribute system initially stimulate and then hinder China's position in the expanding World Economy? Comment on relationships with Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Macao, and the Philippines.

Social Management and Popular expression:

How did the popular culture begin to assert itself through literature and philosophy, and what did it express?

*Community Compacts*

Ineffectiveness and Decline

Taizu's grandson Chengzu (dual administration and the role of eunuchs (reading #58 "A Censor Accuses a Eunuch") ineffective tribute system).

Fiscal collapse, pirates

Natural disasters

Jeopardy: "The catalyst that led to famine and mass desertion of the military. Together with the growing ineffeciency of the bureaucracy, it helps explain the decline of the Ming dynasty and its loss of the Mandate of Heaven."

Answer: Little Ice Age