Ming Period Research Articles

Discovery and Reconstruction of the Remains of the Beacon-Equipped Hollow Enemy Towers along the Ming Great Wall

Hollow Enemy Towers, as iconic structures of the Ming Great Wall, are renowned for their roles in defense surveillance, weapon storage, and firearm operation. Recent studies have indicated that certain Hollow Enemy Towers along the Ji Town section of the Ming Great Wall also serve the function of Beacon Towers for beacon signaling. However, previous studies have not definitively determined if these towers were distinctively marked, nor have they provided a comprehensive account of their current distribution and original historical appearance. This paper initially examined the historical documentation of white lime markings employed on the outer walls of certain Hollow Enemy Towers, which served as Beacon Towers during the middle and late Ming periods. Utilizing multidisciplinary methodologies, this research identified remains of lime markings of the Beacon-Equipped Hollow Enemy Towers along the Ji Town section of the Ming Great Wall, illustrating their extensive distribution. We analyzed the material composition and construction techniques of the lime mortar. This analysis clarifies the scope of lime plastering on the exterior walls of these towers and offers a point of reference for restoring their original historical appearance. The results make a significant supplement to the types of signaling structures on the Great Wall, enriching existing understanding of the original appearance of the Great Wall’s historical landscape.

The Christian interpretations on the nature of heaven’s mandate in late Ming and early Qing dynasties

This paper aims to examine in detail the Christian interpretations on the Confucian concept of the nature of the heaven’s mandate [天命之性] during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties from historical and textual perspective. Neo-Confucians of the Song Dynasty interpret the nature of the heaven’s mandate as human nature, believing that heaven endowed humans with reason, known as the heavenly principle [天理]. In the late Ming period, Christian missionaries such as Jesuits in China used Confucian classics to convey Christian thoughts, interpreting the heaven’s mandate as God’s mandate and the nature of the heaven’s mandate as the spirituality bestowed by God, which is equated with the soul. They also used the nature of the heaven’s mandate as a criterion for determining the authenticity of a teaching (religion[教]), asserting that Christianity is the true teaching (religion). Thus, Christianity in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties provides a new interpretation on the nature of the heaven’s mandate and promotes the integration of Christian and Confucian thoughts through this interpretation.Contribution: The paper provides a detailed review of the history of Christian interpretations on the nature of the heaven’s mandate during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Currently, there is limited scholarly research on the theological thoughts of Christianity during this period. This study not only enhances the understanding of the new interpretations by Christianity but also aids in comprehending the theological ideas of Christianity during the late Ming and early Qing periods. By reinterpreting Confucian classics, Christianity endowed them with new meanings, offering valuable references for the localisation of Christian theology and the study of cross-cultural exchange.

The locust plagues of the Ming Dynasty in Shandong Province, China

In today’s era of unprecedented climate change, research on environmental changes and natural disasters remains crucial. Locust plagues, among the most devastating agricultural disasters, had a profound impact on ancient China, especially during the Little Ice Age. This study utilizes historical records of locust plagues, employing semantic quantification, index construction and spatial analysis, to explore their temporal distribution, spatial patterns, migration characteristics, and associations with climate factors in Shandong during the Ming Dynasty. Key findings include: (1) Locust plagues in Shandong were severe, with 599 documented occurrences, primarily in summer and autumn, especially from April to August. The frequency and intensity of these outbreaks increased significantly during the mid to late Ming Dynasty, peaking in the late Ming period. (2) Geographically, locust plagues were concentrated in the northern river regions of Shandong, particularly in cities like Jinan, Dezhou, and Weifang, with marked clustering, spatial heterogeneity, and positive spatial correlation. (3) Locust plagues were strongly linked to droughts, showing significant temporal and spatial synchrony, but had no significant correlation with floods. These plagues were more likely to occur during cooler and drier periods, with both temperature and precipitation significantly influencing their occurrence.

