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Essay on Chinese Society During The Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) is the last native Chinese dynasty in the history of China. Spanning almost three centuries between the fall of the Mongol Yuan dynasty and the rise of the Manchu Qing dynasty, the Ming reunited what is now called China proper after almost 400 years of foreign incursion and occupation.
The Ming contributed greatly to Chinese literature, art, and philosophy. It is noted for its sea explorations, even though, when the effort was not followed up, the results failed to register any permanent value. It is best known for its strong and complex central government, which unified and controlled the empire. Ironically, it was this same complexity that prevented the Ming government from being able to adapt to changes in society and eventually led to its decline (Bray, 2000).
The Ming reached their zenith of power during the first quarter of the fifteenth century. The territory they controlled was smaller than that of the Yuan. However, at the height of their power, they controlled the Mongols in the north, captured the Western Region in the west, conquered the Jurchen in the northeast, governed Tibet in the southwest and established the Jiaozhi Prefecture in the south. During the Ming period, Zheng He's long voyages to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean made the Ming much more influential abroad than the Tang and no less influential than the later Qing (Brook, 2002).
The Ming period seems to have been one of China's most prosperous. Pressure from the Neo-Confucian bureaucrats led to an agrarian-centered based society. This was a stable period and the population numbered some 100 million. The incredible advances in the sciences and arts that were achieved under Ming rule led them to believe that they had created the most perfect civilization on earth (Bray, 2000). It was also during these centuries that the....
