ming.md

Government in the Ming Dynasty

Legacies of the Hongwu Emperor

• During the 276 years of the Ming China's population doubled
• Destructive domestic warfare was largely avoided
• Great achievements education and philosophy, literature and art, reflected the high cultural level of the elite gentry society
• Did not attempt a continuation of the Song but tried in theory to go back to the models of Han and Tang

Hongwu Emperor

• The character of Ming dynasty began with the mentality of its founder, Zhu Yuanzhang
  • To maintain centralized control over the world's largest and most diversified state
  • He issued a flood of admonitions and regulations to guide his subject's conduct
• From his own experience, Hong Wu understood the situation of the farming villages and held down the land tax
  • He took a series of measures to help peasants
• But his economic vision was limited to the conventional Confucian view
  • His government tried to foster self-sufficient communities
  • No-new-taxes led inevitably to corruption

Good things about Hongwu

• The emperor had paid great attention to education
• The establishment of the National Academy
• Opened paths for complaints from ground level, and for the irregular promotion for talented personnel
• Great efforts for maintaining an efficient, uncorrupted administration

Bad things about Hongwu

• He was severe and cruel to his meritorious supporters
  • Most generals were executed eventually
  • Violence towards civil officers and ministers
  • Ting zhang: beating/flogging with large bamboo staves
• Emperor's absolute persona control of the government
  • Abolish the central secretariat and prime ministership: giving him control as well as an extraordinary burden
  • The imperial office became a bottleneck
  • The government more easily fell into inefficient routine
• Ming emperors had to govern through their personal associates
  • Which led to reliance on eunuchs in administration as well as in military and secret police

Fiscal Problems

• The Ming and the Qing empires were to be mainly based on agriculture
• There was no separation between the government's funds and the emperor's
  • Under eunuch management, expenditure went up without reasons
• The land tax was set at about 10 percent of the agricultural product: government revenue was starved
• Local communities were expected to make all sorts of private outlays in connection with tax payments

Fiscal Fragmentation

• Important central government due to fragmentation of revenue and expenditure
• Transfer were arranged to move income directly from revenue to expenditure, saving the burden of conveying
• Many public service were maintained by local government without any funding from the central government
• Promotion of self-sufficiency in military farming for their own food supply
  • Inevitably led to corruption and weakening of military force

Currency System

• The currency system produce far fewer coins than the Song in spite of a much higher demand
• Inflow of Japanese and New World silver did not give China a silver currency: both systems coexist
• Ming never tried to mint silver dollars
• Payment in silver was never standardized, causing tremendous trouble during trade

Foreign Policies

• Yongle emperor relocated the capital to Beijing
  • Easier to maintain a strong defense against potential attacks from the Mongols
• Southern Song and Yuan had seen a great advance in Chinese ship-building, nautical technology, and maritime trade to Japan and South Asia
• Yongle's era inherited this tradition and was famous for its big maritime expendition
• Zheng He led seven voyages between 1405 and 1433, going furthest to east coast of Africa
  • One major function was to carry tribute envoys to China and hack home again

Difference Between China and Western Voyages

• Zheng He's voyages were more diplomatic than commercial, much less colonizing ventures
• These voyages were never followed up upon ceasing in 1433
• Zheng He conducted some trade but mainly engaged in diplomatic relations with about 30 countries
• China acquired great prestige in all the seas of East and Southeast Asia

China Turns Inward

• Because of financial difficulty, all military and maritime exploration were given up soon
• The decline of Ming naval power opened the door to a growth of piracy
  • Pirates mainly came from Japan
  • Harassing South China coast between 1540 and 1565
  • They came for smuggling and illegal foreign trading
• Instead of strengthening defense
  • Ming forced a costly Chinese withdrawal from the sea coast
  • Foreign trade were restricted as well
• Anti-commercialism won out, and China retired from the world scene

Development of Industrialization and Urban Life

• The growth of cities witnessed a more wealthy merchant class engaged in interregional trade
  • Large-scale production of ceramics, silk, and cotton cloth
  • The spread of trade in salt and grain
  • Capital moved away from land and towards commercial and craft enterprises
• Small workshops grew into big enterprises, some of which employed several hundred workers
  • The lowest strata of the peasantry also moved to towns, seeking employment in small businesses and handicrafts
  • Some craft work such as silk, cotton, pottery and china had grown an industrial character by the end of 16th century
• Eager of urban middle class for reading-matter and entertainment extended to the lettered classes like fiction and Chinese opera
• Harbingers of a dynamic renewal in society, culture, and economy

The End of Ming, and Its Influence to Qing

• Financial difficulty for the warfare wit Manchu
• Rebellion of unemployed solders, officers and peasants
  • Li Zicheng
  • Zhang Xianzhong
• Anxiety about foreign trade and Western contact was inherited by Qing

Zheng Chenggong, a general from pirate-merchant family, was the last chief commander of the Ming troops on the maritime front resisting the conquest of Manchus, leading to Qing's ordering of Great Clearance, i.e. evacuation of the coastal areas so no support could be provided to Zheng.