China’s Foreign Policy of Ming and Qing Dynasties

 The Ming dynasty was a Chinese absolute monarch which ruled the country for an uninterrupted period of 276 years. It is arguably one of the most influential and orderly governments that China has ever had. It came into office after the fall of the Yuan dynasty, which had ruled from 1271 to 1368. The Ming dynasty ruled from 1368 to 1644, with several emperors such as Hongwu, Yongle, and Wanli (“Travel China Guide: Ming Dynasty” par 4). Before its fall, the Yuan dynasty had faced an almost collapsing infrastructure which had raised the levels of discontentment among the people. Some of the key leaders who noted the crumbling of the Yuan dynasty include Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen. After noting the imminent collapse of the Yuan dynasty, these two leaders quickly turned into rebels and in 1363, a battle known as ‘the battle of Lake Poyang’ was staged up (“Encyclopedia Britannica: Ming Dynasty” par 12). During the battle, the faction led by Zhu managed to eliminate the one led by Chen. After the defeat of the faction led by Chen, Zhu gained control of the south and the area around the Yangtze River valley. In 1367, the then leader of the Yuan dynasty Red Turbans died, leaving a vacuum in leadership. Zhu sized the opportunity and declared the Ming dynasty as being in power after destroying Yuan palaces and cities, especially in Dadu. After taking power, Zhu Yuanzhang became the first Ming emperor under the name of Hongwu (“Department of Asian Art: Ming Dynasty 1368–1644” par 4).

Institutional Structure and Division of the Ming Dynasty
The Ming dynasty ruled through the provincial administration just like its predecessor. The administrative structure comprised of 13 provinces which were led by a secretariat. The Ming also had three commissioners who were in charge of civil, surveillance, and military departments. At the lowest level of the provincial administration were the counties, which were headed by magistrates (“Oracle Think Quest: The Ming Dynasty” par 8).

Ideology of the Ming Dynasty
Ideally, the Ming dynasty subscribed to the Confucian ideology. However the Ming dynasty, under the leadership of Wang was heterodoxy in nature (“Patheos Library: Confucianism” par 7). The reason is that the Wang emperor not only embraced Confucianism but also Buddhism and Taoism (“Asian Art collection: Ming dynasty 1638–1644” par 4).

The Wang emperor emphasized on the pursuit of education and the idea that women were equal to men when it came to attainment of education. The main proponents of education for women were Li and He. However, they were jailed by their opponents in the Wang government for pursuing such ‘strange’ ideas and they died while at prison. Those opposed to the idea of education and equality of men and women were regarded as conservatives and after the death of Li and He at prison, they attempted to renew Confucianism.

The conservatives led by Gu Xiancheng were very critical of Wang’s idea of moral knowledge gained through education, equating it to pursuit of personal narrow interests at the expense of the interests of the majority. These wranglings between the conservatives and the liberals split the Wang emperor into two factions. The liberal state ministers in the Wang government used their powers to impeach the conservatives from their leadership positions as court judges.

Philosophy of the Ming Dynasty
Ming’s philosophy was generally regarded as liberal. The Ming emperors based their leadership on the belief that every body was capable of having moral knowledge. This belief was opposed to the views of conservatives who believed in the works of elitist scholars like Aristotle. According to Aristotle, there was nothing like moral knowledge, but rather ‘knowledge of the forms’, which meant that moral knowledge was only found in those people who were trained or had studied morality.

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