The Ming dynasty (1368–1644) arose following a series of natural disasters that hit China during the early and middle 1300s, adding to the misery of a people under the harsh rule of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). In 1368 rebel armies—led by Zhu Yuanzhang (1328–1398)—overthrew the Yuan, and Zhu established a dynasty he named Da Ming (“Great Brightness”). The only emperor in China’s long history to have been born to a peasant family, Zhu had been orphaned early in life. From these humble beginnings rose a dynasty that was to be ruled by seventeen emperors over a period of 276 years (more than half a century longer than the United States has been an independent nation).
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Geography
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Religion
Buddhism
Buddhist Deity Guhyasamaja
Taoism
Taoist Deity Zhenwu
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Achievements
Summary
China’s emperors believed that Heaven bestowed upon them a divine mandate to rule. This mandate was granted to individuals who demonstrated superior moral virtue and who were able to prove their control of “all under Heaven”— and was withdrawn from those who could not. Proving that he had been given the mandate was of particular importance to the Yongle emperor (reigned 1403–1424), who usurped the throne from his nephew, killing many Ming retainers in the process.
Among the Yongle emperor’s many efforts to demonstrate his right to the throne, none has gained more attention in recent years than the journeys of the emperor’s principal admiral, the eunuch Zheng He (1371–1433). Embarking from the port of Nanjing, where the ships had been built, Zheng’s fleet reached Southeast Asia, India, Persia, and the east coast of Africa. The purpose of these enormous enterprises was to gather symbols of submission to Ming authority in the form of tribute and treaties. When necessary the fleet resorted to military might to establish its dominance. In exchange, Zheng presented gifts on behalf of the emperor.
On his first voyage (1405) Zheng He commanded a gigantic flagship and sixty-two small ships with a crew estimated to number nearly 28,000. The ships were heavily loaded with porcelain, silk, and other Chinese luxury goods. They returned with tribute in the form of gemstones, lions and other animals, spices, and other unique and exotic things. Zheng also brought back envoys from more than thirty foreign states, who personally presented their tribute to the Ming court. The maritime expeditions came to an end after Zheng’s death during the seventh voyage, made under the Xuande emperor (reigned 1426–1435).
Beginning in 1980 archaeologists initiated a series of excavations at the Ming shipyard in Nanjing. From one site more than 1,500 remnants made either of wood or of iron have been uncovered.
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Politics
The basic patterns of administrative institutions in China was nearly the same for two thousand years, but only in name: Every dynasty made use of different institutions to reach better control on the government apparatus.
The central government of the Ming empire 明 (1368-1644) was also structured in this pattern: the Grand Secretariat (neige 內閣), successor of the Palace Secretariat (zhongshusheng 中書省) was assisting the emperor and coordinated by means of the Department of State Affairs (shangshusheng 尚書省) the work of the Six Ministries (liubu 六部) for Personnel (libu 吏部), Revenue (hubu 戶部), Rites (libu 禮部), War (bingbu 兵部), Justice (xingbu 刑部), and Public Works (gongbu 工部). The Censorate (duchayuan 都察院; before called yushitai 御史台) surveyed and assessed the work of imperial officials was also an old institution with a new name.
The nominal heads of government were the Three Dukes (sangong三公: the Grand Mentor taifu 太傅, the Grand Preceptor taishi 太師 and the Grand Guardian taibao 太保), but these posts were often vacant. This is also true for the traditional Three Minor Solitaries (sangu 三孤).
The first emperor of Ming, Emperor Taizu 明太祖 (r. 1368-1398), in his paranoia, abolished the Secretariat, the Censorate and the Chief Military Commission (dudufu 都督府) and personally took over the responsibility and administration of the respective ressorts, the Six Ministries, the Five Military Commissions (wu junfu 五軍府), and the censorate ressorts: A whole administration level was cut out and only partially rebuilt by the following emperors. The Grand Secretariat was reinstalled, but without being staffed with Ground Counsellors.
The ministries, headed by a minister (shangshu 尚書) and run by directors (langzhong 郎中) stayed under direct control of the emperor until the end of Ming, the Censorate was reinstalled and first staffed with investigating censors (jiancha yushi 監察御史), later with censors-in-chief (du yushi 都御史).
Of special interest during the Ming period is the vast imperial household that was staffed with thousands of eunuchs, headed by the Directorate of Palace Attendants (neishijian 內史監), and divided into different directorates (jian 監) and Services (ju 局) that had to administer the staff, the rites, food, documents, stables, seals, gardens, state-owned manufacturies and so on. Famous for its intrigues and acting as the eunuch's secret service was the so-called Western Depot (xichang 西廠).
Princes and decendants of the first Ming emperor were given nominal military commands and large land estates, but without title.
The Ming emperors took over the provincial administration system of the Yuan empire 元 (1279-1368), and the 13 Ming provinces (sheng 省) are the origin of the modern provinces. On the provincial level, the central government structure was copied, and there existed three provincial commissions: one civil, one military, and one for surveillance. Below province level were the prefectures (fu 府) administered prefects (zhifu 知府) and second-class prefectures (zhou州) administered by prefects (zhouzhou 知州), the lowest unit was the district (xian 縣) headed by a magistrate (zhixian 知縣).
Like it had been use during the former dynasties, a travelling inspector or Grand Coordinator (xunfu 巡撫) from the Censorate controlled the work of the provincial administrations. New during the Ming Dynasty was the office of travelling military inspector (zongdu總督) who was appointed ad-hoc according to need.