Dialogues on the Issues of Theodicy in Late Ming Fujian

This paper aims to illustrate the dialogues on the issue of theodicy in late Ming Fujian. The Catholicism that entered China in the late Ming dynasty had a competitive relationship with indigenous religions in terms of their meaning systems. Catholicism emphasized the omniscience, omnibenevolence, and omnipotence of God, which created tensions and contradictions with the reality of phenomena such as the suffering of good people and the existence of evil. In the late Ming period, scholars, believers, and missionaries in the Fujian region engaged in deep exchanges and dialogues on theodicy, reflecting the significant attention and consideration given to the problem of evil. This paper first analyzes the dialogues on theodicy between the Fujian scholar Ye Xianggao (1559–1627) and the missionary Giulio Aleni (1582–1649). Next, it explores the discussions on the problem of evil between ordinary believers in the Fujian region and Giulio Aleni in their daily lives. Finally, it examines how anti-Catholics used the problem of evil to criticize Catholicism, and it also identifies the characteristics and impacts of Catholic theodicy in the late Ming and early Qing periods.

Material characterization revealing production models of the Late Ming silver hairpins

The Site of Jiangkou in Pengshan, Sichuan province revealed the largest assemblage of silver artefacts ever known in China. These artefacts were collected by Zhang Xianzhong, the rebellion general of the Late Ming and Early Qing period, from Sichuan and adjacent provinces, and sunk in the Minjiang River after his failure in 1644 CE. This research focuses on silver hairpins from this assemblage and explores their production system via detailed typological investigation and material characterization. According to their style, forming techniques and material provenance, the Jiangkou hairpins can be divided into three groups corresponding with three different types of production workshops. The first group was made in independent silversmiths mainly serving non-official civilians. Metallographic analysis shows they were made with varied forming techniques, including forging, folding, casting and welding. They were alloyed with varied amount of copper. The other two types have much more standardized forming techniques and are associated with the commercial workshops capable of mass production and government institutions. The commercial workshops commonly used forging-annealing method to make their hairpins and maintained a well consistent chemical composition across their products. The silver hairpins made by government institutions were all cast into shape, suggesting a highly standardized system. This type of hairpins were mostly found in tombs of royal families and high elites. This research revealed a stratified silver production system in the Late Ming period and demonstrated the strength of material characterization in revealing production organization models.

Compiling and Publishing in late Ming Fuzhou: the Case of the Chashu 茶書

The Chashu 茶書 (Writings on Tea), also known as Chashu quanji 茶書全集 (Complete Collection of Writings on Tea), was published by the Fuzhou prefect Yu Zheng 喻政 (1571–?) in the early 1610s. It stands as the first dedicated collectanea of Chinese works on tea, encompassing essays that range from the Tang to the Ming period. Currently, only a few copies remain, all exhibiting variations. The present article analyses the structure, content, and paratextual elements of surviving imprints of the Chashu. It contextualizes the collection within late Ming dynasty book culture and the distinctive milieu of Fuzhou scholars and officials within which it was published. The article elucidates the compilation and publication process of the Chashu, while also accounting for the differences among editions of the collectanea.

The Soul and Buddha-Nature in Jesuit–Buddhist Debates in the Late Ming Fujian–Zhejiang Regions

The Jesuit missionary in Fujian, Giulio Aleni, ingeniously integrated Christian teaching concerning the soul into the traditional Chinese understanding of human nature. He adeptly reconciled the Christian notion of the soul, created by God, with the neo-Confucian belief in human nature bestowed by heaven. However, during the late Ming period, Chinese Buddhist thinkers held a contrasting perspective rooted in the Buddha-nature theory. According to this theory, Buddha-nature is intrinsic to every sentient being, devoid of a Creator. This fundamental discord in the understanding of human nature sparked intense debates between Jesuit missionaries and Buddhists in the Fujian–Zhejiang regions. These debates probed intricate themes, ranging from the ontological origin of nature to the associated soteriology surrounding human nature, as well as the hierarchical relationships between humans and other sentient beings.

The organization of Chinese ceramic production from the Tang to the Ming periods: archaeological evidence from ceramic workshops

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the plans and layouts of Chinese ceramic workshops from the Tang to Ming periods (seventh to seventeenth century AD) to understand how ceramic production was organized and how organization developed over time. Through the comparative examination of 254 workshops from 96 workshop sites, two workshop types have been defined based on the spatial arrangement of their production facilities. This paper argues that each workshop type reflects a different degree of labor specialization, and despite some regional differences, the organization of ceramic production developed in a consistent way across China.

