A Brief History of the Ming Dynasty

★ To read Ming history, you must first read Wu Han! ★ A lighthearted introduction to history by a pioneer of modern Ming history studies, this classic has influenced countless Ming history enthusiasts. ★ Compiled from lectures at the Party School of the Central Committee, carefully revised against Wu Han’s posthumous manuscripts, and newly arranged. This edition adds four celebrated essays, including “A Study of the Hu Weiyong Case.” ★ Praised by scholars such as Zheng Tianting and Bai Shouyi as popular history, it uses accessible language to help you grasp the basic outline of the Ming dynasty’s three hundred years in just two hours. ★ Leave shallow sensationalism behind and understand the patterns that shaped the history of the Ming dynasty. ★ “Wu Han was meticulous in examining historical sources. He did not readily trust many documents and legends, but investigated them carefully. Whenever he encountered contradictions, he patiently sought clues to resolve them and distinguish fact from fiction, in pursuit of objective historical truth.”, Xia Nai ★ “Wu Han was a renowned historian specializing in Ming history, with many publications and great scholarly accomplishments. His talent was already evident when he was a student.”, Fei Xiaotong ★ Here you’ll find many historical truths that challenge what you thought you knew: If the capital had not been moved to Beijing, would the history of the Ming dynasty after Emperor Yingzong have ceased to exist? The anti-pirate hero Zhu Wan discovered before his death that “everyone in the court was in league with the pirates”? Was the “regional inspector” of Peking opera fame actually just a lowly seventh-rank official? ★ Here, you can grasp the history of the Ming dynasty’s three hundred years in just two hours: The founding of the capital in Nanjing, the move to Beijing, resistance against the Mongols and Japanese pirates, factional strife between the Donglin, the founding of the Jurchen state, Zheng He’s voyages, and the budding of capitalism: understand the answers to these seven major questions, and you’ll have the basic outline of the entire Ming dynasty! In just two hours, you can follow a master into the halls of Ming history research and leave shallow sensationalism behind!