In the 1500s, after years of successful voyages, the Ming Dynasty mysteriously withdrew itselves. Maritime trade was halted except for some port cities in the south, and European traders were pushed out. But why? The Ming Dynasty was prospering. In the 1400s, seven voyages were conducted to lands as far away as Eastern Africa; however, in 1434 foreign trade had been suddenly banned. The explorer who had conducted these expeditions had only died the year prior. “By the end of the fifteenth century, imperial subjects were forbidden from either building oceangoing ships or leaving the country.” Large ships called junks were banned from being built or repaired. The navy began to weaken as the Ming dynasty moved gradually inward. There are several …show more content…
This was a way of displaying China’s power to the world. These fleets were equipped with weapons although they were hardly used except in cases when countries refused to pay tribute. It’s important to note that the end goal of these missions was not to colonise but to display China’s power and superiority. These fleets traveled across Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, and as far as Eastern Africa and the Cape of Good Hope. China was relatively self-sufficient. Many nobles subscribing to the idea of Zhongyuan, the idea that China was the centre of the world, felt that these expeditions were unnecessary. Confucian scholars began to criticize these missions and their importance. The building of junks was banned and for the most part no one was permitted to leave the country (although the latter was most likely not strictly enforced). After China withdrew there were repeated attempts to establish new missions. “In 1477 another powerful eunuch named Wang Zhi wished to mount an expedition. When he asked for the official records from the voyages of [Zheng He], the records were declared "lost" and his efforts were frustrated.” All records of these missions were suppressed in the Imperial Record in order to curb any other potential
When comparing the Chinese and Western historical development, the similar key events would have very different outcomes due to their different backgrounds. During the fifteenth century, Zheng He was commissioned to lead the “treasure ships” for seven voyages down the Western Seas. And, Prince Henry sent expeditions to explore the western coast of Africa. China and Portugal, the both ends of the Eurasian continent, almost simultaneously began marine navigations. They have shared some similar features, but there are actually major differences between the two. This paper will compare and contrast these two remarkable explorers. The focus will be on the ideas and circumstances that influenced their actions, and their importance in shaping history.
Chapter 1: The Wan-Li Emperor, begins by explaining the major premise of the work: The concept of looking at a single year in the history of the leadership of China and evaluating the implications for understanding other aspects of history, including the decline of the Ming Dynasty. In this initial chapter, Huang provides an anecdotal history of some of the events that occurred, and includes within it a discussion of the set up of the leadership, the repercussions that occurred in the event of certain actions, including the prospects of an audience with the emperor. Huang reviews these issues as he considers that actions taken by the Wan-li emperor, who was only twenty-four in 1587 and who had been a veteran of ceremonial proceedings, and considers his history as an element of understanding the progression of leadership.
Due to their contrasting but also similar views of economic expansion, the Portuguese and the Chinese had different structures and values of their societies. Both societies were very involved in trading and exploration, however they had different reasons for exploration. The Portuguese and Prince Henry wanted to reach Asian lands by sailing down the coast of Afric...
Exploration has been an important action to take part of since the beginning of time. We have to explore to find out what’s out there right? We could potentially obtain so much knowledge, and so many resources. You can only obtain the maximum potential of something if your motives and ideology are correct. A great example of someone who had the potential to do so much good, and obtain so much greatness was a Chinese admiral by the name of Zheng He. Zheng He watched his father die at the hand of the Ming Dynasty, along with being castrated himself. Zheng He was forced to join thousands of eunuchs, and then rose quickly through the ranks of the military. The emperor basically assigned Zheng He the task of leading a fleet of exploration ships. They sailed this huge fleet of ships to unknown areas in hopes to make friends with other countries, and the local leaders usually offered tribute and emissaries to avoid conflict. This whole process preceded the colonialism practiced by the Europeans in years to come. The question begging to be answered here is, are Zheng He’s voyages deserving of celebration? I will be discussing my opinion on the subject and supporting with the documents provided. However; there are a few particular words I have used in this paragraph that we need to define to make sure we know what we are talking about. The Ming Dynasty was the imperial dynasty of China from the years 1368 to 1644. A eunuch is man who has been castrated. A tribute is an act, statement, or gift that is intended to show gratitude, respect, or admiration. An emissaries is a person sent on a special mission, usually as a diplomatic representative. Colonialism is the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another ...
Accompanied by 27,000 men on 62 large and 255 small ships, the Chinese eunuch Zheng He, led 7 naval expeditions to Southeast Asia, Middle East and east coast of Africa in the span of 28 years during the Ming Dynasty. The scale of Zheng He’s fleet was unprecedented in world history. The large treasure ships used during the expeditions were purported to be 440 feet long and 180 feet wide (Dreyer, p. 102). Throughout his travels, Zheng He brought Chinese tea, porcelain and silk products to foreign countries and also brought back exotic goods to the Ming court such as spices, plants and leather. Although his voyages fostered commercial trades and cultural exchange between China and foreign countries, the goal of his expeditions stemmed from the political motivation to maintain the tributary system and his voyages had important political implication of causing Neo-Confucian opposition and suspension of the expedition.
