Ming - (1368 - 1644)

To characterize the Ming Dynasty in a few paragraphs is almost ludicrous. It is filled with such intrigue and brutality, extravagance and paranoia, magnificent sea journeys and anticommercialism as to be almost beyond description. From the first emperor, Zhu Yuanzhong - a bandit-warlord who as a boy starved and begged in a peasant society, the rulers of Ming China were enigmatic, eccentric and brutal.

This first ruler, Hongwu, was ugly to look at, firecely energetic and given to fits of temper. He was paranoidally suspicious of conspiracies and by one account had 40,000 family and friends of his plotting prime minister beheaded. Beating and open humiliation became a part of the Ming court and the resulting reign of terror demoralized the Confucian government.

While the Song emperors had been men of taste and education, the Ming rulers were for the most part ruffians, usurpers and victims of court intrigue on a grand scale. Fiscal policies were equally disastrous. The currency system was a failure, quite unable to keep up with the growth of trade.

While the Yongle emperor ordered the naval hero Zheng He to mount expeditions on the routes south from China, the Confucian-trained scholar-officials blocked these efforts because they opposed trade and foreign contact on principle. As a result China turned in on itself and anticommercialism won out.

The Wanli emperor became so disenchanted with the internal court politics and backstabbing that he essentially withdrew from his imperial role. He tried to forget about his imerpial responsibility while accumulating a cache of funds for his personal use.

In 1644 the Manchurians invaded and inherited this anxiety about foreign contact and trade that hampered China's growth on the world stage for years to come.

Next dynasty -> Qing