Official recruitment was exerted by an examination system that theoretically allowed everyone to link the ranks of imperial officials if he had enough time, money and strenth to learn and to write an "eight-legged essay" (baguwen 八股文). When passing the provincial examinations, scholars were bestowed the title of "Cultivated Talents" (xiucai 秀才), passing the metropolitan examination, they obtained the title of "Metropolitan Graduate" (jinshi 進士).
Economics
The whole land being devasteted by the Mongol ruling elite, by wars and by a corrupt local government, there was the urgent need for a thorough economical reconstruction especially of northern China. Natural deasters in the last years of the Mongol rule had caused suffering to great parts of the population in the Yellow River basin. Fields, dams and canals had to be reconstructed and repaired. Until the end of the 14th century, intensive and huge irrigation and reforestation projects were implemented. The Ming government thus started to rely more on agriculture than on commerce - while the greatest part of tax income during the Song Dynasty was based on commerce and merchandise. To obtain the most possible amount of taxes, an exact population census was necessary. Only in the later part of the Ming period, the census was neglected. According to traditional classification of the populace, and following the Mongol pattern of tax classification, all taxed people belonged lifelong and for generations to exactly one group: soldiers, peasants, or artisans. Their respective taxes were collected by different ministries, either the household ministry, the military ministry, or the ministry for public work. This theoretical framework from the begin of Ming was not possible to be exerted for longer generations. The weakness of later emperors and the central government was reflected in the inability by the local government to collect taxes without relying on the help of the local gentry. The state-implemented definition of a family's economical activities began to dissolve from the begin of 15th century on. Peasant families became victim of the gentry and had to serve them as tenant farmers. Many peasants were so poor that they fled to the pirates, engaged in smuggling and in the forbidden exploiting of mines. The same problem touched the military and artisan families that had to serve the state for salaries less than market prices. The intention of the early Ming government to be free from the task of recruiting peasant soldiers during times of war, had to be given up, and the government turned back to the traditonal recruitment use. State employed artisans - working in state run manufacturies like the porcelain factories of Jingdezhen 景德鎮/Jiangxi - became less and less because they bought themselves free or engaged in private business. Social unrests and rebellions were notorious from the 15th century on, some of them were headed by religious leaders, but most of these rebellions were economically determined, like the miners uprising of Deng Maoqi 鄧茂七 in 1448 and the rebellion of Li Zicheng 李自成 that eventually lead to the end of Ming Dynasty. Song Dynasty officials had developed paper money during the 11th century, long before Western countries introduced paper money. But the Ming Dynasty was the last to make widespread use of paper money: it was not convertible into coins and therewith suffered of gallopping inflation rates. From the 15th century on, silver bars (liang 兩, by the Westerners called tael, a Malay word) began to replace the paper money and served as the usual big currency - apart from the small copper coins - until the end of Qing Dynasty. Silver had to be imported from America, another proof for Chinese navigation techniques, and an example that widespread navigation and commerce did not cease in spite of the piracy attacks in the East China Sea. Ming China was the greatest importing and exporting nation of the 17th century world. The social mobility - forced by the bad economic situations on the countryside - lead to a growing of the cities especially in the lower Yangtze area. Immigrating peasants changed their profession to become merchants, artisans sold their products from small manufacturies in their small shops. Many people from the countryside were also employed in private or state run manufacturies producing paper, porcelain, cotton or silk fabric, or on the pre-indstrial tea, sugar cane and tobacco (introduced from the Americas) plantations. Technical improvements like silk looms and agrarian tools supported the begin of industrialisation in many fields of the Chinese economy. But these developments also lead to the upcoming of a class of rich bankers and finance people as well as that of an urban proletarian population.
Social Structure
The Ming Dynasty social structure had evolved over hundreds of years and was influenced by Confucian thought. Before the Ming Dynasty, China was divided into four classes: merchants, farmers, artisans, and gentry. In the Ming Dynasty, city life was further established, which led to economic and urban development. There were four occupations in Ming society and they were: Shi, Nong, Gong, and Shang.
The Shi: In Ancient China, the shi class was considered to be as an elite class of people, who had the privileged to ride in command battles. The shi class also became less aristocratic and more bureaucratic due to the highly competitive exams during the Song Dynasty. Moreover, the widespread printing through woodblock enhanced the spread of knowledge among the literate in society, enabled more people to vie for a prestigious degree. The people of shi class was highly respected in the society because they represented wisdom and education.
The Nong: The Nong were the peasant farmers. They played a highly significant role to the empire, because they were considered the producers of food which sustained the empire. The Nong was also seen as a vital and productive social class in the Ming Dynasty.
The Gong: The Gong were artisans and craftsmen. They were much like famers, however, they had the skills to make goods of daily use for the society. Artisans and craftsmen were either government-employed or worked privately. Moreover, since they had skills, which was passed on from generation to generation, they were more respected than merchants.
The Shang: They were the merchants and traders and they only traded and transported the food and goods made by the Nong and the Gong class. Therefore, a lot of the merchants did buy lands to command more respect in the society. However, most of the population believed that the merchants were only motivated by greed and they did not contribute the greater good of the society.
In the time before the Ming dynasty, the Shi was the most respected class in society except emperors and officials. But during the Ming dynasty, the capitalism helped the Shang which was the lowest class rise and more and more common people took part in businesses.
