THE WORLD ATLAS

Empire · 1368–1644 · East Asia

Ming dynasty

Also known as Ming Empire, Ming Chinese Empire

Zhu Yuanzhang, a former peasant and Buddhist monk who rose to lead the Red Turban rebels, drove out the Mongols and proclaimed the Ming dynasty in 1368, ruling as the Hongwu Emperor. He rebuilt agriculture and concentrated power in the emperor's hands.

The Yongle Emperor moved the capital to Beijing, built the Forbidden City and sent Admiral Zheng He on great treasure voyages across the Indian Ocean as far as East Africa between 1405 and 1433. The Ming rebuilt the Great Wall in the form seen today, and Ming porcelain and silk were prized worldwide, drawing in vast amounts of silver from Japan and the Americas. Later emperors withdrew from government, and factional strife, war in Korea, famine and rebellion weakened the state. Rebels took Beijing in 1644, and the Manchu Qing dynasty, proclaimed by Hong Taiji in 1636, seized the throne.

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The Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, Beijing; the palace was built 1406–1420 under the Yongle Emperor (this hall was rebuilt in 1695–97)
The Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, Beijing; the palace was built 1406–1420 under the Yongle Emperor (this hall was rebuilt in 1695–97) Gisling · CC BY 3.0
Years
1368–1644
Capital
Nanjing, then Beijing (from 1421)
Greatest extent
1450, about 6.50 million km²
Region
East Asia

Including loosely held lands in Manchuria and the north-east; c. 6.5M km² (Taagepera 1997; Turchin et al. 2006); c. 6.5M km² in 1450 (Taagepera 1997; Turchin, Adams & Hall 2006)

Legacy

The Ming left the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and blue-and-white porcelain, and its silver economy tied China into the first global trade networks.

Timeline of Ming dynasty

  1. Ming armies annex the southwest (Yunnan), former Dali lands

    Yunnan in the far southwest had been the Dali kingdom until the Mongols conquered it in the 1250s, and it was still held for the Mongol Northern Yuan by the Prince of Liang, Basalawarmi, after the Ming took the rest of China. In 1381 the Hongwu Emperor sent a large army under Fu Youde, Lan Yu and Mu Ying. The Ming forces overwhelmed the Yuan loyalists, Basalawarmi killed himself in January 1382, and the old Dali realm of the Duan family was crushed by early 1383. Mu Ying's troops stayed on as hereditary garrisons, binding Yunnan firmly to China, where it has remained.

  2. Campaign against Naghachu ends with Ming control of Manchuria

    After the Mongols were driven from China in 1368, the Mongol commander Naghachu still held much of southern Manchuria with a large army, threatening the Ming's northeastern frontier. In 1387 the Hongwu Emperor sent a huge force under Feng Sheng, Fu Youde and Lan Yu, and a mix of military pressure and diplomacy persuaded Naghachu to surrender. He and thousands of his officers and relatives were sent to Nanjing, where he was given a noble title and estates. The surrender removed the last Yuan stronghold in the region and brought southern Manchuria under Ming control.

  3. Yongle Emperor seizes the throne after the Jingnan campaign

    The founder Hongwu had made his grandson emperor, but his son Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, commanded the frontier armies at Beiping (Beijing). When the young Jianwen Emperor tried to cut back the princes' power, Zhu Di rebelled in 1399, calling his revolt the Jingnan ('pacifying the troubles') campaign. After three years of civil war his army crossed the Yangtze and took the capital, Nanjing, in 1402; the palace burned and Jianwen disappeared, probably dying in the fire. Zhu Di took the throne as the Yongle Emperor. He launched the dynasty's most ambitious period of expansion, overseas voyages and great building projects.

  4. Zheng He's first treasure-fleet voyage sets out

    The Yongle Emperor wanted to display Ming power and bring foreign rulers into China's tribute system. In 1405 the court eunuch Zheng He, a Muslim from Yunnan, set sail from Nanjing with, according to Ming records, 317 ships, including some 62 giant 'treasure ships', and about 27,800 men. Between 1405 and 1433 seven voyages reached Southeast Asia, India, the Persian Gulf, Arabia and the east coast of Africa. Dozens of states sent envoys and tribute in return. The voyages stopped after 1433 and were never resumed; the Ming turned to defending its northern frontier, and its influence at sea faded.

  5. Ming invasion and occupation of Đại Việt (Vietnam) begins

    In 1400 the minister Hồ Quý Ly overthrew the Trần dynasty of Đại Việt (northern Vietnam). The Yongle Emperor used the coup as a reason to intervene, claiming to restore the Trần, and in late 1406 two large Ming armies invaded from Guangxi and Yunnan. By mid-1407 they had captured Hồ Quý Ly and his sons and taken the country. Instead of restoring the old dynasty, the Ming annexed Đại Việt as the province of Jiaozhi, the first Chinese rule there since the 10th century. The occupation pushed the empire's southern frontier deep into Vietnam, but it faced constant revolts.

