I. Social Structure
 

A. Economic and Social Reform
 

1. Reorganization of Economy & Society Around Land & Landed Society
 

a. Primary Taxation Based on Land
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

b. Gentry and Wealthy Peasants Favored
 
 
 
 
 
 

c. Small, Independent Peasant Farmers Lose Out
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

B. Governmental Reform
 

1. Social Revolution in the Ming State: Personalized Autocracy
 

a. the ministries

1380: Execution of Hu Wei Yong (Hu Wei-yung)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

b. eunuchs
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

c. the bureaucrats

1. scholar-gentry

a. the Censorate

b. the Central Staff

c. the 15 Provinces

 

 

II. The Ming Society of Orders and Its Disintegration

A. Societal Role of the Scholar-Gentry

B. Ministries and Orders

1. Key Ministries and Population Groups
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

a. The fate of the army families
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

b. Peasants

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

B. The Commercial Economy and the Merchants

1. Move from Land to Commerce
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

2. Forces in Play
 
 
 
 
 
 

3. Results
 
 

C. Practical Divides
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

D. Women, Education, & Religion
 
 

Key Terms
General Survey: Registers Accompanied by Maps in the Shape of Fish Scales
Yellow Registers
sub-prefecture (xian)
groups of ten families (lijia)
Hu Wei-yung or Hu Wei Yong d. 1380
Grand Secretariat/Six Grand Secretaries
Six Key Ministries (Finance, War, Public Works, Rites, Justice, Personnel)
eunuchs
Privy Council
Liu Jin [LEE-oo Jin] (1451-1510)
Wanli emperor (r. 1572-1620)
Zhang Juzheng [Jahng joo-JENG] (1528-1582)
Confucius or Kong Fuzi (551-479 B.C.E.)
junxi (high-minded men) [June-She]
filial piety, courtesy, propriety
army families
army colonies
merchants' colonies
peasants (wealthy, small farmers, renters, landless)
Suzhou [sue-JOE]
footbinding

Back to the Lectures Page