Download or read book Two Studies on Ming History written by Charles O. Hucker and published by U OF M CENTER FOR CHINESE STUDIES. This book was released on 2021-01-19 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first study of Two Studies on Ming History, Charles O. Hucker presents an account of a military campaign that provides insight into the nature of civil officials’ authority, decision-making, and relationship with the Ming court. In the spring and summer of 1556, a Chinese renegade named Hsü Hai led an invading group of Japanese and Chinese soldiers on a plundering foray through the northeastern sector of Chekiang province. Opposing them was a military establishment that for years past had been battered by coastal raiders, now under the control of an ambitious and clever official named Hu Tsung-hsien. The campaign was not one of the most consequential in China’s military history, even during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). But it was famous and well reported in its time, and it illustrates some of the unusual ways in which the Chinese of the imperial age coped with the often unusual military problems they faced. In the second part of Two Studies, Hucker presents a translation of K’ai-tu ch’uan-hsin, a popular narrative of a spontaneous demonstration in which literati and commoners alike rose up to defend an austere and incorruptible adherent to Confucian morality who had been doomed to die because of his defiance of the ruthless and heterodox clique that had usurped imperial power. In 1626, Chinese political morality was at one of its lowest ebbs. On the throne at Peking was an incompetent twenty-one-year-old emperor who was much too occupied with puttering at carpentry to pay attention to the government. Into the vacuum stepped Wei Chung-hsien, the favorite of the emperor’s governess. Wei used brutal terror to make himself undisputed master of the vast bureaucratic mechanism that administered China. One of Wei’s many victims was Chou Shun-ch’ang, a member of the official class who was said to have hated evil as a personal enemy. Chou became critical of Wei, an order was put out for Chou’s arrest, and a popular uprising occurred in protest.
Download or read book Coastal Area Management Act Land Use Plan Town of Atlantic Beach North Carolina written by and published by . This book was released on 1976* with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Ming Dynasty written by Charles O. Hucker and published by U OF M CENTER FOR CHINESE STUDIES. This book was released on 2021-01-19 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the latter half of the fourteenth century, at one end of the Eurasian continent, the stage was not yet set for the emergence of modern nation-states. At the other end, the Chinese drove out their Mongol overlords, inaugurated a new native dynasty called Ming (1368–1644), and reasserted the mastery of their national destiny. It was a dramatic era of change, the full significance of which can only be perceived retrospectively. With the establishment of the Ming dynasty, a major historical tension rose into prominence between more absolutist and less absolutist modes of rulership. This produced a distinctive style of rule that modern students have come to call Ming despotism. It proved a capriciously absolutist pattern for Chinese government into our own time. [1, 2 ,3]
Download or read book Ming China 1368 1644 written by John W. Dardess and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2012 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This engaging, deeply informed book provides the first concise history of one of China's most important eras. Leading scholar John W. Dardess offers a thematically organized political, social, and economic exploration of China from 1368 to 1644. He examines how the Ming dynasty was able to endure for 276 years, illuminating Ming foreign relations and border control, the lives and careers of its sixteen emperors, its system of governance and the kinds of people who served it, its great class of literati, and finally the mass outlawry that, in unhappy conjunction with the Manchu invasions from outside, ended the once-mighty dynasty in the mid-seventeenth century. The Ming witnessed the beginning of China's contact with the West, and its story will fascinate all readers interested in global as well as Asian history.
Download or read book Ming Taizu r 1368 98 and the Foundation of the Ming Dynasty in China written by Hok-lam Chan and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-05-31 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This second collection of studies by Hok-lam Chan focuses on the person and the image of Ming Taizu, the founder of the Ming dynasty, and a powerful, brutal and autocratic emperor who has had a significant impact not only in late imperial China, but also in East Asia, over the last six centuries. Individual studies look at the legitimation of the dynasty, particular military and religious figures, policies of persecution and punishment, and struggles over the succession.