  6. Beijing designated the capital in place of Nanjing

    Since 1368 the Ming capital had been Nanjing, on the Yangtze. The Yongle Emperor had built his power in the north as Prince of Yan at Beiping, and he wanted to rule close to the Mongol frontier. From 1406 he had the city rebuilt on a vast scale, with the palace complex later known as the Forbidden City, and the Grand Canal was restored to carry grain north. In 1420 Beijing ('northern capital') was formally made the main capital, with Nanjing as a secondary one. Beijing has remained China's capital for most of the time since, and the move placed the court close to the dangerous northern border.

  7. Ming troops withdraw from Vietnam after Lê Lợi's war

    The Ming occupation of Vietnam was harsh, with heavy taxes, forced labour and efforts to spread Chinese culture. In 1418 the landowner Lê Lợi began a rising in Thanh Hóa, using guerrilla tactics in the hills. By 1426 his forces had defeated Ming armies and were besieging the capital, Đông Quan (Hanoi), and in 1427 they destroyed a large Ming relief army at Chi Lăng. The Ming commander swore to withdraw, and his army left at the end of 1427. Lê Lợi founded the Later Lê dynasty, Vietnam became independent again, and the Ming empire's southern frontier went back to roughly its old line.

  8. Tumu Crisis: the Zhengtong Emperor captured by the Oirats

    The Oirat Mongols under Esen Taishi had united the steppe and raided the Ming frontier in 1449 after a dispute over trade. The young Zhengtong Emperor, urged on by his eunuch adviser Wang Zhen, led a large but poorly prepared army out of Beijing. On its way back the army was caught at the post station of Tumu and destroyed in September 1449; Wang Zhen was killed and the emperor taken prisoner. The court quickly put his brother on the throne as the Jingtai Emperor, and the minister Yu Qian defended Beijing. The disaster ended Ming offensives into the steppe, and the dynasty turned to building walls along the north.

  9. Japanese invasion of Korea; Ming armies intervene (Imjin War, to 1598)

    In 1592 Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had just unified Japan, sent a huge army into Korea, a Ming tributary, as the first step toward conquering China. The Japanese took Seoul and Pyongyang within weeks, while the Korean navy under Admiral Yi Sun-sin attacked their supply lines at sea. Ming armies crossed the Yalu River and retook Pyongyang in 1593, and peace talks failed. Japan invaded again in 1597, but after Hideyoshi's death in 1598 its forces withdrew. Korea was saved and stayed a Ming ally, but the long war drained the Ming treasury just as a new threat grew in Manchuria.

  10. Manchu Later Jin defeat a large Ming army at Sarhu

    Nurhaci, a Jurchen chieftain, had united many Jurchen tribes and in 1616 proclaimed the Later Jin state, then in 1618 declared war on the Ming. In spring 1619 the Ming sent a large army, with Korean and Yehe allies, in four separate columns to destroy him. Nurhaci concentrated his banner troops and defeated the columns one by one around Sarhu, in today's Liaoning, over a few days. Ming losses were very heavy. The battle gave the Jurchens the initiative in the northeast; within a few years they took Shenyang and Liaoyang, and the Ming lost most of Liaodong.

  11. Li Zicheng takes Beijing; the Chongzhen Emperor dies by suicide

    In the 1630s and 1640s famine, epidemics and heavy taxes drove huge peasant rebellions in northern China, while the best Ming armies were tied down against the Manchus. The rebel leader Li Zicheng proclaimed his own Shun dynasty at Xi'an and marched on Beijing, which he entered almost unopposed in April 1644. On 25 April the Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself on a hill behind the palace, ending Ming rule in the north. Li held the capital for little more than a month. The Ming general Wu Sangui joined the Manchus at Shanhai Pass, and the Qing took Beijing in June, beginning their conquest of China.

  12. Qing forces take Nanjing; the Hongguang court collapses

    After Beijing fell, Ming loyalists in Nanjing put the Prince of Fu on the throne as the Hongguang Emperor, the first of the Southern Ming rulers. His court was divided by factions, and its generals quarrelled. In 1645 Qing armies under Prince Dodo swept south, took Yangzhou after a brief siege and massacred many of its people, then crossed the Yangtze. Nanjing surrendered in June 1645 without a fight, and the Hongguang Emperor was captured and taken to Beijing, where he was executed in 1646. The Qing then took the wealthy Yangtze delta, and Ming resistance retreated to the far south.

  13. The last Southern Ming emperor, Yongli, is executed

    The Yongli Emperor, crowned in 1646, was the last and longest-lasting Southern Ming ruler, at times controlling much of southern China with the help of former rebel armies. Qing forces steadily pushed him west into Guizhou and Yunnan, and in 1659 he fled into Burma. In 1661 Wu Sangui, now a Qing general, invaded Burma, and the Burmese king handed Yongli over. He was executed in 1662. His death ended the Ming dynasty's claim on the mainland; only the Zheng regime on Taiwan still used the Ming name, until it surrendered to the Qing in 1683.

Periods and reigns

Rulers

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Wars

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