The Chinese empire had once been one of the greatest and most powerful empires in the world. Before the 19th century, China had a large population and was ruled by families or dynasties. It was considered technologically advanced as China had a history of many miraculous inventions, such as: writing, magnetic compasses, movable sails, porcelain, abacus and paper money. Although China was isolated from the rest of the world, it coped well on its own, and saw no need to begin trading with the west, (as Lord McCartney proposed in 1793), since it was a self-sufficient nation. At that particular time, the Chinese empire was still able to exclude the ‘barbarians’, thus forcing them to only trade at one port. However, China soon took a turn for the worst as important ...
During the 15th century, the Chinese had one of the most advanced naval fleets known to man. As a result, China was able to establish many trade routes to places such as Africa, India, Singapore, etc… If the Chinese wanted to, they could have sailed all the way to Europe and even as far as North America. However, the Chinese ran into some political problems that prevented explorations in the future. If they had continued their voyages, it would have been possible for them to have discovered the New World before Columbus. Had China discovered America before Columbus, our world would be different from what it is today.
Greenberg, Michael. British Trade and the Opening of China 1800 - 42. New York: Monthly Review, 1979. Print.
Not only did he explore a variety of lands he also brought things back creating trade routes throughout Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. As Zheng He returned from his voyages he brought back goods and much tribute. We can see how Zheng He explored many lands as shown on the map in document A. We can also see that his voyages were long and did go up to 19000 miles’ roundtrip per voyage (doc A). This evidence proves that Zheng He must’ve been a good leader in order to successfully carry out 7 of these voyages and bringing back tributes like “local products, pepper, horses, and money” (doc D). This shows how the voyages actually benefited the emperor and proves that we would be celebrating something that included
There is a debate whether or not Marco Polo truly went to China. The side that does not believe Marco Polo traveled to China has this view because Marco Polo did not mention the Great Wall. In addition, the Chinese culture was not noted of. Being a foreigner, Marco Polo did not write about these strange things such as foot binding, calligraphy and etcetera. Not only that, but Marco Polo did not catch onto and learn the Chinese language due to the time he was there. Also, Marco Polo was not mentioned or documented about directly in the Chinese writings. However, three Venetians were written about.
The chief purpose of the fleet was diplomatic in nature. Zhu Di's intent to make known his ascension to the dragon throne to the rest of the world, was to make it known by the most superb way possible: a vast fleet of massive ships bringing gifts. These ships in his fleet were over four hundred feet long and could carry a load of up to three thousand tons of cargo. They were by far the largest ships most people had ever seen. This created a certain intimidation that Zhu Di liked because he was concerned in having the 'four corners of the earth' stoop down to China as being middle kingdom. The striking size and wealth the fleet represented would make most rulers consider beginning trade with China. The 'Treasure ships' were filled to the brim with expensive goods and were taken to trading ports all over the Indian Ocean.
The chief purpose of the fleet was diplomacy. Zhu Di's intent to make known his rise to the dragon throne to the rest of the world was to make it known in the best possible way. He intended to use a fleet of massive treasure ships to do this. The ships in his fleet were a little over four hundred feet in length and could carry around three thousand tons. They were filled with the empire's finest porcelains, lacquer ware, and silk. They were definitely the largest ships that the majority of the people at that time had ever seen. This intimidated other countries, which Zhu Di liked because he wanted to have the “four corners of the earth” stoop down to China as being a middle kingdom. The amazing size and wealth that the fleet represented would make most rulers consider beginning trade with China. These “Treasure ships” were filled with expensive goods and were taken to trading ports all around the Indian Ocean. These ships would also occasionally intervene in the affairs of other nations in order to obtain the best trade conditions for China from these other nations.
With deserts and the Himalayas running along most of the border, it was extremely difficult to cross over one of the most dangerous mountain ranges in the world and a few other scorching deserts with the little transport they had during that time. The only way merchants could come into the country was the southeastern coast of China, where most of the prosperous cities resided. What led China to become conceited was because they had an abundance of goods that most of the world wanted. In the 1760-1830s, China was famous for its porcelain (rich Europeans loved it), silk, and of course, tea. Since this Eastern Powerhouse’s goods were so popular, therefore, there were only a few things that interested them to trade with.
Today we can look around ourselves and see thousands of technical innovations that make life easier; But if we take a step back and ask ourselves “How?” we will soon realize that most often, these technological advancements did not just “poof” into existence, but are usually the outcome of building upon yesterday’s technology. If we follow this cycle back into time, we can attribute almost any modern day invention to an ancient civilization during its golden age. China was no exception. China’s Song and Tang dynasties fostered scientific advances comparable to Rome’s during its Pax Romana. The most significant and impacting of these were the development of primitive gunpowder and porcelain of the Tang and paper money, and the magnetic compass of the Song Dynasties. Although these may seem very far off, if you look hard enough, you can see traces of their impacts in society today because most of the advancements today we owe to them.
The purpose of this paper is to tell the history of the Ming Dynasty’s impact on the Chinese Empire, and to explain why the Chinese Empire was in fact an empire.