Download or read book Culture Courtiers and Competition written by David M. Robinson and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-03-23 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This collection of essays reveals the Ming court as an arena of competition and negotiation, where a large cast of actors pursued individual and corporate ends, personal agency shaped protocol and style, and diverse people, goods, and tastes converged. Rather than observing an immutable set of traditions, court culture underwent frequent reinterpretation and rearticulation, processes driven by immediate personal imperatives, mediated through social, political, and cultural interaction.The essays address several common themes. First, they rethink previous notions of imperial isolation, instead stressing the court’s myriad ties both to local Beijing society and to the empire as a whole. Second, the court was far from monolithic or static. Palace women, monks, craftsmen, educators, moralists, warriors, eunuchs, foreign envoys, and others strove to advance their interests and forge advantageous relations with the emperor and one another. Finally, these case studies illustrate the importance of individual agency. The founder’s legacy may have formed the warp of court practices and tastes, but the weft varied considerably. Reflecting the complexity of the court, the essays represent a variety of perspectives and disciplines—from intellectual, cultural, military, and political to art history and musicology."
Download or read book A Tale of Two Melons written by Sarah Schneewind and published by Hackett Publishing. This book was released on 2006-09-14 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A commoner's presentation to the emperor of a lucky omen from his garden, the repercussions for his family, and several retellings of the incident provide the background for an engaging introduction to Ming society, culture, and politics, including discussions of the founding of the Ming dynasty; the character of the first emperor; the role of omens in court politics; how the central and local governments were structured, including the civil service examination system; the power of local elite families; the roles of women; filial piety; and the concept of ling or efficacy in Chinese religion.
Download or read book Ming China and its Allies written by David M. Robinson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-02 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the Ming Dynasty's foreign relations with neighboring sovereigns, placing China in a wider global context.
Download or read book From Ming to Ch ing written by Jonathan D. Spence and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1979-01-01 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The collapse of the Ming dynasty and the takeover of China by Manchu rulers in the 1640s were of crucial importance in the late history of China. But because traditional Chinese sources arbitrarily divide the century at the change of dynasty in 1644, it has been difficult to form a clear picture of the transition. The nine essays in this book will contribute significantly toward understanding the complexity of change and continuity over the span of time leading up to and resulting from the tumult of the mid-1600s. "The fullest introduction in English to the Ming-Ch'ing transition."--Tom Fisher, Pacific Affairs "No other recent work compares with its scope, and no older work can stand up to the introduction of its new materials and perspectives."--Library Journal " This book] makes a valuable contribution to Ming-Ch'ing studies and should be required reading for anyone interested in the two dynasties."--James B. Parsons, American Historical Review
Download or read book China s Second Capital Nanjing under the Ming 1368 1644 written by Jun Fang and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-05-23 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a study of the dual capital system of Ming dynasty China (1368-1644), with a focus on the administrative functions of the auxiliary Southern Capital, Nanjing. It argues that the immense geographical expanse of the Chinese empire and the poor communication infrastructure of pre-modern times necessitated the establishment of an additional capital administration for effective control of the Ming realm. The existence of the Southern Capital, which has been dismissed by scholars as redundant and insignificant, was, the author argues, justified by its ability to assist the primary Northern Capital better control the southern part of the imperial land. The practice of maintaining auxiliary capitals, where the bureaucratic structures of the primary capital were replicated in varying degrees, was a unique and valuable approach to effecting bureaucratic control over vast territory in pre-modern conditions. Nanjing translates into English as "Southern Capital" and Beijing as "Northern Capital".
Download or read book The Cambridge History of China Volume 7 The Ming Dynasty 1368 1644 Part 1 written by Frederick W. Mote and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1988-02-26 with total page 1004 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume in the authoritative Cambridge History of China is devoted to the history of the Ming dynasty, with some account of the three decades before the dynasty's formal establishment, and of the Ming Courts, which survived in South China for a generation after 1644. Volume 7 deals primarily with political developments of the period, but it also incorporates background in social, economic, and cultural history where this is relevant to the course of events. The Ming period is the only segment of later imperial history during which all of China proper was ruled by a native, or Han dynasty. The success of the Chinese in regaining control over their own government is an important event in history, and the Ming dynasty thus has been regarded, both in Ming times and even more so in this century, as an era of Chinese resurgence. The volume provides the largest and most detailed account of the Ming period in any language. Summarizing all modern research in Chinese, Japanese, and Western languages, the authors have gone far beyond a summary of the state of the field, but have incorporated original research on subjects that have never before been described in detail. Volume 7 will be followed by a topical volume of Ming history (Volume 8) that will offer detailed studies of institutional changes, international relations, social and economic history, and the history of ideas and of religion.
