Early Modern China: A Turning-inward Civilization

I. Chinese Voyages in the 15th Century==>What were the motives of the

voyages?
* Zhng H (Eunuch Admiral, 1371-1433) and Emperor Yongle (r. 14021424) ==>Who were they?
* Zhng Hs 7 Voyages (1405-1433) ==>Motives?
==>Project the Chinese influence to the overseas areas (power projection) and
show the glory and greatness of the Chinese civilization. This was the
fundamental goal of the voyages.
* The end of Zhng Hs voyages: China turned inward.==> Why ended?
Reasons?
II. Zhong-guo (Central Kingdom) Concept ==> What is the Zhong-guo
Concept?
* Zhong-guo Concept related to
1. Chinas geographic isolation
2. Long-time prosperity
==>a sense of cultural superiority ==>Why did the Chinese have such a concept?
* Barbarian areas outside China proper and Sinicization ==>What is
Sinicization? Example?
* Chinese view of the frontier: the Great Wall (Chang Cheng, the Long Wall)
==>How different from the American view?
==>Unlike the Americans who regarded their frontier areas as a place full of
free land, hope and opportunity and moved westward in throughout the
19th century, the Chinese, with their Zhong-guo concept, had regarded their
frontier as an uncivilized barbarian area full of danger and conflicts.

III. Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism

The Zhong-guo concept was further strengthened by the Chinese major ideologies:
Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism.
1. Confucian tradition: Confucianism means the teachings of Confucius (the 5th4th centuries BC) and his followers. It became the Chinese dominant ideology
officially recognized by the government in the 2nd century BC. The Ming dynasty
followed this tradition. The major ideas of Confucianism included:
It aimed to establish an ideal society based on order, stability, and harmony.
It believed that every man, through proper education, could become a kind of
ideal man (Jun-zi). Jun-zi literally means the rulers son; but Westerners prefer
to translate it into gentleman. Jun-zi was different Xiao-ren (petty man).The
former always pursued virtues, while the latter always pursued personal
gains. Confucian scholars believed that, if every man becomes Jun-zi through
proper education, an ideal society would come. In this way, Confucianism paid
particular attention to education.
The major task of education was to teach people to acquire and hold virtues. The
major virtues included proper behavior through grasp of ritual, rightness,
benevolence, wisdom through grasp of Confucian classics, faithfulness, integrity,
loyalty, sense of shame, and filial piety (subordination to the parents and the
obligation to take care of them). Among them, the most important virtue was
benevolence, which means love people (). These virtues would make
individuals Jun-zi.
Confucian view on government or politics was more complex.
On the one hand, Confucian scholars emphasized authoritarianism and insisted that
subjects should be subordinated to and follow the rulers. In other words, there
would be no modern Western style of freedom or equality.
On the other hand, Confucianism saw the people or subjects as the foundation of a
state. Subjects subordination was not unconditional but based on one precondition
that is, rulers should hold virtues. If the rulers hold those virtues including
benevolence and always take care of subjects wellbeing, this means that the rulers
hold the so-called Mandate of Heaven (Tian-ming). In the Chinese tradition,
Heaven (Tian) was the highest being in the universe, creating and dictating