Chinese plates fit for an Acehnese queen

ABSTRACT All over Southeast Asia is found a particular type of coarse Chinese export porcelain traditionally known as ‘Swatow’ ware but now more accurately identified as originating from Zhangzhou, dating from the late Ming period, from the end of the 16th to the early 17th centuries. One characteristic type of large Zhangzhou dish had a central circle with eight smaller circles around it, all filled with inscriptions in Arabic script. The marked visual similarity with the great seal of Aceh, which over a period of 250 years always gave the name of the sovereign in a central circle surrounded by eight small circles containing the names of illustrious forebears, gave rise to the tradition that these Zhangzhou calligraphic plates were specially ordered from China by the rulers of Aceh in the shape of their seal. A close chronological examination belies this widely held belief, as the Zhangzhou plates were largely produced before the Acehnese ‘ninefold seal’ was created in the mid 17th century, most likely in the reign of Sultanah Tajul Alam Safiatuddin Syah (r.1641–1675). Indeed, conversely, the presence of these prestigious and striking Chinese plates in Aceh may even have contributed to the rich visual repertoire of significant ninefold forms from which the royal Acehnese seal was born.

Pulau Aur and Some Nearby Islands in Chinese Nautical Sources of the Ming Period

Some scholars have proposed to identify the names Shangxiazhu 上下竺, Zhuyu 竺嶼, Tianzhushan 天竺山, and Dongxizhu 東西竺, recorded in Song and Yuan sources, with Pulau Aur, the easternmost island of the Seribuat Archipelago, but there is dissent on the issue. The present study briefly reviews that. It also summarizes references to the Seribuat Islands on the so-called “Zheng He Map”. However, the principal aim is to discuss and throw light on the presentation of Pulau Aur and various nearby islands in nautical works of the Ming period. This concerns several toponyms, especially Dongzhushan 東竹山, Xizhushan 西竹山, and Dongxizhu 東西竹. It also concerns sailing routes through the archipelago itself, and along its eastern rim. Although many entries in the relevant sources provide ambiguous information, the general impression is that the network of routes used by Chinese sailors in the northwestern section of the Natuna Sea expanded in the course of time, i.e., from the days of Zheng He through to the early seventeenth century. The final part of the article suggests that one may also consider information found in Portuguese roteiros and other records to draw an improved panorama.

The Historical Development of the Lexical Layer of the Chinese Language and the Role of Ming Period Novels in IT

In linguistics, the issue of periodization is closely related to the diachronic study of language, the development of language levels, determining development trends in it, and drawing conclusions about the dynamics of development of a certain level or language as a whole. the language being studied. After all, changes at certain levels of language differ according to the stages of language development or, conversely, changes at certain levels of language determine the stage of development of a particular language as a criterion. Therefore, for the purpose of this article, which is dedicated to the study of the lexicon of Ming period novelistic examples in China, the language of the monuments of the period under study, in particular, the lexical layers of the studied period, to determine which stage of the development of the Chinese language corresponds to the main source of research, not only the place of the novel in the development of the language, but also its importance for the science of linguistics is also a basis for determining.

Sino-Portuguese Trafficking of Children during the Ming Dynasty

AbstractIn the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Portuguese purchased large numbers of people in China as slaves. Many of those people were children. This article considers where those children came from and why they were sold to the Portuguese. During the late Ming period, as social inequality intensified, poor farmers increasingly had to sell themselves and their offspring to rich landowners as bonded labourers. However, some farmers chose to break the law and sell to foreigners instead. Other farmers became bandits, and kidnapped other people's children to sell into bondage. Both of these criminal trends provided the Portuguese with young slaves.