Download or read book The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty written by Shih-shan Henry Tsai and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first on Chinese eunuchs in English and presents a comprehensive picture of the role that they played in the Ming dynasty, 1368-1644. Extracted from a wide range of primary and secondary source material, the author provides significant and interesting information about court politics, espionage and internal security, military and foreign affairs, tax and tribute collection, the operation of imperial monopolies, judiciary review, the layout of the palace complex, the Grand Canal, and much more. The eunuchs are shown to be not just a minor adjunct to a government of civil servants and military officers, but a fully developed third branch of the Ming administration that participated in all of the most essential matters of the dynasty. The veil of condemnation and jealousy imposed on eunuchs by the compilers of official history is pulled away to reveal a richly textured tapestry. Eunuchs are portrayed in a balanced manner that gives due consideration to able and faithful service along with the inept, the lurid, and the iniquitous.
Download or read book The Confusions of Pleasure written by Timothy Brook and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1998-05-18 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ming dynasty was the last great Chinese dynasty before the Manchu conquest in 1644. During that time, China, not Europe, was the center of the world: the European voyages of exploration were searching not just for new lands but also for new trade routes to the Far East. In this book, Timothy Brook eloquently narrates the changing landscape of life over the three centuries of the Ming (1368-1644), when China was transformed from a closely administered agrarian realm into a place of commercial profits and intense competition for status. The Confusions of Pleasure marks a significant departure from the conventional ways in which Chinese history has been written. Rather than recounting the Ming dynasty in a series of political events and philosophical achievements, it narrates this longue durée in terms of the habits and strains of everyday life. Peppered with stories of real people and their negotiations of a rapidly changing world, this book provides a new way of seeing the Ming dynasty that not only contributes to the scholarly understanding of the period but also provides an entertaining and accessible introduction to Chinese history for anyone.
Download or read book Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368 1644 written by Association for Asian Studies. Ming Biographical History Project Committee and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1976 with total page 762 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based largely upon original Ming documents, the Dictionary explores the lives of nearly 650 representative figures, both Chinese and foreign, who influenced the course of almost three hundred years of Chinese history. The articles span all classes, professions, and fields of endeavor, from emperors to artists, soldiers to missionaries, concubines, physicians, and pirates.
Download or read book Local Administration in Ming China written by Thomas G. Nimick and published by Society for Ming Studies; Cemh Pub., University of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas G. Nimick, a leading authority on Ming government, draws on Chinese sources to provide the most detailed account of local Ming government available in English. Rational bureaucratic administration is one of China's greatest contributions to the art of governance. After centuries of evolution, the Chinese civil service system reached new heights during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Local Administration in Ming China traces the origins and evolution of the lowest level of administrative offices over the course of the dynasty. It starts with the Ming founder's experiments with using members of the local elite to collect taxes and goes on to the increased reliance on magistrates and prefects sent out from the center. The story concludes with the fiscal problems at the end of the dynasty. This work includes the following contents: Introduction, Local Government in Early Ming, Changes in Local Government int he Fifteenth Century, From Specially Selected Officials to Province and Magistrate, Fiscal Pressures and Operational Changes, Continued Possibility of Structural Changes and the Climax of Fiscal Troubles, Conclusion, and Annotated Bibliography
Download or read book In the Shadow of the Mongol Empire written by David M. Robinson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-21 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Memories of the Mongol Empire loomed large in fourteenth-century Eurasia. Robinson explores how Ming China exploited these memories for its own purposes.
Download or read book The Troubled Empire written by Timothy Brook and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-11 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mongol takeover in the 1270s changed the course of Chinese history. The Confucian empireÑa millennium and a half in the makingÑwas suddenly thrust under foreign occupation. What China had been before its reunification as the Yuan dynasty in 1279 was no longer what it would be in the future. Four centuries later, another wave of steppe invaders would replace the Ming dynasty with yet another foreign occupation. The Troubled Empire explores what happened to China between these two dramatic invasions. If anything defined the complex dynamics of this period, it was changes in the weather. Asia, like Europe, experienced a Little Ice Age, and as temperatures fell in the thirteenth century, Kublai Khan moved south into China. His Yuan dynasty collapsed in less than a century, but Mongol values lived on in Ming institutions. A second blast of cold in the 1630s, combined with drought, was more than the dynasty could stand, and the Ming fell to Manchu invaders. Against this backgroundÑthe first coherent ecological history of China in this periodÑTimothy Brook explores the growth of autocracy, social complexity, and commercialization, paying special attention to ChinaÕs incorporation into the larger South China Sea economy. These changes not only shaped what China would become but contributed to the formation of the early modern world.
