Reflections on the late Ming Dynasty
"The Xuande Emperor’s outing" by the Ming artist Shang Xi Photo: FILE
Social transformation during the late Ming Dynasty ceased at the fall of the Ming Empire. Through these sequences of events China lost a chance to keep pace with the world. The blame for this loss and its assignation is worthy of attention.
The supersession of dynasties has continued throughout the history of China. Since Qin Shi Huang unified China for the first time, the beginning and the end of each dynasty has been addressed as chu and mo respectively, such as Song Chu (the early Song Dynasty). It should be noted that in addition to the periods of chu and mo, the late stages of the Tang, Ming and Qing dynasties are called wan, such as Wan Ming (the late Ming Dynasty). Although both wan and mo mean “late,” they are quite different from each other. The period of wan is usually longer than that of mo, with a length of tens of years. The nation in the wan period, though declining, still featured economic and cultural prosperity as well as social transformation.
Misunderstanding of the late Ming
Among the three dynasties that had experienced the wan stage, the Wan Ming, or the late Ming, stands out for its distinctive social transformation, which happened spontaneously without external intervention. Most historians hold the view that the reign of the Wanli Emperor (ruled in 1573–1620) marked the beginning of the late Ming period. Furthermore, it is generally accepted that the Wanli era is the starting point of the Ming Dynasty’s decline.
Though Ming society in the Wanli era was gripped with severe social problems, it is not accurate to identify this era as the beginning of the end of the Ming. In fact, the late Ming Dynasty experienced a period of advanced commodity economy. The country saw the rapid development of its commodity economy during the reign of the Longqing Emperor and the Wanli Emperor. Wage labor occurred in urban areas and even in some rural areas in Jiangnan (south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River). One historical document records that a farmer named Tan Xiao became a representative of the rural new money by acquiring deserted land and hiring labor for farming. Tan was an example of the developing wage labor and commodity economy at that time. The change of the society’s economic and social conditions led to the change of the superstructure and the society as a whole.
Major changes in the late Ming
Due to the booming commodity economy, extravagant lifestyles became prevalent during the late Ming Dynasty, first adopted by the upper class, then spreading through the whole of society. The simple and plain lifestyles of the scholar-officials, a lifestyle that had been honored and respected ever since the early Ming era, was replaced with widespread wastefulness and extravagance.
Take the recycling of paper for example. During the reign of the Hongwu Emperor (ruled in 1368–1398), textbooks and fangshu (the paper for practicing calligraphy), used by the students in the Guozijian (Imperial College), had to be collected and handed into the Ministry of Rites (one of the Six Ministries of government in late imperial China, in charge of religious rituals and court ceremonials). Fangshu were in turn sent to the Guanglu Temple (an institution in charge of the meal service for the royal family) where they were used as wrapping for flour; textbooks were given to the legal department, where people made drafts on the backs of the paper. Fireworks were also made from used paper. Since the reign of the Chenghua Emperor (ruled in 1465–1487), however, all the fireworks were made from new paper. During the Wanli era, gorgeous cards became a very popular gift among officials.
These extravagances were made distinctive through people’s innovative attitudes towards them. When people were worried about these trends in the late Ming era, a man named Lu Ji argued that extravagant lifestyles could boost related industries and many common people could make a living from such industries. This argument in favor of expensive living represented the value orientation of the rising merchant class.
Politics in the late Ming Dynasty also experienced great change. In 1579, a government official criticized the Wanli Emperor for his indulgence in sensual pleasures in his zouzhe (a document sent by an official to the Emperor as a mean of communication) to the throne. It is recorded that the Wanli Emperor, after reading this zouzhe, felt disturbed on how to deal with it and kept it on his desk for 10 days. This issue seemed strange under the centralized feudal monarchy of China. In fact, since the middle of the Wanli era, outspoken criticism and dissent against the authority had become pretty common in the country. Less restriction on freedom of speech at that time promoted the rise of humanism. The trend of humanism in the late Ming Dynasty tried to break the old social stratification, which was a big step towards modern capitalism.
Reflections on the fall of the Ming
Though driven by booming economy, culture and political tolerance, the Ming Empire eventually collapsed. The reasons for its fall mean a lot in relation to modern society.
The first reason lies in the malfunction of the government, which indicates that the government was manipulated into a tool for the interest of particular groups instead of the nation. The most typical example was the endless, heavy tax. In order to increase the fiscal revenue, the Wanli Emperor appointed a large number of eunuchs as Kuangjian (mine supervisors) and Shuishi (tax collectors) and sent them all over the country to implement and enforce taxes upon the people. All the participating parties, ranging from the authorities to the local groups of interest, tried to sap benefits from the implementation of the mine taxes. Finally, the mine taxes, which might have triggered the rise of modern mining, were in practice nothing but a way to harvest silver from out of the pockets of the common people. Trade and communication had been blocked by the heavy taxes on mining and transportation, leading to substantial growth in the royal family’s income while the custom duty income dropped sharply by a third.
Complex social contradictions were the other reason of the Ming’s decline. Generally speaking, social contradictions tend to be more complex during social transition. It is the government’s responsibility to deal with these problems. However, the authority during the late Ming failed in its duties and peasant rebellions broke out all over the country.
After the death of Zhang Juzheng (1525–1582), a powerful minister who had served the Longqing Emperor and the Wanli Emperor, fierce competition among various factions started in the court. The Donglin Faction (a faction of scholars and officials suggesting reforms at the court to strengthen the flagging dynasty) was the most notable force in this chaos. Although the Donglin Faction was generally viewed as a virtuous force and its opponent—the faction of court eunuchs—as the villains, all the participants of the competition were driven by profits, not the public interest. Their arguments focused on moral issues instead of the social contradictions, and all players were ultimately aiming for power and influence. The conflicts among factions finally turned into conflicts of interest, causing disastrous political chaos.
Moral laxity, intellectual weakness and the lack of manners were the third primary set of reasons for the fall of the country. The development of commodity commerce posed a problem all over the country—people got sneaky when it came to making a profit. During these times a Portuguese traveler visited China for a tour and he recorded what he saw in the local markets. In the noisy markets, sellers injected chickens with water behind the counter to increase the weight of the chickens. Some big cities, including Nanjing, Beijing and Suzhou, were major markets of counterfeit products. Even the travel guides warned tourists against counterfeit products. Pursuit of quick success and instant profits turned the late Ming into a highly materialistic society. This social change led to an absence of humanity. The common people, while being disgusted with the interest groups that had greatly undermined the nation in the selfish pursuit of their own interests, went blindly after their own profits as well. An official of the Ming court once said that the true threat against the nation didn’t come from the outside of the country and its court, but the inside.
The article was edited and translated from Guangming Daily. Shang Zhuan is a research fellow from the Institute of History at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
edited by REN GUANHONG