Ming Dynasty
明
1368 - 1644
Overview
Last Han Chinese Dynasty
 Aborted attempts at overseas expansion
 Beginning of sustained contact with the West
 Increasingly autocratic rule
 Factionalism, Eunuchs, and dynastic decline
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Establishing the Ming
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Zhu Yuanzhang (1328 – 1399)
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Hongwu (ruled 1368 – 1399)
Mendicant monk
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Joined an uprising against the Mongols
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Religiously inspired rebel groups
1351 – 1368 widespread rebellions against the Mongols
Joined Leadership of Red Turbans
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Captured Nanjing and obtained Confucian advisors
1368 took dynastic title and invoked the Mandate of
Heaven
Zhu Yuanzhang - Hongwu
Without his make-up?
Hongwu (1368 – 1399)
1368 – 1380 consolidate control and campaign
against the Mongols
 1380 Turning point in the early Ming
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Major political purges of former supporters
Revamped government
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Emperor is the sole coordinator of top echelon administration
 Eliminated the Secretariat, Censorate, and Chief Military Commission
1384 Civil Service Examinations reinstituted
 Rural Reforms
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Lijia system – sets of 110 households manage local tax
system
Yongle Emperor (r. 1402-24)
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Son of Hongwu
Usurped throne from his
nephew
Moved capital from Nanjing
to Beijing
Expand territory into
Manchuria and Vietnam
Voyages of Zheng He
1405-33
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1405 – 1433 Zheng He took seven separate voyages
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317 ships
28,000 men
Sailed as far as the Arabian Peninsula and east coast of Africa
The Chinese did NOT sail to the Americas
Chinese ship vs.
Columbus’s
Santa Maria
Map of Zheng He’s Voyages
Yongle’s Tribute
Sustained Contacts with the West
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Chinese control Contacts
Economic Benefits to China
 Inflow of Western Silver
 New world crops
Macau: Portuguese Trading
outpost 1517
Jesuit, Franciscan, and
Dominican Missionaries
Matteo Ricci, (1552-1610) 1601
permanent headquarters in
Beijing
Map of the World Prepared by
Matteo Ricci for Wanli Emperor
Ming in Decline
Wanli Emperor (r. 1572-1620)
Financial crisis
 Political paralysis
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Legacy of Hongwu’s reforms
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Government structure required a strong emperor
Late Ming
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Wanli’s withdrawal from government
Eunuch dictator Wei Zhongxian (1568-1627)
Donglin Faction
Peasant Rebellions
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Li Zicheng (1606 – 1645)
Zhang Xianzhong (died 1647)
Rise of the Manchus:
Founding of the Qing
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Downfall of the Ming
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Dynastic cycle
Enuch corruption
Li Zicheng 李自成 (1606-1645)
Route of Li Zicheng
Fall of the Ming
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Li Zicheng occupies Beijing 1644
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Wu Sangui
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“Shun Dynasty” April 1644
Opens Shanhaiguan
Dorgon enters Beijing June 1644
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Qing Dynasty restore “Confucian order”
Problems of Conquest Dynasty
Rise of the Manchus:
Founding of the Qing
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Rise of the Manchus
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Nurhaci (1558-1626) (努尔哈赤)
Subordinate to Ming
Tribal groups
Consolidate control
Banner System (八旗)
Chinese bureaucratic structure
General Wu Sangui, 吳三桂 (1612-78)