Economic history of the Ming Dynasty

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The economic history of the Ming Dynasty was characterized by isolation from the outside world. The trade with foreigners was completely stopped and penalties were imposed for violations. After natural disasters, parts of the country were ravaged by famine. Wars with the Mongols and the resulting exploitation prevented economic development. The empire tried to concentrate on the cultivation and production of tea , cotton , silk and porcelain . Towards the end of the Ming dynasty, the economy began to flourish and porcelain production (Ming vases) in particular reached new heights. It was not until 1540 that China was included in the international trade network.

agricultural economics

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, China was completely shattered by Mongol exploitation and the destruction of the war. The Huai Valley suffered badly from riots, areas in Anhui were totally depopulated and fields, dams and canals were neglected. Reconstruction took place between 1370 and 1398 under the rule of Hongwu , the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Great strides have been made in irrigation, re-development of cropland and reforestation. Numerous large and small irrigation and river regulation projects have been implemented in many provinces. In 1395 a total of around 40,000 water reservoirs were repaired or created. Large areas were newly built and devastated areas were systematically repopulated through population relocations. Settlers received large land grants and government assistance and tax exemption.

The greatest achievement was made in the area of ​​reforestation. Over 50 million sterkulias , palms and lacquer trees were grown in Nanking with the aim of building a deep-sea fleet for expeditions in the 15th century. These planted trees were actually used for this later. From 1392 there were regulations for families that were obliged to plant useful trees in order to meet the need for food. According to historians' estimates, around 1 billion trees were planted in the Hongwu era. The main goal of Hongwu was to create self-sufficient villages in order to eradicate inequalities in the economic market. The military should also be able to provide for themselves.

In addition to many agricultural advances, Hongwu made the wealthiest families in every area into tax collectors, who collected taxes. The agricultural tax in the Ming period was quite low, no more than 5–10% of the income, none of which went to the military as they were supposed to be self-sufficient.

In the Ming Dynasty, the structural reorganization of rural society also took place with numerous resettlements in order to boost production. For a new beginning, the farmers were given tools and the workhorses were exempt from taxes for a few years. These measures accelerated demographic change, and yet the Ming government held the Hongwu tax registers until the end of the dynasty. Local officials were reluctant to reveal the new population figures and local taxes were no longer enough to pay for growing administrative duties. Extraordinary taxes were collected from the officials, which led to corruption . In addition, the supply of the military showed weaknesses in Hongwu's system. Due to cuts, the military had to support themselves and the soldiers' families were given farmland for their maintenance. Under Hongwu's successors, the army could no longer sustain itself and the soldiers who were not paid deserted and sold their land. On the other hand, other parts of the country also had similar supply problems. They were increasingly dependent on grain deliveries from other areas. There was hardly any cultivable land left on the south-east coast. The Yangzi Delta had developed into a silk and cotton production center, with the result that the cultivation of staple foods was neglected, which then had to be imported from the central Chinese provinces. The same was true of Fujian , where agricultural production has focused on tobacco and sugar cane. Despite the undersupply, the resulting agricultural trade had its advantages. It supported population growth, both in the cultivation centers and in the recipient regions.

Growing yields and the revival of long-distance trade encouraged specializations in agriculture. Fujian relied on rice imports to feed the population, as, as already mentioned, they mainly planted goods for sale. Jiangan specialized in this case to sericulture and cotton processing with Fujian mainly produced tea, sugar and ceramics. Rural households in Shaoxing started brewing rice wine. These developed a brand in the 18th century that dominated the national markets. Rice with an extra high gluten content was grown for this purpose.

Due to the high demand for silver and the associated establishment of trading posts for silver in China, a large flow of new money came. This changed agriculture in southern Fujian, which was directly linked to overseas trade. More and more "cash crops" such as tobacco and sugar were grown and rice cultivation was neglected. Rice cultivation was also given up in the Pearl River Delta and mulberries and sugar cane were planted instead . As a result of this change, the region was dependent on rice imports from 1600 onwards. Cultivation techniques also changed during the 17th century. Agricultural successes were recorded in books such as the Tiangong Kaiwu , which contained all the techniques of agriculture.

