Ming and Qing Dynasties

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

Ming Dynasty • By the time the first Portuguese ships dropped anchor off the Chinese coast in 1514, China had become the dominant power in the region under the rule of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). • In recognition of China’s power, vassal states from Korea to Southeast Asia paid their Ming overlords regular tribute, a payment by one nation to another to acknowledge submission. China expected the Europeans to do the same. The Ming rulers would not allow outsiders from distant lands to threaten the peace they’d won following the end of Mongol rule.

Hongwu • Real name is Zhu Yuanzhang, • Son of a peasant family; suffered much under the Mongol yoke • He commanded the rebel army that drove the Mongols out of China in 1368. • Became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. • Continued to rule the former Yuan capital of Nanjing in the south. • Restored agricultural lands devastated by war to erase all traces of the Mongol past; more rice production and improved irrigation; fish farms; cotton and sugar cane crops

Hongwu • He encouraged a return to Confucian moral standards even though he was poorly educated. • He improved imperial administration by restoring the merit-based civil service examination system, which the Mongols had discontinued. Only the most gifted and ambitious went on because the process was fiercely competitive (4,000 candidates competed for 150 degrees). Those who passed the imperial exams were eligible for the highest posts in the realm and were most revered of all Chinese, except members of the royal family. • Hongwu became a ruthless tyrant. He suspected plots against his rule everywhere.

Hongwu • He conducted purges in which many thousands of government officials were killed. Hongwu tried to impress all officials with the Honesty, loyalty, and discipline he expected of them by introducing the practice of public beatings for bureaucrats found guilty of corruption or incompetence. • He died in 1398. His son Yonglo (yung-lu) emerged and continued many of his policies. Yonglo moved the royal court to Beijing.

Confucian culture • modern concept of political nation state • Chinese defined by Confucian culture • civil service exam (605-1905) • social mobility • reward diligence, discipline, and willpower, but not talent or innovation • Law of avoidance

Confucian: Law of Avoidance • The rule of avoidance employed during the Sui Dynasty, and continued by subsequent Confucian governments, prohibited local officials from serving in their places of origin, so that family and friends would not influence them. Terms of service were for only three or four years, and parents and sons over fifteen could not accompany officials. Each prefecture sent delegates to an annual court assembly. (The Mughal Empire had a law of avoidance: Government officials were not allowed to serve in one jurisdiction for long so that they did not become too involved in local affairs and become stronger than the Emperor himself. After a period of time, employees of the Emperor were transferred and jurisdiction of service was thus rotated regularly. The implementation of this system in the Empire by Akbar helped in preventing corruption and favoritism. This method was discarded and forgotten by the later Emperors.)

Social hierarchy and mobility • scholar-officials, farmers, artisans, and merchants • scholar-official-landlord • learning, political power, and economic wealth • local elite (gentry) and lineage • lack of work ethic • literati’s long gown • foot-binding for women

Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644)

China’s Tributary System • Traditional system for managing foreign relations • The ``Central Kingdom” worldview • Ming dynasty had the most extensive tributary system (when a person or nation pays tribute as a sign of subjugation) • tributes from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and even West Asia and Africa

Conditions Under Neo-Confucian thinking • Insubordinates were strictly dealt with. Ex: Students that dared to dispute the findings of one of his instructors at the imperial academy were beheaded. This drove concerned students underground. • Women were also driven to underground activities to ameliorate their subordination and, if they dared, expand their career opportunities. • Hongwu was persuaded by the strong wives of his court. • In society at large, women had to settle for whatever status and respect they could win within the family. Their main success was in bearing male children. Daughters of upper-class families were taught to read and write by their parents or brothers. Poetry.

Zheng He’s fleet (1405 - 1433) • From 40 to 300 ships & 20,000 men • He had fighting ships, storage vessels, and huge “treasure” ships up to 440 feet long.

Zheng He • The ships crews numbered over 27,000 on some voyages. They included sailors, soldiers, carpenters, interpreters, accountants, doctors, and religious leaders. • His ships were like cities sailing from port to port. • Exploration = trade and commerce • Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and East Africa

Zheng He’s expeditions

Everywhere Zheng He went he distributed gifts, such as gold, silver, silk, and scented oils, to show Chinese superiority. • As a result, more than 16 countries sent tribute to the Ming court. • Many envoys traveled to China. • Still Chinese scholar-officials complained that these voyages wasted valuable resources. They noted that the Mongols were once again restless beyond the defenses of the Great Wall (which needed repair), it was hard to refute their insistence that the defense of the empire must come before frivolous sea exploration.

