A history of China., [3d ed. rev. and enl.] eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 552 pages of information about A history of China., [3d ed. rev. and enl.].

A history of China., [3d ed. rev. and enl.] eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 552 pages of information about A history of China., [3d ed. rev. and enl.].
came from the other son of Chu Yuean-chang, who as king in Peking had hoped to become emperor.  With his strong army this prince, Ch’eng Tsu, marched south and captured Nanking, where the palaces were burnt down.  There was a great massacre of supporters of the young emperor, and the victor made himself emperor (better known under his reign name, Yung-lo).  As he had established himself in Peking, he transferred the capital to Peking, where it remained throughout the Ming epoch.  Nanking became a sort of subsidiary capital.

This transfer of the capital to the north, as the result of the victory of the military party and Buddhists allied to them, produced a new element of instability:  the north was of military importance, but the Yangtze region remained the economic centre of the country.  The interests of the gentry of the Yangtze region were injured by the transfer.  The first Ming emperor had taken care to make his court resemble the court of the Mongol rulers, but on the whole had exercised relative economy.  Yung-lo (1403-1424), however, lived in the actual palaces of the Mongol rulers, and all the luxury of the Mongol epoch was revived.  This made the reign of Yung-lo the most magnificent period of the Ming epoch, but beneath the surface decay had begun.  Typical of the unmitigated absolutism which developed now, was the word of one of the emperor’s political and military advisors, significantly a Buddhist monk:  “I know the way of heaven.  Why discuss the hearts of the people?”

9 Navy.  Southward expansion

After the collapse of Mongol rule in Indo-China, partly through the simple withdrawal of the Mongols, and partly through attacks from various Chinese generals, there were independence movements in south-west China and Indo-China.  In 1393 wars broke out in Annam.  Yung-lo considered that the time had come to annex these regions to China and so to open a new field for Chinese trade, which was suffering continual disturbance from the Japanese.  He sent armies to Yuennan and Indo-China; at the same time he had a fleet built by one of his eunuchs, Cheng Ho.  The fleet was successfully protected from attack by the Japanese.  Cheng Ho, who had promoted the plan and also carried it out, began in 1405 his famous mission to Indo-China, which had been envisaged as giving at least moral support to the land operations, but was also intended to renew trade connections with Indo-China, where they had been interrupted by the collapse of Mongol rule.  Cheng Ho sailed past Indo-China and ultimately reached the coast of Arabia.  His account of his voyage is an important source of information about conditions in southern Asia early in the fifteenth century.  Cheng Ho and his fleet made some further cruises, but they were discontinued.  There may have been several reasons. (1) As state enterprises, the expeditions were very costly.  Foreign goods could be obtained more cheaply and with less trouble if foreign merchants

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
A history of China., [3d ed. rev. and enl.] from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.