In the Ming epoch the porcelain with blue decoration on a white ground became general; the first examples, from the famous kilns in Ching-te-chen, in the province of Kiangsi, were relatively coarse, but in the fifteenth century the production was much finer.  In the sixteenth century the quality deteriorated, owing to the disuse of the cobalt from the Middle East (perhaps from Persia) in favour of Sumatra cobalt, which did not yield the same brilliant colour.  In the Ming epoch there also appeared the first brilliant red colour, a product of iron, and a start was then made with three-colour porcelain (with lead glaze) or five-colour (enamel).  The many porcelains exported to western Asia and Europe first influenced European ceramics (Delft), and then were imitated in Europe (Boettger); the early European porcelains long showed Chinese influence (the so-called onion pattern, blue on a white ground).  In addition to the porcelain of the Ming epoch, of which the finest specimens are in the palace at Istanbul, especially famous are the lacquers (carved lacquer, lacquer painting, gold lacquer) of the Ming epoch and the cloisonne work of the same period.  These are closely associated with the contemporary work in Japan.

8 Politics at court

After the founding of the dynasty by Chu Yuean-chang, important questions had to be dealt with apart from the social legislation.  What was to be done, for instance, with Chu’s helpers?  Chu, like many revolutionaries before and after him, recognized that these people had been serviceable in the years of struggle but could no longer remain useful.  He got rid of them by the simple device of setting one against another so that they murdered one another.  In the first decades of his rule the dangerous cliques of gentry had formed again, and were engaged in mutual struggles.  The most formidable clique was led by Hu Wei-yung.  Hu was a man of the gentry of Chu’s old homeland, and one of his oldest supporters.  Hu and his relations controlled the country after 1370, until in 1380 Chu succeeded in beheading Hu and exterminating his clique.  New cliques formed before long and were exterminated in turn.

Chu had founded Nanking in the years of revolution, and he made it his capital.  In so doing he met the wishes of the rich grain producers of the Yangtze delta.  But the north was the most threatened part of his empire, so that troops had to be permanently stationed there in considerable strength.  Thus Peking, where Chu placed one of his sons as “king”, was a post of exceptional importance.

In Chu Yuean-chang’s last years (he was named T’ai Tsu as emperor) difficulties arose in regard to the dynasty.  The heir to the throne died in 1391; and when the emperor himself died in 1398, the son of the late heir-apparent was installed as emperor (Hui Ti, 1399-1402).  This choice had the support of some of the influential Confucian gentry families of the south.  But a protest against his enthronement