The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han people, the majority ethnic group in China. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng, numerous rump regimes ruled by remnants of the Ming imperial family—collectively called the Southern Ming—survived until 1662.
The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, extending northward into parts of the Arctic; eastward and southward into parts of the Indian subcontinent, attempted invasions of Southeast Asia and conquered the Iranian Plateau; and westward as far as the Levant and the Carpathian Mountains.
Chinese expansionism over the last four thousand years has been a central feature of the history of East Asia. During times when China wielded much greater power such as during the Han, Tang, Yuan, and Qing dynasties, China would even influence the development and politics further north and west in North Asia, Central Asia, and parts of South and Southeast Asia.
The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire (1206-1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastation as one of the deadliest episodes in history. In addition, Mongol expeditions may have spread the bubonic plague across much of Eurasia, helping to spark the Black Death of the 14th century.
During the Manchu-led Qing dynasty (1636–1912), there were five major Muslim rebellions. The first and last rebellions were caused by sectarian infighting between rival Sufi Muslim orders.
The Mongol conquest of China was a series of major military efforts by the Mongol Empire to conquer various empires ruling over China. It spanned six decades in the 13th century and involved the defeat of the Jin dynasty, Western Liao, Western Xia, Tibet, the Dali Kingdom, the Southern Song, and the Eastern Xia. The Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan started the conquest with small-scale raids into Western Xia in 1205 and 1207.
The Cambridge History of China is a series of books published by the Cambridge University Press (CUP) covering the history of China from the founding of the Qin dynasty in 221 BC to 1982 AD. The series was conceived by British historian Denis C. Twitchett and American historian John K. Fairbank in the late 1960s, and publication began in 1978. The complete History will contain 15 volumes made up of 17 books with volumes 5 and 9 consisting of two books each.
The Yuan dynasty, officially the Great Yuan, was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire from the Borjigin clan, and lasted from 1271 to 1368. In orthodox Chinese historiography, the Yuan dynasty followed the Song dynasty and preceded the Ming dynasty.
Timothy James Brook is a Canadian historian, sinologist, and writer specializing in the study of China (sinology). He holds the Republic of China Chair, Department of History, University of British Columbia.
Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China is a history book which explores the relationship between Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism during the 17th and 18th centuries in China ; tourism to Chinese Buddhist sites, and the patronage of Buddhist monasteries in China by Buddhist and Neo-Confucian gentry during this period. This philanthropy allowed these patrons to "publicize [their] elite status outside the state realm" and promoted the growth of a society of gentry.
The Chinese State in Ming Society is a history book which investigates the role of the state in China in the Ming dynasty ; the interface between the state and society, and the effect of the state on ordinary people.
The history of Sino-Korean relations dates back to prehistoric times.
The New Qing History is a historiographical school that gained prominence in the United States in the mid-1990s by offering a wide-ranging revision of history of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China. Orthodox historians tend to emphasize the power of the Han people to "sinicize" their conquerors in their thought and institutions. In the 1980s and early 1990s, American scholars began to learn Manchu and took advantage of newly opened Chinese- and Manchu-language archives. This research found that the Manchu rulers were savvy in manipulating their subjects and from the 1630s through at least the 18th century, emperors developed a sense of Manchu identity and used traditional Han Chinese culture and Confucian models to rule, while blending with models from other ethnic groups across the vast empire, including those from northern China, the Eurasian Steppe, Inner Asia, and Central Asia. According to some scholars, at the height of their power, the Qing regarded the Han Chinese as only a part, although a very important part, of a much wider empire that extended into the Inner Asian territories of Mongolia, Tibet, Manchuria and Xinjiang.
Goryeo under Mongol rule refers to the rule of the Mongol Empire and the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty over the Korean Peninsula from about 1270 to 1356. After the Mongol invasions of Korea and the capitulation of the Korean Goryeo dynasty in the 13th century, Goryeo became a semi-autonomous vassal state and compulsory ally of the Yuan dynasty for about 80 years. It has been referred to as a "son-in-law kingdom in the Mongol empire." The ruling line of Goryeo, the House of Wang, was permitted to rule Korea as a vassal of the Yuan, which established the Zhengdong Province in Korea. Members of the Goryeo royal family were taken to Dadu, and typically married to spouses from the Yuan imperial house. As a result, princes who became monarchs of Goryeo during this period were effectively imperial sons in-law (khuregen). Yuan overlordship ended in the 1350s when the Yuan dynasty itself started to crumble and King Gongmin of Goryeo began to push the Yuan garrisons back.
The siege of Lüshun was a military conflict between the Later Jin and Ming dynasty. In the summer of 1634 the Jin attacked and conquered the port city of Lüshun from Ming.
Yunnan under Ming rule saw the continuation of the tusi system instituted during the Yuan dynasty, increasing centralization, and Han migration into Yunnan.
This bibliography covers the English language scholarship of major studies in Chinese history.
The Jurchen unification was a series of events in the late 16th and early 17th centuries that led to the unification of the Jurchen tribes under Nurhaci, a Jianzhou Jurchen leader who had an antagonistic relationship with the Ming dynasty due to their involvement in events early on in his life that led to the death of his father and grandfather. From 1583 to the early 1600s, Nurhaci led a series of military and influence campaigns that led to the unification of the majority of Jurchen tribes. In 1616, Nurhaci established the Later Jin dynasty and ruled as its founding khan.
John Wolfe Dardess was an American historian of China, especially the Ming dynasty. He wrote nine books on the topic, including A Ming Society. He learned Chinese in the American military, and was posted to Taiwan. Earning his PhD from Columbia University in 1968, he taught at the University of Kansas from 1966 to 2002, becoming director of the Center for East Asian Studies in 1995. One obituary summarised his principal legacy as consisting “not in any particular interpretation he offered, but in a voracious appetite for delving into the written sources, the courage to ask stimulating new questions, and the historical imagination to wonder about the common humanity that linked the authors he read and their communities with his own times.” He drew notice for pointing to continuities in Chinese history and drawing parallels between contemporary and Ming politics.