Observations on the "Body" in the Study of Fashion History: A Discussion on the Emergence of the Stand-up Collar in Late Ming

The study of fashion history is an important category in the research of everyday life history. From a historical perspective, the study of fashion focuses more on the relationship between clothing, people, and life. Based on a view of the body, this article takes the popularity of the "stand-up collar" in women's clothing during the Late Ming period as an example and rethinks the changes in fashion. This paper believes that the popularity of the stand-up collar in Late Ming was mainly related to keeping warm. The "protective collar" on the crossover neckline and the combination of buttons formed the prototype of the stand-up collar. Subsequently, the stand-up collar was combined with both the large lapel and double-breasted cutting methods, constituting the main popular style of women's clothing in the middle and late Ming periods, and having a profound impact on later generations.

CHINESE PORNOGRAPHY IN A PORTUGUESE NUNNERY: ON A TRANSITIONAL PERIOD BLUE AND WHITE PORCELAIN BOWL RECOVERED FROM THE SANTANA CONVENT (LISBON)

This paper discusses a rare Late Ming blue and white porcelain bowl with five cartouches depicting scenes of sexual intercourse, which was found during archaeological excavations in the Santana convent, a former Franciscan nunnery located in Lisbon founded in 1562. The paper begins with a description of the bowl, the context of its recovery and its significance, highlighting its extreme rarity among Chinese export porcelains. The second section discusses Chinese sexuality and the production of erotica during the Late Ming period, namely porcelains with erotic and sexual imagery, a subject that has been overlooked by mainstream scholarship. The last section proposes an explanation for the presence of this bowl in the Santana nunnery, emphasising the gap between the ideals of Iberian Catholic monastic life and the worldly practices conducted by the members of these religious orders in the Baroque era.

Signaling Seduction: The Courtship Strategies of Ming Era Courtesans

This study applies an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Ming period courtesans (ji 妓) and their activities, combining the close reading of literature and Ming era visual presentations, with insights drawn from the fields of modern courtship and nonverbal behavioral studies to investigate their strategies of signaling seduction. In the Ming era, courtesans used a series of seduction strategies to achieve their goals in the process of interacting with male clients, dividing the entire courtship process into four phases: attention catching, interacting, and developing intimacy, lovemaking, and post-passion transition back to mundane interaction. This study pays close attention to the first two phases. The strategies of the first stage include posture readiness, prop handling, gestural movements, and vocal manipulation. The strategies of the second stage include conversations and touching. Developing high-level skills in signaling seduction was crucial to success in the career of a Ming courtesan. The specific strategies and the order in which they occurred did not appear to be fixed, but courtesans had to be sensitive and adaptable depending to the personalities and needs of their guests.

Ming-Era Remittance Systems and Standard Cash in the Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan

Abstract The pre-modern Chinese novel Xingshi yinyuan zhuan provides a wealth of information on the use of silver and copper cash in the economy of the late Ming dynasty. An analysis of the text reveals that there was no mechanism for remote remittance in the modern financial sense during this period. Therefore, it is necessary to reexamine several research works which have claimed the existence of remote remittance in financial history studies. Upon scrutinizing the various types of standard cash minted from the Jiajing to Chongzhen eras, it is evident that the popular “yellow-fringed coin” referred to in the Xingshi yinyuan zhuan was actually an umbrella term that encompassed both yellow coins and lathed-rim coins. Furthermore, the decimal conversion coins mentioned in the text that were withdrawn from the market due to unusability were most likely the decuple coins in the Tianqi era universal currency. The political incompetence of the late Ming period also caused the common people to reject the universal currency of the period, which was more valuable than the universal currency of previous periods.

The Little Ice Age and the Fall of the Ming Dynasty: A Review

Based on the climate proxy data, several recent studies have concluded that the Ming dynasty’s reign in China coincided with the Little Ice Age, a global crisis. In response, scholars have published several reports in recent years addressing this topic. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the current research findings in English regarding this subject and identifies existing research gaps. The author proposes that the impact of climate on different regions during the late Ming period remains largely underexplored. Furthermore, scholars must exercise caution when assuming that adverse climatic conditions uniformly impacted the Ming empire during the Little Ice Age. This paper also highlights the use of simplistic models by scholars linking cold and dry climates to crop failure, floods, droughts, population decline, and other factors. However, any straightforward models that presume causal determination risk ignoring historical facts.

