Ming and Qing Dynasty China (1450-1750)

Qing Cultural Issues

Ethic Manchus -2% of the population -legally made a distinct, privileged cultural group -Manchu nobility kept their titles, own large tracts of land, paid from government treasury -"Banners" special, Manchu-only military units, positioned in strategic places in China, bannermen given farmland as a reward Ethnic Chinese -prohibited from settling in Manchuria, males required to wear hair in a queu -retained all other cultural practices

Portuguese

First arrive in 1514, colonized Macao, Portuguese merchants were intermediaries in local trade networks between China and Japan, trade Chinese silk for Japanese silver

Qing Economics

Government Promotion and Ownership of local workshops producing metals, porcelain, and silk goods (semi-industrialization) -Trade: mostly with China and its tributary states, limited trade with Europeans- but missionaries expelled in early 1700s -3 ports open to trade (Ningbo, Canton, Macao)

Qing Population

by mid 1700s, population had risen to a level that is higher than ever before in China (150 million) maize and potatoes from New World

Severe Economic Problems

rapid inflation from silver influx, Dutch and English began to change trade structure in Asia, the climate cooled causing lower crop yields and starvation, gov raises taxes on peasants that are only payable in silver

Dynarchy

"balance" between Chinese and Manchu -Grand Secretariat (highest level of the central state bureaucracy) has 3 Chinese officials and 3 Manchu Officials -Provinces were roughly split between Manchu and Chinese governors -At district level and lower, Chinese fill bureaucracy (looks balanced but really isn't)

Hongwu

(1369-1398) and his son Yongle (1403-1424) -Return of traditional gov systems (Chinese bureaucracy, civil service exam, empire divided into provinces and villages) -Khanbaliq renamed Beijing (1404-1420) build Forbidden City -Grand Canal rebuilt (transport food to North) -Neo-Confucianism -85% pop rural (Yongle encourage resettlement in North- buffer from barbarians and increase food, money, and loyalty) -Re-conquest of territories (Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, North Vietnam, trib relation with Korea) -Population at pre-Yuan levels -Admiral Zheng He (1407-1433) -After 1433 China turn inwards (trade within China, trib states, Japan, Great Wall rebuilt and expanded)

Ming Dynasty

(1369-1644) Hongwu, Relationship with Europeans, Decline and Fall in Late 1500s, still has Mandate of Heaven, after Yuan Dynasty

Qing Dynasty

(1644-1911 CE), the last imperial dynasty of China which was overthrown by revolutionaries; was ruled by the Manchu people: began to isolate themselves from Western culture,

Kangxi

(1661-1722) -supported Neo-Confucianism ("Sacred Edict") -stabilized north and west frontier supported scholarships and the arts

Qing Taking Control

At first, native Chinese rebel against Manchu, Manchu order Chinese males to shave their heads except for a braid (queue) or face execution ("lose your hair or lose your head") Qing armies conquer more territories creating the modern boundaries of China

Relationship with Europeans

Portuguese, Spanish, Jesuit Missionaries

Decline of Ming Dynasty

Succession of corrupt and weak leaders, severe economic problems, massive peasant revolts, Jurchen invade Beijing

Spanish

arrive soon after Portuguese, trade South American silver for Chinese silk and porcelain, colonized the Philippines (Pacific trade base)

Jesuit Missionaries

came to China as Catholics, many brought European inventions/ novelties (eyeglasses, clocks, musical instruments) to demonstrate European power, just seen as novelties and adapted into Chinese courts, promoted Christianity by drawing parallels between Christian and Confucian beliefs, reports about what they saw increase European interest in China and goods

Succession of Corrupt and Weak Leaders

cause more peasant uprisings, cheating on civil service exam, infighting in the harem, reappearance of feudalism (elite own more land), more "barbarian" uprisings (Mongols and Jurchen- Ming gov tries to pacify by granting trade relations and making allies through arranged marriages)

Jurchen Invade Beijing

from Manchuria, defeat army of Li Tzucheng, leaders establish Manchu Dynasty

Massive Peasant Revolts

in early 1400s, end of Mind Dynasty in 1644, peasant revolt led by Li Tzucheng sacked Beijing, last Ming emperor hangs himself from tree outside of palace

Qing Government

mostly the same as previous dynasties, cemented by Emperor Kangxi (1661-1722) -Dynarchy, -Civil Service exam retained but slightly changed (Quotas based on ethnicity and province to keep a balance) became corrupt after rich families bought Confucian academy diplomas for their sons