Manufacturing

Textile

The cultivation of cotton spread from the Yangtze delta into the interior of the country. Households in agricultural areas increasingly increased their incomes by selling cotton. Weaving mills started in urban areas. Outside the cities, cotton continued to be spun by hand. The demand for textiles increased due to stable prices. Production did not develop beyond handicraft production, however, since labor was cheap. Suzhou developed as a center for silk production and national trade.

Letterpress

During the Ming Dynasty, there were more printed books than the rest of the world combined. In the previous dynasties, texts were mainly distributed by hand. A media revolution took place in the 16th and 17th centuries. Due to the prevalence of printing, books became very cheap. There are encyclopedias , travel guide printed novels and short stories in large numbers. Books by private publishers also dealt with social grievances.

Pans

Iron pans in the Ming Dynasty were well-known and were produced for all of China and Central Asia . The pans were even exported across the seas.

porcelain

During the Ming Dynasty, the porcelain was produced in Jianxi Province . Kaolin was mixed with feldspar and quartz and baked in the oven at 1400 degrees Celsius. It turned white and solidified to stone. That is why it was called white gold . Even steel couldn't scratch this porcelain. Magnificent kilns were built in Jingdezhen City to produce large quantities of porcelain.

The demand for porcelain grew. Porcelain was no longer only bought by the rich and upper class, but by ordinary citizens as a kind of reserve. At that time, the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci was living in Nanjing . In Europe, the porcelain became known through people who visited China and was considered a stunningly high quality piece of jewelry.

trade

The beginning of the 14th century was marked by various natural disasters such as river crossings and bad harvests, whereupon widespread famines followed. The plague had contaminated the Silk Road and trade with the West dried up.

Isolationism under Emperor Hongwu (1368–1398)

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongwu entered a phase of isolationism. According to Confucian belief, trade was seen as parasitic and should be reduced. In the course of this, the government controlled internal trade through state monopolies and price controls. Furthermore, trips from a distance of more than 30 miles (approx. 48 km) were only permitted with an official permit. However, since rural regions suffered from a food shortage, the emperor introduced a token system as part of his price policy, which was supposed to secure the supply of these areas with rice: traders who brought grain or rice to Shanxi received in return tokens for salt , which they bought from the Could exchange government. The salt could be resold at a profit and the price level remained stable. Since the imperial court wanted to control all contacts with foreign countries, foreign trade, which had hitherto been carried out by private merchants, was prohibited. Between 1370 and 1450 this law was tightened further until the turn inward that began in the 12th century was completed. The death penalty was imposed on any unauthorized travel abroad .

Instead of trade, agriculture should be promoted and agricultural taxes should be the only source of government income. The population had the opportunity to pay these taxes in the form of goods such as rice. Individual communities in the empire should be largely self-sufficient. As a result, many village communities built their own granaries to provide for times of need.

In the period between 1376 and 1395, Emperor Hongwu passed the so-called Luxury Laws, which regulated the trade in goods such as silk, crystals , precious stones and fragrant woods. In addition, there was an attempt to replace silver as the currency used up until then with paper money, which was revised again in 1425 due to inflation .

Coastal provinces, which had previously developed faster through foreign trade than inland provinces, were not promoted, since all provinces should be economically at the same level.

Trade on water under Yongle (1402–1424)

After Emperor Yongle moved the capital north to Beijing at the beginning of the 15th century, the Imperial Canal was again heavily frequented and domestic trade increased. Up to 12,000 ships transported taxes on the canal, plus numerous private boats.

The emperor sent his closest confidante, the Muslim admiral Zheng He (1371–1433) from Yunnan, to undertake a total of 7 voyages between 1405 and 1433 on his behalf. These trips were primarily of a diplomatic nature and were intended to showcase China's vast military fleet. Another goal was to gain the approval of other rulers, so Zheng He brought valuable gifts with him. The fleet consisted of 317 ships, of which 62 were "treasure ships" that brought Indian cotton, spices, lions and giraffes to the empire. With a capacity of 20,000 to 32,000 men and 3,000 tons of loading capacity, China was the largest maritime power in the world at the time. The Spanish Armada had 137 ships and Columbus set sail with only 3 ships. In 1430, with the official suspension of state shipping, the "Age of Chinese Seafaring" ended.

