31.6 The far east: a.d. 1601 to 1700

The far east

Back to The Far East: A.D. 1501 to 1600

China and manchuria (ming dynasty to 1644, then ch'ing [manchu])

The Ming government reached its lowest point early in the century when the young, indecisive emperor, Hsi-Tsung, gave dictatorial power to Wei Chung-hsien, the most notorious palace eunuch of all Chinese history. He proceeded to brutally purge the government of all dissidents. In the first decades of the century the Jurchens, originally called Kin and now called "Manchus" gradually expanded into the modern provinces of Liaoning and Kirin and established a first capital at Mukden (subsequently Shenyang) from 1625 to 1644. The Manchus owed their nationhood to Nurhachi and his son Abahai, starting as petty tribal chieftains selling medicinal herbs to Chinese settlers in Manchuria. Abahai ended as the strong emperor at Mukden. (Ref. 101 ) From this base the Manchus subdued inner Mongolia in 1629 and made Korea a vassal state in 1637. At about the same time the Russian advance to the Pacific was stopped as these Manchurian people confronted them at the Amur River. The Manchus then headed south to China, where the population at 1600 was about 150 million or 2 1/2 times as great as it had been in 1368. Braudell (Ref. 260 ) points out that the early settlement and precipitous rise in population were-possible because of the small amount of meat eaten. When one adds up calories available for human consumption, agriculture on a given amount of land will always have the advantage over stock raising, feeding from 10 to 20 times as many people. "The choice between cereals and meat depends on the number of people."

The basic crop of China, of course, was rice, but occasionally a peasant could get in a wheat crop between his 2 yearly harvests of rice. The Chinese made a sort of heavy dough from the wheat, not knowing how to knead it and so it helped very little in their meager dietary supply. (Ref. 260 ) On the other hand, China had plenty of highly skilled artisans. The cotton works of Songjiang, south of Shanghai, employed 200,000 workers, not including tailoring and dressmaking, by the end of the century. Su-chi had between 3,000 and 4,000 silk-looms. (Ref. 292 ) Still by 1636 almost all of central, northern and northwestern China was in rebellion. In that same year 3 Portuguese cannon, hauled upon the Great Wall, put the Manchurian army to flight and gained another decade of life for the Ming Dynasty. Rebel leader Li Tzu-ch'eng from Honan and adjacent areas, took Peking in 1644 in spite of its wide, guarded walls. The last Ming emperor then committed suicide. We should note in passing that Peking participates in the cruel Siberian cold for 6 months of the year and thousands of Mandarins clothed themselves in expensive sable and had boots, saddles, chairs and tents made with those same skins. (Ref. 260 )