CLASSIFICATION OF QING DYNASTY ALBUMS ON YUNNAN PROVINCE AND THEIR IMPORTANCE AS SOURCES ON SOUTHWESTERN CHINA

Two hand-written albums on Yunnan from the collection of the Academic library of Saint Petersburg State University have been produced circa first half of the XIX century. The first album is “Illustrated descriptions of yi-barbarians of the South and the West of Yunnan” (Xyl. F-26, preface 1839, 44 illustrations, republished with commentary in 2020), the second album Xyl F-25 is without original cover, title and date, contains 73 maps of various administrative units of Yunnan province (prefectures, regions, counties). Yunnan albums may roughly be divided into two types: 1. Albums depicting ethnic groups similar to “the Miao Albums” characteristic of Guizhou province; 2. Albums containing maps of various administrative units of the province with textual descriptions on these units, with details on various peoples. Earlier versions of Yunnan albums contained descriptive data from no longer extant Ming period writings on the province, but number of the Yunnan ethnic groups mentioned on the albums increased from about 44 in mid-late XVIII century to over 100 by the second half of the XIX century, this rise in numbers is related to the publication of an extended version of “Bo Lin album” of 1818. Upon comparing descriptions from the Xyl F-25 album and official Yunnan gazetteers (Yunnan tongzhi, 1736 and 1835) we draw a conclusion that data from the gazetteers was not borrowed to this album, and its descriptions may be the original work of their unknown author. Album Xyl F-25 did not pursue a goal of providing detailed information on various peoples of Yunnan.

The Development of Changzhou School and Yun Shouping’s (1633-1690) Flower Paintings

Yun Shouping 惲壽平 (1633-1690) was one of the Early Qing orthodox masters. He embarked on his artistic career by painting landscapes in the Southern School style, but later gained his reputation for flower paintings in the “boneless” (mogu 沒骨) coloring method, a technique that does not leave traces of outlines on the pictorial surface. Living in the late Ming and early Qing period, Yun trod on an eventful trajectory of life. He was born to a family of literati and exhibited an aptitude for scholarly exercises during his childhood. As a Ming royalist, he was arrested for his activities against the Manchu rule. During his engagement in the resistance, he was accidentally reunited with his father, Yun Richu 惲日初, with whom he returned home together. Changzhou, Yun’s hometown, was a region that was particularly known for paintings of flowers and insects. Active since the Song period (960-1279), the Changzhou school developed a style of painting that achieved a lifelike verisimilitude of ordinary flowers and insects. Against this regional backdrop of the vivid and lifelike painting tradition, Yun applied the boneless coloring method to the genre of flower painting. This boneless coloring method allowed Yun’s flower painting to depart significantly from prior generations of Changzhou flower painters whose work relied on meticulous fine brushwork (gongbi 工筆). Yun began his study of flower painting from 1670s, acquired various techniques and styles of painters active from the Song through the Ming periods, and took the genre of flower painting to a level of literati painting. Prior to Yun, flowers were regarded as a pictorial subject reserved exclusively for academy painters. Yun overturned that perception, charting a new territory of artistic exploration for scholar-painters. His style exerted a far-reaching influence over diverse hosts of painters encompassing not only the Yun clan painters, but also court painters, the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, and even modernists. He also left indelible impacts on the history of Korean flower painting since his work came to be circulated in Chosŏn.

「官話」再読

Since the Ming period, especially during the Qing period, the word guanhua 官話 was used in the sense of the spoken language that served as the standard language or lingua franca. This article shows through textual sources how these twin characters of guanhua emerged. First, the word guanhua primarily referred to the classical-style language of social intercourse used among intellectuals, and it represented dignity and status. The use of the word guanhua in the sense of lingua franca was first used chiefly in manuals giving the “correct pronunciation” of guanhua vocabularies, but in other texts terms referring to the spoken language of the north were used in this meaning. It can be seen in textual sources how the connotations of guanhua gradually underwent a shift from the classical-style language of social intercourse to a lingua franca.