Over the years the state had put paper money into circulation indefinitely , causing inflation. In 1425 the money only had 1/40 to 1/70 of its initial value. As a result, silver coins were reintroduced as currency. However, the silver deposits in China were not sufficient to meet the needs of the empire. Therefore one was dependent on silver imports. This stabilized the currency again into the 16th century.

Commercial revolution

In the second half of the 15th century, there was an increasing regional specialization in certain goods: Northern China: cotton, Yangtze basin: textiles, Suzhou: silk, Jiangxi: porcelain, Hunan : center for agriculture (especially rice), Fujian : tobacco and sugar cane, Huizhou : salt.

The revitalization of the currency led to the monetization of trade goods and increased consumption among the population. So there was a commercial revolution. Rapidly changing fashions contributed to the increase in trading volume. Due to the aforementioned regional specialization, the cultivation of basic foodstuffs was neglected, which initially caused food shortages.

This in turn led to the strengthening of internal trade and its organization. This is clear from the rice trade, which was now spread over a large area. Rice grown in Hunan (Central China) was shipped over the Yangtze to Hangzhou on the coast. From there he was transported further north and south. Despite the price increase, the supply of many provinces could be improved.

Trade with Europe

After the Portuguese colonized Malaysia at the beginning of the 16th century , they reached the port of the southern Chinese coastal city of Canton (now Guangzhou) in 1517 . With a trade permit issued in the 1540s, China was reintegrated into the international trade network. New crops such as white potatoes, tomatoes, pepper, corn and peanuts were imported into the empire and made it possible to use regions with soils unsuitable for rice cultivation for agricultural purposes. In 1557, local authorities in China leased a fishing village on the south coast to Portuguese traders. They christened the port with the name Macao . It remained a Portuguese colony and a European-Chinese interface until the end of the 20th century.

With the official Spanish occupation of the Philippines in 1569, a triangular trade arose between the two colonial powers and the empire. Porcelain, silk, cotton, precious stones, furniture and metals as well as silver were traded. The latter came primarily from Peru and Mexico and was a coveted commodity because of the scarce silver deposits in China.

Ming goods, including porcelain, were very popular in Europe and were considered status symbols for the nobility and merchants. Between 1602 and 1682 the Dutch East India Company alone imported around 12 million pieces of the multicolored porcelain from Jingdezhen.

Trade with japan

In 1530 the emperor turned down Japanese envoys and their trade delegations. Violent attacks followed, devastating the Chinese coastal regions of Zhejiang and Jiangsu .

Trade with Japan was still so lucrative that numerous Chinese traders circumvented the trade ban. In return for Chinese cotton, they received silver, so that foreign trade intensified.

In 1567, the sea trade ban was officially lifted.

Fiscal Policy and Coins

For the production of the coins in the Ming Dynasty, so-called coin trees were first cast, from which the individual coins were broken. Depending on the region and period, copper, brass, bronze, iron, tin or lead were used for the production of the currency, with copper-containing alloys predominating. In the Ming Dynasty, attempts were made to replace the easily counterfeit copper coins with paper money and silver coins. However, this new currency was abolished again in the Hongzhi period.

Hongwu

The early coins (1361–1367) of the Hong Wu period are debossed with Dazhong Tongbao （大中 通寶） on the obverse. Coins worth one, two, three, five and ten units were made. The reverse side of the single-value coins shows either nothing or a character that symbolizes the place of manufacture. The other coins were also given their monetary value.

Hong Wu period coins

Later (1367–1398) the coinage was changed to Hongwu Tongbao （洪武 通寶）. Coins with this minting were produced in 61 variations using the various symbols on the reverse, whereby in contrast to their predecessors, the silver value was sometimes also printed on. With the introduction of paper money, coins were not produced for a number of years.

