AOE: Lesson - Effects of Exploration: China
Effects of Exploration: China
The End of the Ming Dynasty
As you remember from Module 4, the Ming Dynasty practiced isolationism following the deaths of Emperor Yongle and explorer Zheng He. However, the Ming Dynasty converted to silver coinage following the introduction of silver from the New World via European trade, and New World plants were grown on Chinese farms.
Unfortunately, while both were strategically good moves in the short term when Spain’s influx of silver on the world market led to crushing inflation, China’s economy suffered. And things didn't improve in the 17th Century—famines and peasant uprisings deteriorated the stability and hold of the Ming Dynasty.
If you've learned anything about China's dynastic history, then you know what happened next. In 1644, a Ming military commander invited some Manchurians (a non-Han Chinese ethnic group) to help stifle a Chinese peasant uprising, and the Manchu People "helped" themselves to China and established the last dynasty in China's history: the Qing dynasty.
Image details (above, right): Qing dynasty barbers shaving Han people's hair in the Manchurian style.
The Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty emperors considered themselves "foreign" and attempted to set up a society with themselves as the "ethnic elite." However, as they only made up approximately 3% of the total population, there weren't enough of them to rule and segregate themselves. They insisted that all Chinese males dress and fashion their hair according to the Manchurian style or be killed.
The second, third, and fourth Qing emperors governed over the period known as "The Prosperous Age" when China was at its territorial largest. This period preceded the rise of European imperialism in Asia - probably because the Qing Dynasty, and particularly these three emperors, were extremely vigilant over European trade and presence in China.
These emperors rejected Christianity and persecuted Chinese Christians. But they also doubled its population, expanded its borders to its greatest extent, compiled a Chinese dictionary and encyclopedia, and bolstered Chinese art and literature. Their greatest challenge would come as Europeans moved from New World colonization to African and Asian imperialism. But more on that in Module 7.
Image detail (above, left): a picture of props from the Peking Opera, one of the Chinese arts bolstered under the Qing dynasty.
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