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| Hongwu Emperor (Zhu Yuanzhang) |
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| established the Ming Dynasty in 1368, and instituted many new policies in an attempt to reduce corruption in the bureaucracy, including centralizing power by abolishing the post of prime minister. Was known as an exceptionally hard-working emperor, and died in 1398 after 30 years of reign |
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| the second eldest son of Emperor Hongwu, was bypassed in the imperial succession, because Hongwu implemented a succession policy that favored the eldest son. When Hongwu’s eldest son died before him, the son of Hongwu’s eldest son became the crown prince, and ascended the throne when Hongwu died. Zhu Di usurped the throne in 1402, and instituted many reforms of his own, as well as expanding the Grand Canal, and building the Forbidden City in Beijing. |
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| Eunuch who led seven voyages of exploration by ship during the reign of Emperor Yongle. |
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| The Forbidden City was divided into two parts, the inner court, which included the emperor, his family, and the eunuchs who served them, and the outer court, the officials of the Imperial Bureaucracy. However, this created tension between the bureaucrats and the eunuchs, as the eunuchs were often those most trusted by the emperor, because they were the ones closest to him. This led to the eunuchs gaining power that the bureaucrats believed should have been in their hands. |
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| The method by which candidates for the Imperial Bureaucracy were chosen. The exams were based on the four books and the five classics, which scholars had to memorize in order to pass the exams. There were three levels of exams: district, provincial, and national levels, and a scholars’ future was dictated by how far he was able to get on the three exams. |
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| Founder of the Donglin School, was influenced by a thinker of the earlier Song Dynasty by the name of Lu Jing Yuan, and taught that instead of looking outward to understand morality, and propreity, like the Confucians did, it was necessary instead to look inward. |
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| group of scholars during the Ming Dynasty that rejected Confucianism as corrupt, was founded by Wang Yangming |
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| When European traders came to China looking for goods, they did not have much that the Chinese wanted in return. The only commodity they were able to trade for Chinese goods was silver. Luckily for the Spanish, when they conquered the Americas, they discovered huge deposits of silver, and were able to trade with the Chinese through the ports of Acapulco and Manila. |
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| An Italian Jesuit who came to live in China during the late Ming Dynasty, with deep knowledge of Astronomy, and became the first European Advisor in the Chinese Imperial court since Marco Polo |
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| When the Jesuits converted Chinese people to Catholicism, many of the Chinese converts still engaged in ancestor worship. The Jesuits took an accommodating view of this practice, and decided that since ancestor worship was a “government function”, and not part of religion, it was fine. However, other Catholic missionaries in China opposed this view, as they saw ancestor worship as idolatry, and appealed to the Pope. Finally, the pope issued a papal bull declaring that ancestor worship had no place in Catholicism. This angered the emperor Kanxi, who banned all further missionaries in China. |
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| Chieftain of the Manchus, a group of people who lived beyond the northern border of Ming Dynasty China. The Manchus grew ginseng, which they exported to China. This made them rich, and allowed them to build a formidable military. Nurhaci raided the Ming several times before his death in 1626. |
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| The son of Nurhaci, who established the Qing Dynasty in 1636, as a direct challenge to the authority of the Ming Dynasty, and continued raiding the North of Ming. |
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| The system in which the Manchu military and state were ordered. 300 soldiers and their families formed a company, 50 companies formed a regiment, and 5 regiments formed a banner. |
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| The leader of a rebel movement in Ming Dynasty, which had taken control of a considerable part of Southern China by 1643. In 1644, his forces attacked the Ming Capital at Beijing, and captured the city. With the capture of the city, the last Ming Emperor committed suicide. |
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| The general of the border forces during the late Ming Dynasty, his job was to keep the Manchu raiders from getting through the northern border. When he heard of the fall of Beijing to Li Zicheng, he made a deal with the Manchu, and allied with them to retake Beijing. However, when Beijing had been retaken, the Manchus decided to stay, and declared China under Qing rule. |
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| the brother of Huang Taiji, who led the Manchus to take Beijing with the help of Wu Sangui’s forces in 1644 |
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| Emperor of the Qing Dynasty from 1661 to 1722, famous for being the longest reigning emperor in Chinese history, and known as one of the greatest emperors of all time. |
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| Second son of Emperor Kangxi, succession passed to him after the original crown prince turned out to be a crook, stealing money from the treasury for his own use. He was emperor of the Qing Dynasty from 1722 to 1736, and built a strong centralized government and a more efficient tax system, which allowed the Qing Dynasty to flourish under Emperor Qian Long |
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| Emperor of the Qing Dynasty from 1736 to 1796, and served as emperor during the peak of the Qing Dynasty, as well as the beginning of its decline. He sought to legitimize his rule by immersing himself in Confucian art and scholarship, and in 1796, abdicated the throne out of respect for his grandfather, Emperor Kangxi. |
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