Andrea Nebhut and McKayla Ramsey Ming Empire 1368- 1500 Andrea Nebhut and McKayla Ramsey

Establishment Founded by Zhu Yuanzang, who ruled as Hongwu Former monk, soldier and bandit Capital was placed at Nanjing on the Yangzi River

Changes from Yuan Changes made were more ideological than structural Rejected culture of the Mongols Closed off trade with Central Asia and the Middle East Tried to reassert Confucianism Attempted to switch from the use of paper money to silver coins

Continued from Yuan Employed Mongol translators Yuan Provincial Structure Hierarchal professional categories The Mongol calendar

Yongle’s Coup Returned capital to Beijing The Forbidden City: Enlarged and improved imperial complex Khubilai had built The Forbidden City: Central part of the complex Had moats, outer vermilion walls, golden roofs, alabaster bridges Intended to be a combination fortress, religious site, bureaucratic center and imperial residential part

Expeditions to SE Asia & Indian Ocean 1405-1433 Sponsored by the emperor Yongle Under eunuch admiral Zheng He He was Muslim, which allowed him to be an effective ambassador to the states of the Indian Subcontinent Goals: To reestablish trade links with Middle East Bring SE Asian countries and their oversea Chinese populations under Chinese control or, at least, strongly under their influence. He slaughtered community on Sumatra for resisting.

Expeditions Used routes that had been traveled before Imported luxury goods ex. exotic animals such as giraffes, which were a court favorite. Added 50 countries to China’s tributaries resulting in sporadic embassies to Beijing

End of Zheng He voyages Did not use new technology Much of it came from song period Accomplish long-distance navigation before the Europeans Should not be compared to European exporation Undertaken only as a personal project of the Yongle Emperor May have been to prove his worth Ended due to: Need to use limited resources for other projects. Such as defense against: Japanese pirates along coastline Mongols from the north and west Not the end of Chinese seafaring, but was the end of state’s organization and funding of such large-scale expeditions

Technology and Population Less technologically innovation than the Song This was especially true in agriculture Mongols brought peace removing need to manufacture weapons Metallurgy declined Lost knowledge of how to make high-quality bronze and steel Reasons for this: High cost of metals and wood Revival of civil service examination system Rewarded scholarship and administration Excess of laborers: pushed away commercial agriculture replacing it with staple crops Lack of pressure from technologically sophisticated enemies Fear of technology transfer state to the people or china to foreign nations Korea and Japan moved ahead of China in technological innovation Korea: firearms, shipbuilding, meteorology, calendar making Japan: mining, metallurgy, novel household goods

Ming Achievements Period of great wealth consumerism and cultural brilliance Developed vernacular novels: Water Margin: Based on the raucous performances of the Yuan period Romance of the Three Kingdoms: About a doomed war leader’s attempted to restore the Han empire Known for: Porcelain was among the most prized commercial products of Eurasia promoted by Ming industrial organization Furniture making Lacquered screens Silk