China (1500-1800)
Ming Empire (1368-1644)
Cultural Brilliance
Economic achievements
However: factors also contributed to exhaust Ming economy, weaken government,
technical stagnation
Example: drop in annual temperature (1645-1700)
Led to: agricultural distress, migration, disease, uprisings
Climate change also led to Mongols and Manchus protecting lands from Ming control –
took more land on Ming border
External:
New World Silver into China (1500s – early 1600s) – inflation and taxes = rural
population really affected
Internal factors:
Disorder and inefficiency in urban industrial sector
Example: Jingdezhen ceramics factories
No growth in agriculture
Low population growth
Ming Collapse:
Border threats: North and West
-Reunified Mongol threat
Korea: Ming incurred heavy financial losses
Reason: helped Koreans defeat a Japanese invasion
Native rebellions in Southwest China
Japanese Pirates on Southeast Coast
Rebel Li Zicheng overthrew Ming (1644)
Manchus (Qing) entered Beijing
-Order
-Claimed China
Manchus – only a small population in China
-Depended on diverse people ruling empire
Chinese – major of population and majority of official in Qing administration
Europeans wanted trade in China – China slow on international trade, especially the
imperial court was very slow on policies towards international trade
16th Century = Portugal, Spain, Dutch – limited access to Chinese trade
17th Century = Dutch East India Company – major European trader in Indian Ocean
Catholic Missionaries – Travelled with Spanish and Portuguese traders
-Had success in converting Chinese elites
Jesuits came to China too:
-Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) mastered the Chinese language and culture = gained
access to imperial court
Qing Dynasty (1644-1912)
↓
“pure”
(Manchu Dynasty) – people from Manchuria invaded China.
Emperor Kangxi (1661-1722)
-Executed chief agent and took formal control of government in 1669 at 16 years old
-Intellectual prodigy
Successful military commander
Expanded territory
Stability in government
Made China’s frontier safe.
Enhanced science, medicine, and math.
Kangxi ventured outside the Forbidden City many times.
Queues – pigtails worn by Manchu men and Chinese men under Manchu rule.
-Showed submission to Manchu rule.
-Intermarriage between Chinese and Manchus were forbidden.
Incorporated Mongolian, Tibetan, Korean, Chinese ideas and technical knowledge
European knowledge and technology
Example: mapmaking, astronomy, pharmaceutical knowledge
-Jesuits taught these fields
-Jesuits revised religious teachings = allowed Chinese converts to practice Confucian
ancestor worship
-Compromise really upset the Pope
-Chinese Transmission of technology to Europe:
Early form of inoculation against smallpox and management technology of huge imperial
porcelain factories
Chinese Influence:
Exchange of ideas between Qing and Jesuits flowed back and forth
Qing wealth increased = Europeans interested in silk, tea, porcelain, other decorative
items, and wallpaper
Jesuit descriptions of China led people wanting to visit China
Example: Voltaire = felt Qing Emperor was benevolent despots and philosopher-kings
-Felt Europeans can learn from China
Qing – eager to expand trade but wanted to tax trade and make it more efficient
Wanted to also control piracy and smuggling
Result: Qing - single market point for each foreign sector
For those coming into the South China Sea = Canton
-System worked well until late-1700s
Some other cities used as market points:
Macao, and Ningbo.
↓
Portuguese (1514)
Emperor Qian-long (1736-1795).
China reached its greatest in land size:
(Taiwan, Tibet, Chinese Central Asia, and Mongolia now included)
Late 1700s – British East India Company and other English traders believed China held a
vast market
-Europeans wanted unlimited profit
Also: British Parliament worried about the flow of British silver into China – opening
Chinese market = more English traders = will end nearly bankrupt British East India
Company
1793-1794: British Lord Macartney = diplomatic mission
-wanted China to open its market and reverse trade system
Failure:
Also Dutch, French, Russians also failed in opening Chinese restrictions
Qing Peace and temporary increase in agriculture
Reason = new American and African crops = population explosion (350 – 400 million in
late- 1700s)
Result:
Environmental stress, deforestation, erosion, silting of rivers and canals, flooding
It was localized misery, migration, increase in crime, and local rebellions
Territory and population increased
Number of officials remained the same
Qing depended upon local elites to maintain local order
Unable to:
-enforce tax regulations
-control standards for government jobs
-prevent decrease in revenues, increased corruption, and increase in banditry during the
late 1700s