Global Trade
Truly global – Americas
Columbian Exchange
Indian, Atlantic, Pacific
Oceans
Atlantic Slave Trade
Mercantilism
Cultural and Intellectual
Developments
Renaissance
Scientific Revolution
Enlightenment
Humanism
Exploration
Neo-Confucianism
Sailing technology
Printing press
Gunpowder developments
Mining
Absolutism
Centralized government, bureaucracy, divine right
EX: Hongwu, Tokugawa, Sultans, Mughal
(Akbar), King Louis XIV, Osei Tutu (Asantehene)
The Big Picture
1450-1750
Consumerism
Sugar, Silver, Slaves
Rise of Europe
Portugal and Spain led the way
Northern Europe looks outward
Search for new trade routes
Gold, God, Glory
Colonization of Latin America
Protestant Reformation/Counter
Reformation
Coercive Labor
Slavery
Serfdom
Mita System

Do Now:
Create a timeline on your handout of major events in Chinese history
1. Kublai Khan, a Mongol, establishes the Yuan dynasty (1271 AD)
2. Shang dynasty established – oracle bones used (1766 BC)
3. Han Dynasty adopts Confucianism (206 BC)
4. China Experiences a Golden Age – Song Dynasty (907 AD)
5. China develops a feudal system during the Zhou dynasty (1122 BC)
6. The Qin dynasty adopts Legalism (221 BC)
7. The Ming dynasty restores Chinese rule in China (1368 AD)
8. Han Dynasty collapses (220 AD)
9. Tang Dynasty unites China (618 AD)

1766 BC
Shang
Dynasty established
221 BC
Qin
Dynasty adopts
Legalism
220 AD
Han
Dynasty collapses
1368
Ming Dynasty
907
Song Dynasty
Golden Age
Restores Chinese
Rule
1122 BC
Feudalism under Zhou
206 BC
Han
Dynasty
Adopts
Confucianism
0
618 AD
Tang Dynasty unites China
1271
Mongols
Establish
Yuan
Dynasty

1368-1644
• Recovery and
Repair
• Rebuilding of a Dynasty
• Reconnaissance for an Empire

Kublai Khan
• Black Death Plague devastated China – 1340s
• Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty suffered defeats in
Japan, Vietnam and Java.
• Kublai Khan’s successors were weak.
• Corruption, high taxes on peasants, forced labor, piracy and crime increased.
• Many groups emerged to challenge Mongol rule.
China had a total population of more than 120 million, but a 1393 census found only 65 million Chinese surviving. Some of that missing population was killed by famine and upheaval in the transition from Yuan to Ming rule, but many millions died of bubonic plague.

The New Ming Dynasty looked to its past to enhance its future!
• Focus on strong Centralized Government
– Recovered Order
• Reintroduced Confucian Bureaucracy,
Civil Service Exam
• Erased all signs of Mongol rule
• Abolished Chief Minister position –
Emperor had Absolute Power!
Reading: What reforms did Hongwu make to root out corruption?

Rediscovered their Identity!
Emperor and
Royal Family
• Re-established Confucian Patriarchal social structure – Neo-Confucianism
• Established Confucian schools and exams to select officials
Scholar Gentry
Class
• Block printing led to wider production of printed materials –
Novels
Peasant Farmers and
Artisans
Merchants
•
Jesuit missionaries (Mateo Ricci) introduced
European technology and beliefs.
Reading: Describe the various roles of women in Ming society.

• Focus on agricultural foundation
– Recovery of Population
• Repaired canals, reservoirs and irrigation system, planted trees –
Repaired Infrastructure
• Efficient tax collection. Hongwu ordered surveys and censuses to collect data
• Active traders in the Indian Ocean – ports of
Hangzhou, Guangzhou
• Major products were silk, cotton, fine porcelain
• Traded for silver with Europe and Japan
• Stressed internal trade
Economic Recovery
Recovered sense of stability!

Emperor Yongle
Protection of the Dynasty
• Rebuilt & added to Great Wall
• Repaired the Grand Canal
• Wrote “Yongle Encyclopedia” a Confucian manuscript

• Established a new capital city,
Beijing, and built magnificent
Imperial residence known as the Forbidden City
• Government regulation of trade – production of porcelain

• 1405 - Emperor Yongle commissioned the building of an enormous fleet for aggressive maritime expeditions.
• Led by Zheng He, a Muslim Eunuch
• Explore trade opportunities in
“Western Ocean”
• Diplomacy
– Opened relations with 200 new societies
• Demonstrate strength, Power,
Tribute System:
– Collect tribute, gifts
– Rituals of submission
Admiral Zheng He

The flagship of the fleet was a nine-masted vessel measuring 440 feet, carrying
1,000 men. In comparison, Columbus’ St. Maria was eighty-five feet.

