China Packet #12
THE MING DYNASTY
After the defeat of emperor Kublia Khan, the Mongol dynasty in China weakened. In
1368, a peasant and his rebel army overthrew the last Mongol emperor, took the
name Hongwu (“totally warlike”), and founded the Ming Dynasty. Ming means
“brilliant” and lasted 300 years - until 1644. During this period, China grew to include
Korea, Mongolia and parts of Central and Southeast Asia.
To help him become popular and accepted by the people, Hongwu lowered taxes
and revived traditional Confucian principles in government and society. He brought
back and improved the civil service exam to make sure that he could hire qualified
bureaucrats to work for his government. Hongwo eliminated anyone who he saw as
challenging his authority; over time he had thousands of rivals killed.
When Hongwu died in 1398, his son Yonglo became emperor, ruling from 1402 to
1424. Yonglo moved the Ming capital to Beijing and built a vast imperial city there
surrounded by high walls. This city complex became known as the Forbidden City
because most people were forbidden from entering it. Some of the Forbidden City’s
more famous structures were the “Gate of Divine Might,” the “Palace of Heavenly
Purity,” and the “Hall of Supreme Harmony.” This city within a city was surrounded
by a moat and included dozens of palaces, halls, temples, homes and other
buildings. Only the golden-colored rooftops could be seen by the common people
who had to stay outside the 35-foot high walls.
To extend China’s influence, Yonglo sent China’s own version of Christopher
Columbus on seven voyages around the Indian Ocean between 1405 and 1433.
The commander was a Chinese Muslim admiral named Zheng He. He and 300
ships called junks docked at major ports in over 50 countries in Southeast Asia and
Africa where he left gifts from the emperor and demanded tribute in return. Most of
his voyages were peaceful, but on the third voyage, the ruling family in Ceylon
demanded huge payments of Chinese silk and gold in exchange for protecting
Zheng He’s ships. Zheng He marched on the capital, took the royal family captive,
and set sail for China. Only after they agreed to kowtow (kneel 3 times and touch
their foreheads to the ground 9 times to show respect) to the Chinese emperor were
they allowed to go home.
Zheng He returned to China with wonderful gifts from the places he visited. Besides
gems, metal, medicine, cloth and agricultural products, he brought back exotic
animals such as ostriches, lions, tigers, zebras and giraffes (which the Chinese
thought were unicorns!) These animals formed the zoo that is still in Beijing today.
Chinese junks were amazing ships. Held together with iron nails, they were the
largest seagoing vessels in the world at the time. Called “whales,” they had 5 huge
sails, several decks and measured 400 feet in length. Passengers slept in
comfortable cabins with bathrooms. Crew members took their families on extra long
voyages and grew vegetables and spices on the decks in huge wooden tubs. Junks
carried firefighting equipment, lifeboats and scientific instruments for taking samples
of sea life from the ocean floor. Warships were equipped with weapons, such as
catapults for tossing firebombs and bamboo tubes for firing small gunpowder
rockets. The Chinese invented rudders for steering, the use of multiple masts, and
the world’s first compasses carved from lodestone. These ideas didn’t make their
way to Europe for over 200 years.
After Yonglo died in 1424, the Ming emperors lost interest in exploration. The cost of
the expeditions was high, and critics argued that since Chinese culture was far
superior to all others, such contacts were useless. They claimed that China could
only be corrupted by contact with foreigners and foreign cultures. This desire to be
isolated from the rest of the world would lead to their downfall 400 years later…
THE QING DYNASTY
In the late 1500s, the Ming dynasty lost the confidence of the people because of
weak rulers who raised taxes and crop failures resulting in famine. Rebellions broke
out and in 1644, the Manchu people from the northwest (Manchuria) seized Beijing
and started the Qing (“pure”) Dynasty. The Manchus required Chinese men to wear
their hair in the Manchu style, with the front of the head shaved and a long braid
down the back called a queue. Any man who refused was punished.
Westerners – especially the British - were eager to buy Chinese teas, silks and
porcelain, but none of their trade items interested the Chinese. As a result,
Westerners had to pay with silver. In the 1700s, the British East India Company
controlled England’s trade with China. They were allowed to dock only in specific
port cities in the south, and forbidden to travel in China or even talk with ordinary
Chinese people. When England petitioned the Qing emperor to allow more trade in
the country, the emperor banned the petitioner from China for life and executed the
Chinese man who had written the request for him. I guess that meant “NO!”
The Brits were angry about this and the fact that they had to pay silver for the goods
they wanted so badly. In the late 1700s, they discovered a product that the Chinese
wanted after all: opium, a powerful drug extracted from poppy seeds and flowers.
Originally, it was used as a diarrhea medicine, but mixed with tobacco and smoked,
it was an extremely addictive drug. Opium was outlawed, but The British East India
Company bought it from producers in Turkey and India and smuggled it into China.
By 1800, it is estimated that one in ten Chinese was addicted to opium.
The Qing emperor appealed to Queen Victoria of Britain, asking her to stop the
smuggling, but she refused. The Chinese official, Lin Zexu confiscated and
destroyed 30,000 chests of British opium. British sailors killed a Chinese civilian and
refused to turn them over for punishment; instead, they declared war on China. The
Opium War lasted from 1839-1842. Because China had been isolated from the
world for so long, their war technology was sadly out of date. They tried to fight
British guns and iron-clad steamships with bows, arrows, spears and swords. In the
end, the British won and forced the Chinese to sign a humiliating treaty. China had to
pay the cost of the war (21 million dollars), give Hong Kong to Britain as a colony,
and open up 5 more ports for trade. Worse than that, the Chinese had to allow the
Brits to continue to sell them opium. China’s control of its own borders and its own
affairs was over.