Transcript AP World History POD #8 – The Middle Kingdom

AP World History
POD #8 – The Middle
Kingdom
Yuan & Ming Empires
Class Discussion Notes
Bulliet et. al –
“Mongol Domination in China,
1271-1368”, pp. 352-355
Collapse of Mongol Rule
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“After conquering northern China in the 1230s,
Great Khan Ogodei told a Confucian adviser
that he planned to turn the heavily populated
North China Plain into a pasture for livestock.
The adviser reacted calmly but argued that
taxing the cities and villages would bring
greater wealth. The Great Khan agreed, but
he imposed an oppressive tax-farming system
instead of the fixed rate method traditional in
China.” (Bulliet, p. 352)
China suffered under this system
Khubilai Khan
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Created the Yuan Empire in 1271 /Grandson of
Genghis
Secured trade routes / Exchange of experts
between eastern and western Eurasia /
Transmission of information, ideas, and skills
He began to use Confucian ideas in the
formation of laws but was always willing to
listen to Buddhist and Daoist leaders and
advisers
Tibetan Buddhist Monks
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Lamas – Tibetan Buddhist priests
became popular with Mongol rulers
Mongols liked their idea of a militant
universal ruler bringing the whole world
under control of the Buddha
Beijing
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Capital city of the Yuan Empire (the old capital
of Karakorum was too geographically remote)
Located at the eastern terminus of the caravan
routes originating near Tabriz
Forbidden City – a closed imperial complex
with wide streets and a network of linked lakes
and artificial islands
“Xanadu” (ZAH-nah-doo) – the summer retreat
of the Khan located in Inner Mongolia
Yuan Society
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According to the law of the land Mongols
ranked highest followed by the Central Asians,
Middle Easterners, the northern Chinese and
finally the southern Chinese
Mongols were the empire’s warriors
Central Asians & Middle Easterners were the
empire’s census takers and tax collectors
Northern Chinese outranked the southern
Chinese by way of being put under Mongol rule
almost two generations earlier
Yuan Government
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Rulers stressed census taking and tax
collecting (Persian, Arab & Uigher officials
staffed these jobs, while Muslim scholars
worked at calendar making)
Organized China into provinces with central
appointment of provincial governors, tax
collectors and garrison commanders
Systemized control of all parts of the empire
Yuan Economy
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Cities prospered by being on the caravan routes in the
north and the Grand Canal in the interior
Merchants were a privileged group
Corporations shared the risk of doing business
Agriculture could not keep up with the demands of empire
as the lands were damaged by war and overtaxed
Paper money was printed but was distrusted by the
people and a copper coinage was created bringing
stability to the economy
The gentry began to move to the countryside as the city
life no longer supported scholarship as the commercial
life became supreme
Cottage industries dotted the countryside
Population Loss
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It is estimated that approximately 40% of
the population of China was lost during
the Yuan Dynasty’s reign
Causes are speculated to include –
prolonged warfare, rural distress causing
people to engage in female infanticide,
bubonic plague, a southward flight of
refugees and flooding on the Yellow
River
Fall of the Yuan
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“In the 1340s strife broke out among the
Mongol princes. Within twenty years farmer
rebellions and inter-Mongol feuds engulfed the
land. Amidst the chaos, a charismatic Chinese
leader, Zhu Yuan-zhang (JOO yuwen-JAHNG),
mounted a campaign that destroyed the Yuan
Empire and brought China under control of his
new empire, the Ming, in 1368” (Bulliet, p. 354)