Land travel not reliable after fall of Mongols
Tap into Indian
Ocean Basin
Trade
.
Calicut

Period 4: 1450-1750
1368-1644
• Recovery and
Repair
• Rebuilding of a Dynasty
• Emperor Hongwu looked to past Confucianism to bring order
• Emperor Yongle rebuilt Great Wall and Grand Canal to continue power of the dynasty
• Reconnaissance for an Empire
Major Changes
• Zheng He went on 7 voyages to gain respect and tribute for Ming China
• Focus on sea-based Indian Ocean trade rather than land-based Silk Road
• Creation of northern capital (Beijing) and Forbidden City
• Building of massive naval fleet and arrival of European merchants
• Arrival of Christianity by Jesuit missionaries
Continuities
• Use of Confucianism and mandate of heaven, collection of tribute
• Threats from nomads in the north
• Role of Women as inferior (Confucianism)
• Merchants having low status – land ownership = status
• Global need for Chinese goods (Silk, porcelain, tea, sugar, etc)

Close: Explain how the decision to destroy the Treasure
Fleet was a major turning point in history!
I.
Politics – Arguments for ending voyages
B. Exploration was just one man’s interest (Emperor Yongle) not the push of an entire civilization.
was no need for exploration.
E. Suspicious of outside trade – could cause instability and undermine authority – creates problems, not opportunity.
F. Scholar-Gentry thought money and focus should be on protecting the

II.
Culture – Arguments for ending voyages
B.
Farming was more noble than trading.
2. Merchants could not perform religious rituals for ancestors overseas or Islam.

E.
Role of Women – did not want women in market place
1. Strict role for women as homemakers

1644-1911
Period 4: 1450-1750
After Zheng He died, the Treasure Fleets were dismantled and banned from being used. Government sponsored voyages ceased and all official records of
Zheng He’s travels were destroyed!
Why do you think the Chinese isolated themselves and discontinued the Treasure Fleet voyages?
Beginning of Ming Isolation
• Ming heavily restricted foreign trade and travel
• Foreign merchants allowed to trade only at few ports, during certain times
• Sought to preserve Chinese traditions
• Policies impossible to enforce; smugglers carried out brisk trade with foreign merchants

1644-1911

Document Interpretation
Dorgon’s Decree to the People of Peking (Beijing)
“We now occupy [the empire]. On behalf of your dynasty we took revenge upon the enemies of your ruler-father. We burned our bridges behind us, and we have pledged not to return until every bandit is destroyed. In the counties, districts, and locales that we pass through, all those who are able to shave their heads and surrender, opening their gates to welcome us, will be given rank and reward, retaining their wealth and honor for generations. But if there are those who disobediently resist us when our great armies arrive, then the stones themselves will be set ablaze and all will be massacred”.
How will Dorgon and the Manchus rule
China? Which words from the document support your findings?
1644 Top Source: The fall of the Imperial China.
New York: The Free Press. 1975: 81.

Qing Government
As foreign invaders, the
Manchus faced years of resistance from Chinese subjects still loyal to the Ming!
• Qing bureaucracy and court ceremonies similar to Ming
• Continued Confucian rituals and allowed Ming officials to keep their positions
• Continued civil service exams and were generous patrons to the arts
• Lowered taxes and state labor demands.
• Repaired infrastructure – roads, bridges, dikes, canals, irrigation works

A Chinese Empire?
•
Expanded the Empire to include
Tibet, Mongolia, Taiwan and
Manchuria
•
Controlled Korea and Vietnam as
Vassal tributary states .
•
Expansion was seen as a defensive necessity against nomadic invaders
•
Signed Treaty of
Nerchinsk (1689) that marked
Chinese-Russian border

“Lose your hair, or lose your head!”
Qing Society
• Manchus made up less than 2% of the population – Manchus prohibited from marrying Chinese
• Men had to wear hair in traditional Manchu style called a queue – form of submission
• Women remained confined to the household – footbinding and female infanticide was common

The Reign of
Emperor Kangxi
1661-1722
• Strong and effective 61 year reign kept tensions low
• Kangxi was a significant
Confucian scholar
• Patronized arts, opened
Confucian schools and a national library
• Created encyclopedia and a dictionary of history and thought
• Wanted to be benevolent
Confucian ruler – lowered taxes, expanded empire
• Tolerant of Christians and interested in foreign ideas and technology
Could compare to Kublai
Khan, Emperor Hongwu, and King Louis XIV

Ethnocentrism and Isolation leads to decline
Port city of Macao
1724 – Emperor banned
Christianity when the Pope condemned Confucianism
• By 1750, Qing Dynasty was declining– corruption, crime and banditry – rising population
• Emperor Qianlong continued Ming policy of isolation, restricting foreign trade – some merchants,
compradors, became wealthy and influential
• Manchu saw Chinese civilization, products, as superior, expected foreigners to trade on China’s terms

The Qing Dynasty
Portrait of a scene from Famous Qing novel,
The Dream of the Red Chamber, mid 1700s
• Brought Stability to China – peace and prosperity
• Expanded borders and dominated region
• Great rule of Kangxi led to golden age
• Continued policy of isolation and strict economic regulation