Transcript MING & QING DYNASTY IN CHINA

STATE CONSOLIDATION & IMPERIAL EXPANSION IN EAST ASIA
Rulers used the arts to display power
Rulers continued to use religion as legitimacy
Differential treatment of some groups
Recruitment of military & bureaucratic elites
GREAT WALL OF CHINA
FORBIDDEN CITY
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Manchus storm into northern China and
replace the weakened Ming Dynasty
Preserve their cultural identity by forbidding
intermarriage and even Chinese travel to
Manchuria or to learn Manchurian
Forced them to adopt Manchurian styles
Educated monarchs Kangxi and Qianlong
consolidate their power and sought to apply
Confucian teachings to all they did
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Kangxi
 Conquered Taiwan
 Extended control into
Central Asia
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Qianlong
 Consolidated Central Asia
 Made Vietnam, Burma, &
Nepal vassal states
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The Chinese people were viewed as one big
family
The head of the family was the emperor who
was known as the Son of Heaven
His daily activities were a scheduled and
choreographed ritual of that went down to
the very clothes he wore.
Anyone who met with him had to kowtow – 3
kneelings and 9 head knockings
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The highest position in Chinese social order
was the Confucian scholarly bureaucrats
You had to pass examinations to receive this
high honor
Approximately 1 million degree holders (ppl
who passed the exams) and only 20 thousand
official civil service positions.
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Filial piety was the cornerstone of family
values.
Women were subjected to men in all areas.
 Women couldn’t divorce men
 Parents preferred sons to daughters
 Purpose of marriage was to continue the male line
 Foot binding became even more popular,
especially among the wealthy classes
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Scholar Bureaucrats at the top
Gentry
 Working Class (peasants, artisans, merchants)
▪ Peasants – most honorable because of honest labor and provision
of food for the entire population
▪ Artisans – usually enjoyed higher income but lower status
▪ Merchants – unscrupulous social parasites who enjoyed little legal
protection
▪ Mean People – soldiers, slaves, entertainers, prostitutes,
etc. (armed forces were seen as a necessary evil)