Ming (1368 - 1644)
Then came the Ming. The Ming rulers distinguished themselves by being fatter, lazier, crazier, and
nastier than the average Imperial family. After the first Ming Emperor discovered that his prime minister
was plotting against him, not only was the prime minister beheaded, but his entire family and anyone
even remotely connected with him. Eventually, about 40,000 (no, that is not a misprint) people were
executed in connection with this case alone. They were also virulent Neo-Confucianists.
In the early 1400s, a sailor named Zheng He (with a fleet of some 300-plus ships)sailed as far west as
Mogadishu and Jiddah, and he may (or may not) have gotten to Madagascar. This is nearly 100 years
before Columbus had the idea of trying to sail to Asia the long way around. But once the sailors came
back, the trips were never followed up on. Conservative scholars at court failed to see the importance
of them. For the first time in history, China was turning inwards, clinging to an incorrect interpretation of
an outmoded philosophy.
To give the Ming their due, however, they did do some positive
things. Among other things, they moved the capital to Beijing, fortified
the Great Wall (the massive masonry structure that you see in all
the pictures and postcards is, with some recent, Communist-era repair,
an all-Ming construction), built the Forbidden City, and gave Macao
to the Portuguese.
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