What Was the Ming Dynasty? World History and East Asia in a Time of Crisis

With the outbreak of the “fourteenth-century crisis,” the Eurasian world system established by the Mongol Empire collapsed. East and West went their separate ways, gradually giving rise to a new world order that continues to shape the modern era. The Ming dynasty, which overthrew Mongol rule, established a new East Asian system. After the “seventeenth-century crisis” and the end of the Ming, this system was inherited by the Qing dynasty.

What was the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) like, caught between the great crises of the late Yuan and early Ming, and the late Ming and early Qing? Beyond its brutal, bloody, and fractious politics, what else made this period noteworthy? How did later developments diverge from the ancestral rules laid down by the Hongwu Emperor? And what impact did the Age of Exploration have on China?

Drawing on a range of the latest research, this book brings the seemingly “unchanging” Ming dynasty vividly to life and makes it fascinating.