Chapter 14: Eastern Eurasia By the Kangs

Ming Empire 1368-1500

Ming Under Hongwu 1368-1398 1368- Zhu Yuanzhang (Hongwu) created Ming, from his rebellion against Mongol Yuan. Slowdown of technological change with less rivals/warfare. Highly centralized, militarily superior. Radical Buddhist beliefs with Confucianism to justify intimidation of remaining Mongols. Rejected the Mongols with nationalism, and imperial capital at Nanjing on Yangzi, rather than Beijing. Rejection of Yuan: Hongwu closed border and created import limits to stop relations made with Mongol trade. Shift from paper money to silver payment. Kept Yuan government: Mongol communicators, provincial structure. Muslims to make calendars and Nanjing observatory, continued Mongol calendar.

Ming After Hongwu 1403-1424: Imperial prince takes over as Yongle. Returned capital to Beijing. Architectural improvements for Forbidden City, sponsored encyclopedia projects, Zheng He voyages to prove worthiness. Restored economy with Middle East. Annam became Ming province and inspires imperial eunuch Zheng He and his exploits (under Yongle). Zheng He’s voyages (Arabia, NE Africa, Madagascar) to demand taxes/allegiance to Ming from Southeast Asian Chinese and establish commerce again. Effective ambassador because he was Muslim. No trade, but 50 tributary states added as well as exotic animals. Zheng He’s expeditions involved huge ships, and a survey of nearly all of Indian Ocean. Song period junks and compasses. Japanese piracy and Mongol threat in the N and W.

Zheng He Voyages

Ming Technology Innovation less important (esp. agriculture) than Song. Slowing technology from Yuan: Mongol conquest brought peace and less weapon pressure. Loss of knowledge on how to create bronze/steel. Copper, iron, steel became expensive to keep value of coins; shipbuilding declined after 1424. Wood became expensive (houses, coffins for expanding population). Yuan: Few government positions, many commercial pursuits. Ming: reactivated examination system, deprived economy of educated men. Population growth from 60 to 100 million, created a higher pressure for staple agriculture (wheat, millet, barley in North, rice in South) rather than commercial agriculture that produced profits. Fear of technology transfer in government; application of technology discouraged. Printed books from Korea, superior steel from Japan. Korea surpassed in firearms, ships, weather and calendar sciences. Japan surpassed in mining and metallurgy.

Ming Culture 1400s: Cultural brilliance/creativity. Luo Guanzhong, author of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Porcelain making- blue on white patterns “Ming ware” stimulated from motifs of India, C. Asia, Middle East. Other Ming goods: furniture, lacquered screens, silk.

Korea 1231-1500 Koryo 고려 1200s- To defeat Southern Song, Mongols looked for E. Asian naval launching sites to block Song sea trade. 1231- Mongols attacked, the leader of prominent Korean family became military commander/king’s protector. Korea engaged in a war of over 20 years. They lost the 900 C.E. printing blocks of Tripitaka (대장경) at Hwangnyong-sa (황령사). 1258- Korean military commander killed by underlings, Koryo king surrendered to Mongols and was joined by marriage. 1300s- Koryo kings mostly of Mongolian descent and were comfortable with language, customs. Direct influence from Yuan China (Neo-Confucianism, Chan Buddhism (선불교)). Isolated until Mongols, who facilitated cotton growing, and arrival of gunpowder, calendar making, eclipse prediction, vector calculation, celestial clocks at Seoul (C. Asia). Encouraged rise of educated class.

Yi 이 1392- Successor of Koryo, which collapsed due to Yuan’s collapse. Land surveys, military garrisons, taxation like Mongols. Like Ming, revived the study of Confucian classics, which was primary factor in printing technology. Koreans had Chinese woodblock printing since 700s; less Korean men could read than those in China at the time. 1300s, movable/ceramic type may have been invented in Korea. 1400s- Yi printers, with king, developed device to anchor type to printing plate with copper frames rather than beeswax. Legibility was improved, and rapid reproduction possible. Very high literacy rate with printing technology and han’gul (한글) writing system. Redesigned/invented instruments to measure wind speed, rainfall, and augmented the clock at the royal observatory at Seoul. Commercial agriculture interest improved fertilizer, transplanting seedlings in rice paddies, and the engineering of reservoirs. Cotton was main cash crop, valued highly. Advanced rapidly more than China with cotton gins and spinning wheels. Late 1300s- Cannons on patrol ships with gunpowder-driven arrow launchers (gunpowder information taken from China by subterfuge).

Japan 1274-1500 1274- A storm at Hakata Bay on Kyushu sent back the Mongol forces and stopped them from conquering Japan. At the time, organized under Kamakura Shogunate (1185) . The shogun (military leader) gave land to those who paid tribute/soldiers. Balancing of power among regional warlords, but decentralizing. Mongol threat brought them together. Khubilai sent ambassadors, but they were executed. The shogun centralized his military government in response. National system to move resources west rather than east to imperial/shogunal centers due to construction of defensive fortifications on west coast. 1281- The fortifications held off the Mongols and after typhoon, sent by what the Japenese believe was kamikaze (“wind of the Gods”), Mongols don’t come back again. Continued to create coastal defense and consolidate Japanese warrior elite though Mongols had given up. Stimulated national infrastructure. 1333-1338: Emperor Go-Daigo tried to reclaim power from shoguns, and after the civil war, Ashikaga Shogunate was established at Kyoto. Relaxed political authority with application of technologies that increased productivity (water wheels, plows, Champa rice). Zen Buddhism. 1477- Onin War created devastation to Shogunate. Partnerships between warlords and merchants to strengthen their own towns. Books and porcelain imported from China. Swords and fan exported.

Vietnam Annam (N. Vietnam) used to be subject of Tang Empire. China affected its culture. Champa was close with the Indian Ocean trading networks. India affected its culture. In Song period, Annam was no longer subject of China, but Champa entered trade/tribute relationship and distributed Champa rice into E Asia. 1400- Old conflicts resurfaced after fall of Yuan and Annam/Champa were at war. Ming troops occupied Hanoi of Annam and installed a puppet government of 30 years before Annam destroyed it in a wage for independence. It returned to tributary status. 1500- Annam defeated Champa; ancestor of modern Vietnam was created. New state, still called Annam, had Chinese elements like a Confucian bureaucratic government and examination system. But the Vietnamese legal code kept the tradition fo group landowning and village descion making and women’s property rights.

Basically… China: Mongols standardized Chinese elite, and was enriched by new access to influences from C. Asia and Middle East. Ming brought population recovery, and the reversal of the Hongwu period stimulated industries (porcelain). Korea: Commercial growth with connection to China through Mongols. Printing innovations helped spread of knowledge. Stimulated industries with cotton, mining, forestry. Japan: Decentralized military rule of shogunate was reversed with Mongol threat, reinforcing the status of warrior elites and promoting nationalism. Increased productivity and overseas trade (metallurgy, ceramics) produced a wealthy Ashikaga period. Vietnam: When Ming became distracted with the Mongol powers of the North, Annam threw off China and took Champa.