Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 AD)

The Ming Dynasty is the last native Chinese dynasty in the history.The first emperor showed great organizational ability.Under his design the country assumed absolute control over all aspects of society, with the emperor as the supreme head of country.In order to solidify the emperor power, the emperor launched four waves of political purges caused hundreds of thousands people death.A very complicated bureaucratic system was adopted to impose a high degree of centralization over an immense territory.Ironically, it was this same complexity that prevented the Ming government from being able to adapt to changes in society.

To strengthen the empire stability and prevent Chinese from western cultures contamination, the Ming emperors prohibited the Chinese from traveling abroad and unauthorized business between Chinese and western countries.The prohibition brought the long time stability and peace to China.However, the barrier posed an obstacle for the development of the Ming dynasty.

Almost the same time when westerns made the great geographical exploration, Zhenhe, one of eunuchs of the fifth Ming emperors, led seven maritime expeditions to the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean from 1405 to 1433.The chief purposes of the explorations approved by the Ming emperors were to spread Chinese influence and induce the countries visited to pay valuable tributes to the Ming court.The curios and artifacts from the discovered lands amazed Chinese people.Later the large-scale expeditions were terminated by the Neo-Confucianism intellectual scholars because of the extremely high expenses of voyages.

During the Ming dynasty, porcelain manufacturing gained wide recognition.The improvements of the kilns were able to produce enough high-quality pieces porcelain.The famous Chinese blue-and-white porcelain originated in that period.And also cotton weaving and silk manufacturing flourished in the east part of China.

The Ming dynasty witnessed the great literature achievements.Prose writing of this period exceeded it of other dynasties.Several of the most popular Chinese novels appeared in this period, i.e.'The Journey to the West' and 'The Golden Lotus'.

The foremost philosopher, Wang Yangming developed Neo-Confucianism and advocated an extreme type of subjectivism.When he was alive, his philosophical teaching was not widely accepted.However, in the 20th century, he was admired by Chinese people and gained the reputation.

From the middle of the 15th century, the Ming's power started to decline.The quality of the imperial leadership deteriorated and eunuchs started to exercise control over the emperors, causing great discontent among the bureaucrats and factionalism in the government.Meanwhile, long wars with the Mongols and encroachment of Japanese into east coast weakened Ming rule.In the late 17th century, the rebellion due to the inability of the government to provide food in a time of famine gave a fatal strike to the collapse Ming dynasty.Finally the capture of Beijing by the Manchus (nomadic people from the northeast of China) in 1644 terminated the Ming dynasty.