everything in the universe. The rulers or emperors were called the Son of Heaven
and could rule China only when they hold the Mandate of Heaven which was
shown through the virtues.
In this way, holding virtues means holding the Mandate of Heaven and thus gave
the rulers the legitimacy of rule. If the rulers lost those virtues and no longer took
care of subjects wellbeing, this means that these rulers were no longer able to rule
on behalf of Heaven. In this situation, the people or subjects had the right to launch
uprising or revolution to overthrow the bad rulers. This revolution in the Chinese
term was called Ge-ming (Remove the Mandate). In terms of this aspect,
Confucianism incorporated certain elements of primitive democracy and strong
populist ideas. Its insistence on the peoples right to revolution was about 2,000
years earlier than what the European Enlightenment emphasized.
2. Daoist Tradition
Although dominant, Confucianism was not the only influential ideology but faced
rival ideology. Daoism was another major system of thought in China. Daosim
literally means the teachings about Dao (Way, a universal order). This philosophy
was created by Lao-zi (the Old Master) in the 5th century BC, a little earlier than
Confucianism. With 2,000 years of development, Daoism also had its great
influence on the Ming society.
At the heart of Daoism was the concept of Wu-wei (non-action). According to
Daoism, in the universe everything works quietly; it fulfills its functions; and after
reaching its bloom, it would return to its origin. There was already the universal
order existing in the universe. What the people needed to do was to follow this
universal order. And the best way to follow this Way was non-action, which did not
mean doing nothing but meant letting the nature follow the Way and take its
own course. Any artificial intervention violated the Way and should be
abandoned.
This idea was different from Confucian emphasis on education and virtues.
Actually, Daoism regarded all these Confucian emphases as unnatural and
artificial. The Wu-wei concept to some extent was similar to a Western concept
laissez faire (hands off and let business take its own course). Unlike
Confucianism which emphasized peoples active participation in society to
improve it, Daoism stressed that people should retire from the existing evil and
chaotic society and live a life in harmony with nature. The Confucian virtues and

human institution were all unnatural and artificial, violating the Dao (Nature and
Way). The two schools often laughed at and competed with each other.
==>Despite their differences, Daoism and Confucianism did not totally
exclude each other. On the contrary, the two complemented each other. The
Chinese scholars often became Confucian and Daoist at the same time
(outwardly Confucian and inwardly Daoist): when they were on duty, they
followed Confucian doctrines; when they were off duty, they enjoyed life
following Daoist principles.
3. Buddhist Tradition:
Buddhism was the only popular religion with foreign origins. It was founded
by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, in Nepal in the 6th century BC and then
spread to China in the 1st century AD. And from China it further spread to other
East Asian areas. After the 4th century when China was invaded by the nomadic
peoples and in chaos, the religion became popular and was widely accepted by the
Chinese, as it met the peoples religious demands in a chaotic period.
Unlike Confucianism and Daoism, Buddhism addressed one fundamental issue
why people suffered so much in the worldand provided its solutions. At the core
of Buddhism were the so-called Four Noble Truths: 1. Life is suffering. 2. The
cause of suffering is desire. 3. To stop suffering, people must stop desire. 4. To stop
desire, people must follow theEightfold Path which includes right view, right
thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness,
and right concentration. This Eightfold Path required the people to abandon the
material comforts, retire from the secular world, and lived a life of self-discipline
to pursue spiritual improvements with the commitments to various religious
practices.If the people followed the Eightfold Path, they could finally
reach Nirvana: the ultimate state of great happiness where the spirit liberated from
all desires and sufferings with the extinction of all material attachments and
merged with the supreme harmony.
==>All the above three isms had different focuses but largely coexisted for more
than one thousand years. All the three were based on the notion of stability and
harmony rather than change or development. This was opposite to the Western
modern capitalist expansion and progress concept. And we will further discuss this
issue in later sections.

IV. Chinese Economy and Society

1. Three Features of the Chinese Agrarian Economy: Self-sufficient, Laborintensive, and Irrigation Farming.
These features not only provided the above isms with solid economic foundation
but also had their own implications.
Self-sufficient: in the rural areas, the Chinese produced almost everything they
needed for their daily life. The agricultural production was for producers own
consumption rather than exchanges in market. Marketing/trading activities were
discouraged in the rural areas, as there was no such a need, generally
speaking.
Labor-intensive: In 1500, the Chinese population reached over 100 million. In
comparison, the whole Western European population was less than 60 million.
Three hundred years later, the population in China was nearly 400 million. Even
today, China still remains a most populated nation. =>In other words, China has
never had the labor-shortage problem. The easiest way to increase production was
to put more human labors in the agricultural fields. This a labor-intensive
economy made it difficult for the Chinese to adopt mechanization, because so
many labors made mechanization unnecessary.
Irrigation Farming: The Chinese staple food was rice. Rice cultivation not only
required intensive and cooperative labor but also needed irrigation, as rice crop
could not simply depend on rainfalls but all year long needed appropriate water. As
a result, numerous water-control projects became necessary in order to provide the
rice cultivation areas with steady and appropriate water supply. Building these
projects went beyond individual capacity and required the government to make
detailed plans and mobilize sufficient labors. In this way, such irrigation farming
helped to strengthen the governments authoritarian control and intervention
in nations economic and social life. The map below shows China's major rice
cultivation zone:

2. Limited Commercialization
The general self-sufficient economic structure does not mean that there were no
trading or commercial activities. On the contrary, in several major metropolitan
areas like Nanjing (Nanking), Kaifeng in north China, Hangzhou (Hangchow) in
East China, and Guangzhou (Canton) in south China and their surrounding areas,
the commercial activities were very active. The textbook mentions China's
economic growth including the "rapid urban growth and business speculation"
(pp.534). In major metro areas and the eastern and southern coastal China (like the
lower Yangtze valley), the economy was largely commercialized, that is,
production was for market.
Nevertheless, by the 16th century, such commercialization remained limited
and was unable to penetrate into the vast inland rural areas where over 85%
of population lived. In other words, the Chinese economic production
generally speaking remained self-sufficient. There was no wide-spread
commercialization.

3. Family and Gender Issues

Based on the self-sufficient and labor-intensive economy, the Chinese family was
not the Western style of nuclear or core family (two generationsparents and
childrenlived together) but a type of extended family: three, or four, or even
more generations lived in the same household. This extended family served as the
basic economic and social unit. Farming was done by these families with the
cooperation of the family members and the patriarchal leadership. Individuals were
regarded as necessary and loyal members of their family collective. Their major
job was to make contribution the growth and prosperity of the whole family. And
in these extended families, all sons had the equal shares of their patrimony and
there was no Western style of primogeniture. The picture below shows one Chinese
extended family in which several generations gathered together:

The gender inequity was obvious in the Chinese family and society. Before getting
married, women were subordinated to their parents and/or elder brothers. After
married, women were subordinated to their husbands and husbands mother.
Womens status would be enhanced only when they bore sons for their husbands
families. Such gender inequity was common not only in China but also in many
other civilizations. What was unique in China on the gender issue was the
footbinding. When the girl was 4-5 years old, her mother would use a long cloth to

tightly wrap her feet inward till the arch was broken, thus reducing the feet to the
half of normal size. See the illustrations below:

The footbinding practice started around the 10thentury AD and lasted till the early
20th century. Its sociological implication was clear: footbinding made women more
dependent on men. Besides, footdbinding had its aesthetic implication for woman
and also could stimulate mens sexual desire. Different from the American fetish

(the bigger, the better), the Chinese believed that, the smaller, the more beautiful
and sexy.
4. The Four Orders
The Chinese society in the early modern period, following the Confucian ideas,
was roughly divided into the Four Orders:
The highest order was called gentry (Shi), the ruling class. Theoretically, any
people who received proper Confucian education, passed the civil exam(s), and
received certain degree(s) would become the gentry members. They were exempt
from corvee labor and most taxes. The highest degree holders would be granted
with government position. So the wealthy people would not necessarily become
the gentry members. The people from the poor family also could become Shi, if
they held degree(s).
The second order was those who were engaged in the agricultural work (Nong).
This group included land-owned peasants and landless peasants. They constituted
the majority of the Chinese population and became the major taxpayers.
The third order was called Gong (artisan), those who were not engaged in the
agricultural production but owned certain skills. Most of them lived in towns and
cities. Their status was lower than the peasants.
The last order was the merchants (Shang). They were wealthy but their social
status was the lowest in the Four Orders, as these people neither pursued virtues
not did agricultural work but always pursued money and other personal gains.
For the Four Orders, be sure to understand that:
==>The Four Orders did not include everyone. Women, soldiers, monks, nuns,
actors, actresses, prostitutes, beggars, and others who did disreputable work were
excluded from the Four Orders.
==>The Four Orders to some extent an open system which allowed the people to
change their status. Any people (even including merchants) could become gentry
members when they got certain degree(s). So there was a kind of social mobility in
the Chinese society.
==>The Four Orders downplayed the role of merchants and had strong antimerchant implication.