Yongle

Coin production was resumed in 1402, this time with the coinage of Yongle Tongbao (永樂 通寶). During this time trade with Japan also developed, as a result of which more and more Chinese coins were introduced on the archipelago, which were called "Toraisen" there.

Coins from the Yong Le period

Xuande

After 1425, under the rule of Xuande , some coins marked Xuande Tongbao (宣德 通寶) were produced. These experienced a strong reduction in their weight compared to older coins.

Coins from the Xuan De period

Hong Zhi

Despite the relative stability of paper money, ruler Xiao Zong returned to coin production as he viewed paper money as doomed to fail. He ordered the production of copper coins with the inscription Hongzhi Tongbao (弘治,), which, however, were only produced in limited numbers.

Hong Zhi period coins

Other coins that were made in the same period, but not on the orders of Xiao Zong, bear the characters Taiding Tongbao (太 定 通寶) and Tai Ping Xin Bao (太平 通寶). The latter variation has different readings and is therefore also known as Huo Ping Xin Bao.

Jiajing

The coins of the coinage of Jiajing Tongbao (嘉靖 通寶) are best known today because the ruler Shi Zong had the largest coin in the history of China made. This weighs 41.5 kg and can be admired in the lead and zinc mine archive of the Heize district.

Jia Jing coins

Longqing, Wanli, Taichang and Tianqi

From 1567 to 1627 coins with the characters Longqing Tongbao (隆慶 通寶), Wanli Tongbao (萬歷 通寶), Taichang Tongbao (泰昌 通寶) and Tianqi Tongbao (天啟 通寶) were minted, the latter in large numbers and in many variations .

Coins of the Wan Li period
Coins of the Tai Chang period
Coins of the Tian Qi period

Chongzhen

The ruler Si Zong continued the trend of many variations by adding symbols to the reverse of his Chongzhen Tongbao coins that gave clues as to the value, weight, place of manufacture or the method of manufacture. During his reign there were a total of 156 mints.

Coins from the Chong Chen period

There is also a coin from this period, which has some special features. It is both significantly smaller and lighter than typical at the time, but the embossing on its reverse is really unusual: it shows two of the Manchu characters otherwise used exclusively in the Qing dynasty. The beginnings of the transition from the Ming to the Qing dynasty are noticeable here. Presumably, this coin was minted privately when southern China was still predominantly under the rule of the Ming, but the change was already clearly noticeable.

Individual evidence

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  2. ↑ a b Gernet, J .: The Chinese World . Insel Verlag, Frankfurt 1983, ISBN 3-458-09921-2 , p. 331 .
  3. ↑ a b c von Glahn, R .: The Economic History of China . Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom 2016, ISBN 978-1-107-61570-0 , pp. 285-287 .
  4. ^ Dabringhaus, Sabine: Geschichte Chinas 1279–1949 . 2nd Edition. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-55761-9 , p. 23 .
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  8. ↑ Gernet, J .: The Chinese World . Insel Verlag, Frankfurt 1983, ISBN 3-458-09921-2 , p. 367, 299 .
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  10. ^ Vogelsang, Kai: China's history . Stuttgart 2012, p. 398-399 .
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  12. ^ Vogelsang, Kai: China's history . Stuttgart 2012, p. 375 .
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  15. ^ Vogelsang, Kai: China's history . Stuttgart 2012, p. 377 .
  16. ^ Vogelsang, Kai: China's history . Stuttgart 2012, p. 375 .
  17. ^ Dabringhaus, Sabine: Geschichte Chinas 1279–1949 . 2nd Edition. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH, Munich 2009, p. 27 .
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  25. ^ Dabringhaus, Sabine: Geschichte Chinas 1279–1949 . 2nd Edition. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH, Munich 2009, p. 28 .
  26. ^ Vogelsang, Kai: China's history . Stuttgart 2012, p. 356 .
  27. ^ Dabringhaus, Sabine: Geschichte Chinas 1279–1949 . 2nd Edition. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH, Munich 2009, p. 26 .
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  32. ↑ Chinese Coins. 201, accessed July 9, 2018 .