Week 10: Seventeenth-Century Crises

Late Ming Crises

I. Factionalism and Political Protest

1. Early Ming examples—e.g. Fang Xiaoru 方孝儒 (1357–1402)
2. Factionalism in mid-Ming—Jiajing (1522–67) and Wanli (1564–1620) eras
3. The Donglin Movement in late Ming—Donglin 東林 Academy (1604) … Gu Xiancheng 顧憲成 (1550–1612) … Yang Lian 楊漣 (1571–1625) … Wei Zhongxian 魏忠賢 (1568–1627)

II. Social Unrests in Late Ming

1. Structural problems—decline of government efficiency … growth of imperial clan (~23,000 clansmen by the Wanli reign) … military campaigns (e.g., Imjin War [1592–98]; 26 million ounces of silver)
2. Historical contingencies—”little ice age” … famine (1627–28) … shortage of silver
3. Rebellions—Zhang Xianzhong 張獻忠 (c. 1605–1647) … Li Zicheng 李自成 (1605?–1645)

III. Founding of the Qing Dynasty (1636–1912)

1. The “Manchu” conquest—Nurhachi (1559–1626) … banner system … Abahai (r.1626–1643) … Wu Sangui 吳三桂 (1612–1678)
2. Resistance—Yangzhou massacre (1645) … “Southern Ming” … Zheng Chenggong 鄭成功 (1624–1662) (in Taiwan) … “Three Feudatories”

IV. Qing Administration

1. Basic administrative structure
2. Concerns and Innovations
3. Early Qing rulers—Kangxi 康熙 (r. 1662–1722) … Yongzheng 雍正 (r. 1723–1735) … Qianlong 乾隆 (r. 1736–1795)
4. Territorial Expansion

V. Concluding Thoughts: Multi-ethnic Empire

Discussion

1. Dynastic transitions were seldom peaceful. In the case of Yangzhou in 1645, what might have made the experience even more tragic and painful?
2. How would you describe the historical place occupied by Zheng Chenggong (1624–62), a sea lord born to a Chinese father (Zheng Zhilong) and a Japanese mother? How did his experience/career reflect the broader changes in seventeenth-century East Asia?
3. For the Manchu rulers, head-shaving seemed to be an important gesture? How would you make sense of this emphasis?

Maps

External links to Maps:

History in Maps | Ming Dynasty | Qing Dynasty

Physical Map

Source: National Museum of Chinese History, ed., A Journey into China's Antiquity, vol. 1 (Beijing: Morning Glory Publishers, 1997), pp. 8–9.

 

Physical Map by Satellite

Administrative Map

Source: SACU

Images

Taiwan

References

• Crossley, Pamela Kyle. The Manchus. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997.
• Dardess, John W. Blood and History in China: The Donglin Faction and Its Repression, 1620-1627. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2002.
• Elliott, Mark C. The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.
• Ko, Dorothy. Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-Century China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994.
• von Glahn, Richard. Fountain of Fortune: Money and Monetary Policy in China, 1000-1700. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996.