V. Government

1. A Unified, Centralized, and Authoritarian Government

The Ming dynasty, following the precedents of the previous dynasties, establish a
unified and centralized imperial authority. All government officials were appointed
by the emperor. They responded to the emperor and ruled on behalf of the emperor.
The subjects had no political power but were subordinated to the emperor and his
government.
The Ming central government consisted of civil administration, the military, and
the board of censors. All branches directly responded to the emperor and assisted
the emperor to manage the state affairs. Here, the military branch was subjected to
the control of the civil branch. The major responsibility of censors was to criticize
emperors mistakes and errors and impeach any government officials for their
violation of laws. Thus, the major government branches achieved a certain balance
of power and guaranteed that the emperor could firmly control power.
In the local area, the Ming court divided its territory into 15 provinces,
approximately 160 prefectures, 235 subprefectures, and 1,200 counties. In each
level, the central government appointed a few civil and military officials to manage
the local affairs. All local officials had the term restriction: they would be
promoted or transferred by the court to another place after several years of service
in one place, if they were not dismissed. And the local official could not stay in
their home town but had to work in other places. The map below shows Ming's
major provinces in China proper:

This type of government by nature remained authoritarian, guaranteed the

emperors absolutist control, and maintained China's political and social stability.
2. Civil Examination
The Ming government used the civil examination systemwhich started in the
7th century to select the government officials and expand its power base. With
the civil exam system, the government was consolidated on the basis of
meritocracy.
In the Ming and later Qing period, the civil exam was routinized and divided into
three levels: the county/prefecture level, the provincial level, and the imperial
level. The examination was open to everyone. When the candidates passed lowest
county/prefecture exam, they officially became the gentry members of gentry. But
only those who passed the highest imperial level of examination would get
government position and become officials. In each level of exam, the candidates
were required to write essays and compose poems. Poor calligraphy would lead to
the failure in the exam. To pass the exams, the candidates had to grasp basic
Confucian classics through memorization and be able to use Confucian principles
to discuss and comment historical and contemporary phenomena.

The civil examination not only helped the Ming rulers to absorb the most talented
people into their political system but maintained long-time social stability. Even
after the Ming dynasty was replaced by the Qing, the basic social structure in
China remained unchanged.
One major weakness of the civil exam system was its narrow scope. The exam did
not include practical knowledge like sciences and technology but solely focused on
Confucianism and thus inhibited the Chinese intellectual vitality.
==>In short, the Chinese centralized government was based on support from the
expanded scholar-gentry class. With the civil exam, the dynasty secured a solid
power base for a long time. Those scholar-gentry members, whether the
government officials who normally held the highest degrees or the lower degree
holders who remained influential in the local areas and cooperated with the
government officials, became the backbone of the existing political and social
systems.

The following is a brief outline from the textbook content (pp. 38891and 534-41):
PP. 388-91:
The Indian Ocean
1. Southeast Asia was connected by trade from at least the first century C.E.
Malay, Chinese and Arab seafarers used the regular pattern of the monsoon winds
to establish trade routes in the Indian Ocean. These trade routes flourished
especially when the rise of Islam created new markets and new networks of
Muslim traders.
2. The Chinese Ming dynasty sponsored a series of voyages to the Indian Ocean
between 1405 and 1433. The Ming voyages were carried out on a grand scale,
involving fleets of over sixty large treasure ships and hundreds of smaller support
vessels.