All Good Things Must Come to an End • After the seventh voyage ended in 1433, there were no more. • China withdrew into its self-sufficient isolation. • China’s official trade policies in the 1500s reflected its isolation. To keep the influence of outsiders to a minimum, only the government was to conduct foreign trade, through three coastal ports.

Foreign Trade • In reality, trade flourished up and down the coast. • Profit-minded Chinese merchants smuggled cargoes of silk, porcelain, and other valuable goods out of the country into the eager hands of European merchants. • Usually, Europeans paid for their purchases with silver—much of it from the mines in the Americas.

Industries such as silk making and ceramics grew rapidly • Manufacturing and commerce increased…However! • First: The whole idea of commerce offended China’s Confucian beliefs. Merchants, it was said, made their money “supporting foreigners and robbery.”

Second, Chinese economic policies traditionally favored agriculture. Taxes on agriculture stayed low, while taxes on manufacturing and trade skyrocketed!

Christian Missionaries Come to China • Accompanying European traders into China were Christian missionaries. • The missionaries brought Christianity as well as a variety of European inventions, including the clock and the prism. • The first missionary to have an impact was an Italian Jesuit, Matteo Ricci. He gained special favor at the Ming court through his intelligence and ability to speak and write Chinese. However, many educated Chinese opposed Christianity.

Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1912) • By 1600 the dynast was weakening due to ineffective leaders corrupt officials, and a government out of money. Higher taxes and bad harvests pushed millions of peasants into starvation. The last Ming emperor was Chongzhen. He did not realize how serious the rebel advance was until enemy soldiers were scaling the walls of the Forbidden City. • Ming dynasty fell in 1644 amid peasant uprisings and Manchu invasion that the Ming could not fend off. Qing begins.

Qing Dynasty • The Manchus took over Beijing, and the Manchu leader became China’s new emperor. • Like the Mongols before them, the Manchus took a Chinese name for their dynasty, the Qing (chihng) Dynasty. • They would rule China for more than 260 years and bring Tawain, Chinese Central Asia, Mongolia, and Tibet into China.

Ming and Qing Emperors Hongwu Kangxi Qian-long

Mandate of Heaven

The Mandate of Heaven postulates that heaven (天; Tian) would bless the authority of a just ruler, as defined by the Five Confucian Relationships, but would be displeased with a despotic ruler and would withdraw its mandate, leading to the overthrow of that ruler. The Mandate of Heaven would then transfer to those who would rule best. The mere fact of a leader having been overthrown is itself indication that he has lost the Mandate of Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven does not require that a legitimate ruler be of noble birth, and dynasties were often founded by people of modest birth (such as the Han dynasty and Ming dynasty).

China Under the Qing Dynasty • Many Chinese resisted rule by the non-Chinese Manchus and rebellions flared up periodically for decades. • Kangxi became the first emperor in 1661 and ruled for some 60 years. Kangxi reduced government expenses and lowered taxes. • He was a scholar and patron of the arts. He gained support of Chinese intellectuals by offering them government positions. • He also enjoyed the Jesuits at court. They informed him of the latest developments in science, medicine, and mathematics in Europe.

Qian-long (chyahn-lung) • Under Kangxi’s grandson Qian-long, who ruled from 1736-1795, China reached its greatest size and prosperity. • Qian-long often rose at dawn to work on the problems of the empire. These problems included armed nomads on its borders, Christian missionaries, and European merchants.

We’re in Dutch with the Chinese • Foreign states that wished to trade with China had to follow Chinese rules and trade only at special ports. • Dutch diplomats paid tribute to China’s emperor through gifts and by performing the required “kowtow” ritual, which was kneeling in front of the emperor and touching their heads to the ground nine times, the Dutch were able to take home porcelains and silks. By 1800, tea would make up 80% of China’s shipments to Europe.

The British are Coming! • The British also wanted to trade with China. • However, they did not like China’s trade restrictions. • In 1793, A British mission led by Lord George Macartney delivered a letter from King George III to Qian-long. The letter asked for a better trade arrangement, including Chinese acceptance of British manufactured goods. • Macartney refused to kowtow to the emperor, although he reportedly bowed on one knee…so, what happened?

Denied! Qian-long denied Britain’s request. As Qian-long made clear in a letter to the British king, China was self-sufficient.

Ming and Qing Dynasties