Guided Reading Questions
Objective #1 Explain how rulers used a variety of methods to legitimize and consolidate their power in land-based empires from 1450 to 1750.
Objective #2 Explain how and why various land-based empires developed and expanded from 1450 to 1750.
Ming Dynasty Questions
consolidating and legitimizing
- What the technological factors that contributed to the growth of the Ming Empire?
- What governing techniques did the Ming restore from the Song?
- In what ways did the Ming try to legitimize their rule? (art, architecture, ideology)
- How did the Ming try to restore the economy?
- What new taxation methods did the Ming develop?
- Why did the Ming rebuild the Great Wall?
- What reason did the Ming have for Zheng He's expedition into the Indian Ocean?
- Why did they stop?
- Explain some of the reasons the Ming empire fell.
consolidating and legitimizing
- What the technological factors that contributed to the growth of the Qing Empire?
- What governing techniques did the Qing continue to use from the previous dynasties?
- In what ways did the Qing try to legitimize their rule? (Art, architecture, ideology)
- What were the reasons for Qing expansion?
- What were the effects of Qing Expansion on Central Asia?
- What internal conflicts were arose due to Qing rule?
Ming Dynasty
Administration
After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols were expelled from China. The Ming Dynasty would consolidate power from 1368 to 1644 using newly developed gunpowder weapons. Once the Ming claimed the Mandate from Heaven, they would restore traditional methods of rule from previous dynasties. They first relocated the capital to Nanjing or Beijing. They also reestablished the civil service exam creating a highly centralized government. The emperor held ultimate power while being advised by eunuchs instead of scholar officials. To legitimize his rule the Ming emperor built the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. To further consolidate and legitimize their rule, the Ming emperors reinstated Confucian schools and Confucian rituals.
Expansion The Ming expanded to Central Asia conquering lands in Mongolia using early gun powder weapons. However, they did not keep them for long. Subsequently, they decided to rebuild the Great Wall which had fallen into disrepair by the Mongols. Ming Rulers hoped that the Wall would protect them from further attacks by the nomadic pastorals in Central Asia. The Ming would lose the Mandate of Heaven. The fall of the Ming dynasty was caused by a combination of factors, including an economic disaster due to lack of silver, a series of natural disasters, peasant uprisings, and finally attacks by the Manchu people. The Manchu to the North would establish the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). |
The Forbidden City |
Ming Exploration
Who was Zheng He?
The Chinese would also embark in exploration during this time period. Emperor Yongle would sponsor an expedition into the Indian Ocean. Unlike the European exploration ventures, the Ming would use a massive navy of 27,000 ships that included 170 doctors, hundreds of government officials, 5 astrologers and 7 grand eunuchs. They had tailors accountants, merchants, translators. The fleet was able to carry all of these people and goods because they had new ships called junks. The fleet captain was the famous Zheng He. They sailed the Indian Ocean and the coast of Africa visiting the Swahili City States. The Chinese already knew of this region but were exploring more in depth to enlist new states into their tribute system. These expeditions served to establish power and prestige in the Indian Ocean. The death of Emperor Yongle brought an end to the exploration/expedition in 1433. That is prior to Columbus's famous voyage. Many high-ranking scholar officials believed the expeditions were a waste of resources. They also believed that China was "The Middle Kingdom." self-sufficient and needed nothing from barbarians of the outside world. Europeans were left free to explore and conquer, not just the Indian Ocean but the entire world. |
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Economic revival
The Ming began to restore the economy after the Mongols were expelled. They rebuilt canals, reservoirs, irrigation canals, restored millions of acres of land for cultivation and planted about a billion trees. The rebuilt agriculture and crops from the Americas led to a population rise. That led to an increase in both regional and transregional trade.
They would also adopt silver as the currency. Paper currency loses its value over time and it is also very easy to counterfeit The Ming turned to only accepting tax payments in the form of silver. This quickly turned silver into the most wanted commodity on the planet. |
Qing Dynasty
IsolationismThe increased importation of new American food crops boosted production and increased population, allowing for cheap labor for manufacturing and trade. China became a major trading power, but this brought contact with foreign merchants who were seen as a threat. Thus, China became more isolationist meaning they did not desire to interact much with other nations outside of China. Qing administrators tightly restricted foreign trade. Foreign merchants had to deal with government-approved agents outside the city walls of Guangzhou and had to depart as soon as they had completed their business. The British were unhappy with the trade restrictions. King George asked for more relaxed trading policies. Emperor Qianglong responded with a letter stating that China had no need for trade. That isolationist policy would later contribute to the fall of the Qing.
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Administration
Ming rule lasted 300 years. Corrupt officials, famine caused by the Little Ice Age and rebellions led to them losing the Mandate of Heaven. Those event allowed Manchu invaders from the north to take power using gunpowder weapons in 1644. The Manchu were the last of the pastoral nomads to take over China. They came from the northern region of China called Manchuria. They formed the Qing Dynasty. To consolidate power, the Qing not only claimed the Mandate of Heaven but they also continued to use the Civil Service Exam. The exam facilitated the continuation of the states bureaucracy based on merit. They continued to rule the government by applying Confucian principles. However, the Qing did force all Chinse citizens to wear the queue under penalty of death for not wearing. Legitimizing Rule To legitimize their rule, the Qing continued to use Confucianist rituals The rituals were always surrounding the actions of the emperor. For example, one ritual required that the Emperor would go through this elaborate ritual and plow the first furrow of the spring. No one could begin doing anything on their farms before this happened. Another way of legitimizing was to create the traditional imperial portraits. The art of imperial portraits was always important for all rulers. The Ming began having portraits. That made it important that the Qing would also use similar portraits to be seen as previous rulers. Qing rulers also completed ancient ancestor worship rituals in front of the portraits making them even more important. Expansion by the Qing For many years the Qing interacted with the people of Central Asia. They had them take part on the Tribute System. The Mongols also took part in many wars with the Qing. Using gunpowder weapons, the king took 80 years to finally expand to central Asia and bring the area un Qing control. The main reason for expansion was manly defensive. The Qing did not have a financial need nor a political need to expand but they did want to avoid continual war with Central Asia. Qing Expansion gave China its modern day territory but it also ruined Central Asia. The Qing had local administrators to rule the region not allowing Chinese people to move or colonize the area. On a positive note, they allowed the Central Asian to retain their culture and did not seek to assimilate them to Chinese culture. But, under Qing rule and with Russian Expansion, and because of the new Sea Based Empires, the area went from being at the center of the Silk Roads with financial growth to being poor. Challenge to State PowerThe White Lotus Rebellion
The White Lotus Rebellion was an internal challenge to Qing power. It began as a tax protest among impoverished settlers in the mountainous region at the border of the Sichuan province. The White Lotus Society was a secret Buddhist society that meant to restore Ming rule by promising personal salvation to its followers. The rebellion was crushed by resettling villages, creating stockades, and killing 100,000 peasants. However, the Qing no longer looked invincible leading to future Rebellions like the Boxer Rebellion and the Taiping rebellion both of which led to the fall of the Qing |