3. The treasure ships carried out trade in luxury goods including silk and
precious metals, as well as stimulating diplomatic relations with various African
and Asian states. The voyages, which did stimulate some trade, but also inspired
opposition in court, were ended in 1433.
PP. 534-41:
IV. From Ming to Qing
A.

Ming Economic Growth, 15001644

1. The cultural brilliance and economic achievements of the early Ming

continued up to 1600. But at the same time, a number of factors had combined to
exhaust the Ming economy, weaken its government, and cause technological
stagnation.
2. Some of the problems of the late Ming may be attributed to a drop in annual
temperatures between 1645 and 1700, which may have contributed to the
agricultural distress, migration, disease, and uprisings of this period. Climate
change may also have driven the Mongols and the Manchus to protect their
productive lands from Ming control and to take more land along the Ming borders.
3. The flow of New World silver into China in the 1500s and early 1600s caused
inflation in prices and taxes that hit the rural population particularly hard.
4. In addition to these global causes of Ming decline, there were also internal
factors particular to China. These included disorder and inefficiency in the urban
industrial sector (such as the Jingdezhen ceramics factories), no growth in
agricultural productivity, and low population growth.
B.

Ming Collapse and the Rise of the Qing

1. The Ming also suffered from increased threats: to the north and west, there
were emergent Mongol federations, while Japanese pirates plagued the southeast
coast. Manchu forces meanwhile represented an internal threat.

2. Rebel forces led by Li Zicheng overthrew the Ming in 1644, and the Manchu
Qing Empire then entered Beijing, restored order, and claimed China for its own.
3. A Manchu imperial family ruled the Qing Empire, but the Manchus were only
a small proportion of the population and thus depended on diverse people for
assistance in ruling the empire. Chinese made up the overwhelming majority of the
people and the officials of the Qing Empire.
C.

Emperor Kangxi

1. Kangxi (r. 16621722) took formal control over his government in 1669 (at
the age of sixteen) by executing his chief regent. Kangxi was an intellectual
prodigy and a successful military commander who expanded his territory and gave
it a high degree of stability.
2. In order to stabilize and secure his position, particularly to the north, Kangxi
negotiated a treaty with Russia and brought Inner Mongolia under direct Qing
control.
D.

Tea and Diplomacy

1. The Qing were eager to expand trade, but they wanted to control it to be able
to tax it more efficiently and to control piracy and smuggling. To do so, the Qing
designated a single market point for each foreign sector: the market point for those
coming from the South China Sea (including the various European traders) was the
city of Canton. This system worked fairly well until the late 1700s.
2. In the late 1700s, the British East India Company and other English traders
believed that Chinas vast market held the potential for unlimited profit and
thought that the Qing trade system (the Canton System) stood in the way of
opening up new paths for commerce. At the same time, the British Parliament was
worried about the flow of British silver into China and convinced that opening the
China market would help to bring more English merchants into the trade and bring
about the end of the outmoded and nearly bankrupt East India Company.
3. In 17931794, the British sent a diplomatic mission led by Lord Macartney to
open diplomatic relations with China and revise the trade system. The Macartney

mission was a failure, as were similar diplomatic embassies sent by the Dutch, the
French, and the Russians.
E.

Population Growth and Environmental Stress

1. The peace enforced by the Qing Empire and the temporary revival of
agricultural productivity due to the introduction of American and African crops
contributed to a population explosion that brought Chinas total population to
between 350 million and 400 million by the late 1700s.
2. Population growth was accompanied by increased environmental stress:
deforestation, erosion, silting up of river channels and canals, and flooding. The
result was localized misery, migration, increased crime, and local rebellions.
3. While the territory and the population of the Qing Empire grew, the number of
officials remained about the same. The Qing depended on local elites to maintain
local order but was unable to enforce tax regulations; control standards for entry
into government service; or prevent the declining revenue, increased corruption,
and increased banditry in the late 1700s.