29.6 The far east: a.d. 1401 to 1500

The far east

Back to The Far East: A.D. 1301 to 1400

China and manchuria (ming dynasty)

In 1428 the Ming Empire was divided into thirteen provinces, plus the two metropolitan areas of Peking and Nanking. China's canal system was enlarged and nothing in the world equaled China's internal water traffic and trade. Eventually some of the river rafts were three miles long, able to ingeniously fold so as to make the bends in the rivers. (Ref. 260 ) Fortunately the invention and construction of deep water locks throughout the length of the Grand Canal allowed the use of that canal 12 months a year, without having to worry about high and low water periods. (Ref. 279 )

In addition, great maritime expeditions established Chinese hegemony over the key commercial centers of the Indian Ocean, the Malacca straits, Ceylon, Calicut and less definitely at the Persian Gulf. By 1420 the navy was comprised of at least 3,800 ships of which 1,350 were fighting vessels, including 400 large floating fortresses. (Ref. 279 ) Between 1405 and 1433 a Chinese Admiral Cheng-ho, actually a Moslem eunuch, had made seven voyages into the Indian Ocean, bringing back objects from Java, Ceylon and even East Africa. He had 62 ships, the largest vessels probably displacing about 1,500 tons

Politically, Ming China was somewhat subdued, because of the previous excesses of the Mongol Dynasty and some conscious social leveling affected by the early Ming rulers.

The rich were humbled, slavery was abolished and the poor were pampered with low rental, state land and gifts of seeds, tools and farm animals. China received her horses from Asia, particularly through special frontier fairs in Mongolia and Manchuria. (Ref. 260 ) Fairs were not seen in the number and way that we met in Europe. When the nation was pretty well unified under the Mings, the fairs almost -completely disappeared from the interior and appeared only on the external frontiers, as noted regarding the horse fairs near Manchuria. Occasionally a caravan would arrive from Moscow, setting up fairs in Hanchu or Cheng Tun. (Ref. 292 )

In the first half of the century metal characters for use as moveable type were perfected (this may actually have been done in Korea) and these soon became widely used for 50 years before the Gutenberg "invention". Inflation, which had been occurring over several centuries, now reached the point where 1,000 paper notes were required for 3 caixas of cash, so the state abandoned the paper money and private banks put it out only for local needs. As paper money disappeared, rice reappeared as a money substitute for ex- change. (Ref. 260 )