EAST 211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Anthony C. Yu, Institute For Operations Research And The Management Sciences, Analects
15 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
The Ming Dynasty
Outline for Next Two Weeks
The Yuan and Ming Dynasties: Encounters with the Other
1. Yuan Dynasty: China and its Neighbors
o Relationship with 'barbarians' (aka Not-Chinese)
2. Ming Dynasty: Exploration and First European Encounters
o How Chinese saw the Europeans and how the Europeans understood the Ming. And how
this informs our understandings of Chinese culture
3. Woe, Geder, ad Literature i the Mig ad Qig Doroth Ko, Talet, Virtue, ad Beaut:
Reritig Woahood,
o Women's writings, which became more important in the Ming and Qing
o Inner and outer sphere
o Foot-binding practices
4. Ming Novel: Journey to the West
o Anthony Yu, trans., The Monkey and the Monk, Ch. 14
Questions about the Ming Dynasty:
• See Europeans establishing global trade networks during this time - why didn't the Ming network
establish this network?
• When the Europeans first come, how do the Ming perceive them? When the European come,
what are their perceptions of the Ming? And how does this affect Western perception of Chinese?
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
• Mongols were still present; Ming reinforced great wall of China to dispel Mongol invaders
• Adopted Neo-Confucianism and kept civil service exam
• First Europeans were coming from Portugal
• First people to settle in China were Jesuit missionaries
• Ming dynasty had own Maritime explorations; sent expeditions through Indonesia, India and
Africa. Happened before Europeans explored the Pacific, Africa and India
• Ming is also economically powerful because of their vast area and valuable exports
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• Refined technologies, like paper technology - led to more people being literate and writing
Wh did’t Chia estalish a gloal aritie etork ad oloies like Europe?
• Poll Question: What were some of the conditions necessary for European maritime trade
expansion?
o Europeans use technology from elsewhere. Their naval technology, the compass and
gunpowder come from China and other technologies come from the Arab world.
o Europeans develop these technologies and create large armies
o Why are Europeans motivated to explore and expand?
Maritime Expeditions (1405-1433): Zheng He
• 1st voyage: 27,000 men, 62 large ships 255 smaller vessels
o Zheng He's ships were also massive; several times the size of Columbus' Santa Maria
• By comparison: Columbus, 17 ships in 1493-1495
• While Europeans were motivated by trade, the Chinese were already economically powerful.
Chinese had trade networks through the Silk Road and in the Pacific, so they didn't need more.
Grand Canal
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