What are the characteristics of the Ming Dynasty that distinguish it from other dynasties?

There are many similarities between the many dynasties in ancient China. There are many reasons behind this similarity, and it is impossible to put it apart. It can be said that each dynasty has its own strengths and weaknesses, but the Ming Dynasty is undoubtedly the most special one.

The international environment of the Ming Dynasty was very special.

In addition to the late Qing Dynasty, which was in a situation that had not been seen for thousands of years, the Ming Dynasty, which began in the middle and late periods, can be said to be the strangest international environment among the great unified dynasties of ancient China.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the pattern of many powers in East Asia, which originally existed in the Tang and Song dynasties, was disrupted by the expansion of the Mengyuan Empire. Zhu Yuanzhang, who regarded himself as the heir of the Yuan Dynasty, very easily incorporated the land that surpassed the Song Dynasty into his dynasty. Even Yunnan, which was not included in the territory of the Tang Dynasty, was basically taken by the Ming Dynasty.

And the surrounding areas of the country are not strong enough to challenge your opponents.

In the middle and later periods, due to the beginning of the Age of Discovery, Europeans expanded the scope of influence of the global economy. The original economic circles of the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Baltic, Indian Ocean, Americas, and South Seas have begun to influence each other. This is something that has not happened to any dynasty in the past.

This made the Ming Dynasty, which had begun to retreat from the Western Regions, to a large extent, make up for the lack of foreign trade economy.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty began in the middle and late periods and absorbed a large amount of foreign capital. Mainly the Americas** that the Spaniards brought from the Americas to Manila, and the Japanese** brought by the Portuguese from Japan. And the latest technology of foreign countries, the personnel exchanges themselves, are also easier to attract the attention of Chinese than before.

This is also a past dynasty, which has never been seen before.

The Ming Dynasty was the most conservative in history.

Despite such a contrasting change in the international pattern, the Ming Dynasty still achieved unprecedented conservatism in its own way.

The Han and Tang dynasties before it, or the Yuan and Qing dynasties before and after the Ming dynasty, may have exercised conservative control and repression over the lower classes. Only the Ming Dynasty was not only strict with the lower classes, but also carried out a state of stupidity and conservatism to the upper classes themselves.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty not only suppressed the industrial and commercial power of the people, but also was very disgusted with the use of foreigners to develop commerce. In the Han Dynasty, many people from the Western Regions were used, and in the Tang Dynasty, the Sogdians and Persians were reused. The Ming Dynasty was able to bomb away all the foreign merchants along the coast, and the northwest ** was also very shallow.

Let's start with the system of imperial EuropeIn terms of the name of the empire, the name of the empire is the most valuable, and even if the ordinary kingdom is strong, it cannot be called the empire or the son of heaven casually. Even if it is hard-called, it is a miscellaneous empire, and the recognition is not high. Here we only comment on the debate on the empire after the Roman Empire, and the previous disagreement with the unclear history and excessive deification makes the scale of the review vague.

The Son of Heaven ** in the Roman Empire used to refer to the Latin imperator and caesar, and there was no difference between the two names. Because of the English language, let's compare and understand the imperator. There are a lot of people who are called caesar.

In Latin, caesar is pronounced keisa, i.e. Caesar. The phonetic transcription of caesar in English is ['si:z ], so that there is ** will be pronounced as Cesara.

It is written kaiser in German, which is also the official title of the Son of Heaven of the Holy Roman Empire, the Son of the German Empire, and the Son of Heaven of the Austrian Empire. The title of "Son of Heaven of the Holy Roman Empire" is written as r mischer kaiser in German and romanorum imperator in Latin, both of which mean "Son of Heaven of the Romans". When the word is translated in Russian, the Chinese translator translates it as "Tsar" in a semi-tone and semi-literal way.

It is worth noting that Caesar is translated as "Tsar" as long as he is addressed as the monarch of Tsarist Russia and Bulgaria, and in other cases as "Son of Heaven".

A kingdom where the monarch is the Son of Heaven must be an empire, but the supreme head of the empire does not have to be the Son of Heaven by chance, for example, there are also cases in the HRE that the monarch is not crowned as the Son of Heaven.

"No harmony, no compensation, no land, no tribute, the Son of Heaven guards the country, and the king of the land bends and dies. This sentence was summed up by posterity.

In 1414 (the twelfth year of Yongle), after Zhu Di's second imperial expedition to Mongolia, the class teacher said when he returned to Beijing: "The respect of our dynasty is beyond the ancient times, and it controls the western oceans of the north and the south island, and there is no harmony between the Han and the Tang Dynasty, no alliance with the Tang Dynasty, no Song Dynasty's thin coins, and no gifts of brothers and enemies." ”

This sentence is actually equivalent to Senzhi setting a national policy for the Ming Dynasty, and later gradually evolved into "no harmony, no compensation, no land, no tribute." ”

Effect. The political system of the Ming Dynasty led to the unprecedented expansion of the elite class of the Ming Dynasty and the establishment of the independence of the elite, both economically and ideologically, and it became increasingly difficult for a single elite or elite group to coordinate with the interests of the monarch or emperor and the interests of the empire; And the authority of the monarch gradually declined over time.

As a result, it became more and more difficult for the Ming emperor to control the civilian clique and to do whatever he wanted. It has become a historical necessity to defend the monarchy, strike at the elite, go against the tide of history, seriously undermine the productive forces, and undermine the healthy stability of the economy and society.