Checking In to Life in the Ming Dynasty

A Day in the Life of the Ming Dynasty is part of the series Ancient History Your Textbooks Didn’t Have Time to Tell You. With a lively, lighthearted style, it depicts the many facets of everyday life among ordinary people during the Ming Dynasty. The book vividly portrays what people ate and drank, how they kept cool in summer and warm in winter, how they traveled, where they lived, what jobs they did, and how they spent their leisure time. It is like a written version of Along the River During the Qingming Festival. What was everyday life really like for ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty? What unique customs did they have? This book answers modern readers’ questions one by one. It also features numerous beautiful illustrations that vividly recreate the daily lives of Ming-era people.

The Ancient History Your Textbooks Didn’t Have Time to Tell You series covers the everyday lives of ordinary people throughout Chinese history. Written by authors with deep expertise in history, these books use official histories as their foundation and bring the past to life in an engaging, humorous, and accessible style. They recreate the distinct social landscapes of different dynasties and vividly portray how ordinary people’s lives in ancient China changed and endured over time.