110 Million people, ca. 1200
60-85 Million people, ca. 1300
*Little Ice Age?
36 exceptionally cold winters in 14th c.
Changes in course of Yellow River: View map
Late Jin, 1194
Early Yuan, 1289
Late Yuan, 1324
Serious epidemics, 1340s-1350s
Black Death of Europe, 1347-52
New chronology
Conquest of Jin Capital, 1215
How do Hansen (p. 340) and Brook (64-68) differ on whether it was the bubonic plague?
Born Fengyang, Anhui Province
Drought, locusts, and epidemic
Wandered for 3 years
Studied in monastery, 1348-52
Monastery burned, 1352
Fighting between Yuan and Red Turbans
Red Turban Revolt, 1351
170,000 unpaid Grand Canal dredgers
Smart
Imposing
Ugly
Red Turban Rebel, 1352-68
*Red Turbans
White Lotus Buddhism, Manichaeism , Popular Religion
Prince of Radiance (Manichaean leader of Light)
Maitreya (Buddha of the Future)
Followers
Landless wanderers
24 loyal officers
Expanded following by recruiting other leaders
Paranoia
Keys to success
Established base at Nanjing, 1355
Military and Economic advantages
Military leadership
Stabilized farming populace
Downgrading of Red Turban ideas
Anomalous in Chinese history
Northern Campaign, Nov. 1367
Ming 明 Dynastic founding
Hongwu Emperor (r. 1368-98)
Nanjing as capital
Capture of Beijing, Sept. 1368
Compassion toward farmers
Favored agriculture over commerce
Autocratic, paranoid and cruel toward government officials
Great purges
Prime Minister and 30,000 others, 1380
10,000 in corruption scandal, 1385
15,000 in 1393
Eliminated office of Prime Minister, 1380
Reestablished examination system, 1384
Neo-Confucian ”Four Books” of Mongols