Chapter 16

The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644

• _{The Ming dynasty began with the overthrow of the Mongols in China}

• _{China extended its rule into Mongolia and central Asia, and briefly}

re-conquered Vietnam under the Ming emperors.

• _{Ming rulers ran an effective government, using a centralized}

bureaucracy staffed by officials who had taken the civil service examination.

• _{Ming emperors set up a nationwide school system.}

• _{They completed the Grand Canal. The economy flourished.}

• _{Emperor Yong Le began construction of the Imperial City—known today}

as the Forbidden City in Beijing in 1406.

• _{The Imperial City was the home of China’s emperors for nearly 500}

years.

• _{Led by the court official Zheng He, China made seven voyages of}

exploration between 1405 and 1433.

• _{The fleet visited the western coast of India and city-states of East Africa.}

• _{The voyages produced great profits, which alarmed Confucian}

traditionalists who thought trading was an unworthy activity.

• _{The emperor was unimpressed with the Europeans, whom he}

considered barbarians.

– He viewed foreign rulers as “younger brothers” of the Chinese emperor, who was seen as the Son of Heaven.

– After outraging the Chinese with their behavior, the Portuguese were Expelled

• _{F. Highly educated Jesuit missionaries made the trip to China and}

impressed Chinese officials with such devices as clocks and eyeglasses.

– The Jesuits were impressed with Chinese architecture and the printing of books.

– More importantly, both sides benefited from the exchange of ideas.

•

The Ming dynasty declined due to a series of

weak rulers, government corruption, high

taxes, low crop yields, peasant unrest, and a

major epidemic in the 1630s.

•

The suffering from the epidemic in part caused

the peasant revolt led by Li Zicheng in 1644.

•

He occupied Beijing, the capital, and the last

•

The Manchus, a farming and hunting people

created the Qing (“pure”) dynasty.

•

The term martial arts refers to arts of combat and

self-defense.

–

They are a significant part of Asian history and culture.

–

Chinese martial arts were highly visible already during

the Han dynasty.

–

Later, a Zen Buddhist monastery began developing

The Qing Dynasty

• _{The Chinese resisted the new Manchu rulers.}

• _{Rebels seized the island of Taiwan.}

•_{To more easily identify rebels, the government ordered all Chinese men}

to adopt Manchu dress and hairstyles.

•_{Under penalty of death, they were to shave their foreheads and braid}

their hair into a pigtail called a queue.

• _{The Manchus were accepted gradually, and the Qing dynasty flourished.}

•_{A series of strong emperors corrected social and economic ills, and}

The Qing cont.

• _{maintained the Ming political system.}

–_{The Qing government sold trade privileges to the Europeans but, to}

limit contact between foreigners and the Chinese, they confined the traders to a small island, only for certain months of the year.

• _{The Manchus dealt in two ways with the fact that they were ethnically}

and culturally different from their subjects:

–_{(1) They preserved their own identities by having a different legal}

status, maintaining large landholdings, and forming separate Manchu military units called banners.

–_{(2) They brought Chinese into the top ranks of the imperial}

Section 2

• _{The population grew from 80 to 300 million between 1390 and}

the end of the 1700s.

– _{long period of peace and stability.}

– _{faster-growing species of rice increased the food supply.}

• _{Manufacturing and trade increased during this period.}

– _{Government controlled trade and manufacturing and levied}

Daily Life

• _{The Confucian emphasis on family.}

– _{The family met its members’ needs, the members were}

expected to sacrifice their individual desires for the good of the entire family.

• _{The elderly were highly respected and cared for.}

• _{The clan of up to hundreds of related families was also}

important.

• _{A clan council and religious and social activities linked the}

Women’s roles

•

Women were thought inferior to men.

•

Only males were educated and had careers.

•

She could not divorce or inherit property.

Cultural Developments

•

Traditional Chinese culture reached new heights in

the Ming and Qing dynasties.

–

A new literary form developed = the social novel.

–

The Golden Lotus

criticism of the excesses of the

powerful and wealthy.

–

The Dream of the Red Chamber, written by Cao

Xuegin

is still considered China’s best popular

novel.

• _{The most}

outstanding example of the period’s

architecture is the

Imperial City in Beijing.

–_{The Imperial City is an immense walled compound with a}

maze of apartments, offices, and stately halls.

– _{It became known as the Forbidden City because}

•

. The most famous decorative art of the Ming

era was blue-and-white porcelain.

•

Europeans collected it

Section 3 Japan and Korea

• _{The Three Great Unifiers}

• _{Oda Nobunaga seized the capital of Kyoto and placed the}

shogun under his control.

• _{Toyotomi Hideyoshi moved the capital to Osaka. By 1590, he}

had persuaded most of the daimyo to accept his authority.

• _{Tokugawa Ieyasu, the powerful daimyo of Edo, took the title}

of shogun

– _{Tokugawa shoguns remained in power at Edo, their capital,}

• _{The first Jesuit missionary, Francis Xavier, arrived in 1549.}

• _{Within 50 years, thousands of Japanese had converted to}

Christianity.

• _{The Jesuit practice of destroying shrines caused a reaction,}

and Hideyoshi prohibited Christian activities in his lands.

• _{Finally, Tokugawa Leyasu expelled the missionaries and}

Tokugawa Rule

Japan’s feudal system

•

The state was divided into about 250 territories called

hans, or domains.

– _{In the hostage system, daimyo had to maintain two}

residences—one in their own lands and one in Edo, where the shogun lived.

• _{During the Great Peace, many samurai who had served the}

Economic and Social Changes

•

– _{A merchant class emerged, and banking and a paper money}

system developed.

• Most peasants experienced declining profits and rising costs and taxes.

• Many had to become tenants or to work as hired help.

• _{Almost seven thousand peasant revolts against high taxes}

The class system

• _{The four main classes: warriors, peasants, artisans, and}

merchants. Intermarriage was forbidden.

• _{The emperor and court were at the top of the social hierarchy.}

• _{Next came the warrior, shogun, daimyo and samurai}

• _{Ronin, were warriors without masters who traveled around in}

• _{Next down were farmers, who had a privileged position but}

were often poor.

• _{Artisans such as carpenters and swordmakers came next.}

• _{the lowest class was the merchants because they profited}

from the labor of others.

•

At the very bottom were Japan’s outcasts, the eta.

Tokugawa Culture

•

The genre of popular literature written by and for the

townspeople emerged

•

The works of Ihara Saikaku are the best examples of

this new urban fiction.

•

His greatest novel,

Five Women Who Loved Love,

tells of five

merchant-class women searching for love.

•

Matsuo Basho was the greatest of all Japanese poets,

writing exquisite haiku and other verses.

• A new world of urban

entertainment gave rise to Kabuki theater.

• _{It emphasized action, music, and}

dramatic gestures.

• _{The early plays dealt with the}

world of urba

• From fear that such theater might corrupt morals, government

officials did not permit women to appear on stage.

• _{A class of male actors took the}