Brendan’s Reviews > Imperial China, 900-1800 > Status Update
Brendan
is on page 767 of 1128
“Through the exchanges of New World precious metals for Chinese products…Ming China was becoming part of an economically interactive if not yet economically unified world. [] In that commerce, China was essentially a seller of high-quality craft manufactures. Other countries could not compete either in quality or in price. The colonies of the New World and the entire Mediterranean sphere of trade, from Portugal
— Feb 16, 2026 09:08PM
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Brendan
is on page 857 of 1128
“[Modern] China has accepted this legacy of geographically extended Qing rule as if it inhered in the geopolitical facts of Chinese history. It does not. The Inner Asian empire was grafted onto the Chinese cultural zone in the process of meeting Manchu power needs and interests. Securing and retaining the Qing Empire is thus a Manchu achievement that added a vast realm to the historic China only because
— 3 hours, 15 min ago
Brendan
is on page 802 of 1128
“A careful reading of history makes it clear that the circumstances of the Ming collapse…were not brought about by any general disintegration of government and society. Far from it. Those fatal circumstances were brought about carelessly, by an administration that simply could no longer manage its resources, utilize its strengths, and maintain its focus.
— Feb 18, 2026 07:54PM
Brendan
is on page 761 of 1128
“The [Chinese] city had nothing like a city charter, and no independent administration, that is, no mayor or town council; no laws or privileges that applied especially to its inhabitants; and no indigenous social groups that would have thought of demanding city dwellers’ ‘rights’ from the central government. In short, Chinese cities had no separate legal or political status; they were not corporate entities
— Feb 16, 2026 08:40PM
Brendan
is on page 742 of 1128
“The conduct of later Ming emperors reveals an impaired imperial institution. The reader of history might well wonder why the elite, and to some extent the general population of Ming China, remained dedicated to the dynasty even when may of its most able statesmen were driven away from service to it… The Chinese were not blind to these emperors’ flaws, but they had to remain hopeful that mundane faults could
— Feb 15, 2026 12:41PM
Brendan
is on page 702 of 1128
Fascinated to learn that the Dalai Lama and its prestige owe mostly to the Mongol conversion to Tibetan Buddhism after their loss of China.
The term ‘Dalai’ is Mongolian in origin (meaning ‘all-encompassing’) — and the power and prestige held by that office were installed by Mongol forces amidst heated rivalry between various Buddhist sects. The 4th Dalai Lama (really the 2nd) was even a Mongol prince!
— Feb 11, 2026 08:50PM
The term ‘Dalai’ is Mongolian in origin (meaning ‘all-encompassing’) — and the power and prestige held by that office were installed by Mongol forces amidst heated rivalry between various Buddhist sects. The 4th Dalai Lama (really the 2nd) was even a Mongol prince!
Brendan
is on page 561 of 1128
The story of Zhu Yuanzhang, recounted in detail here, is one of the most remarkable biographies in all of history. An orphaned peasant boy narrowly survives famine and plague, and becomes a Buddhist monk. His monastery is pillaged by troops from the collapsing Mongol Yuan Dynasty, so he joins a gang of Manichaean bandits, then rises through the ranks until eventually defeats all rivals and founds the Ming Dynasty.
— Feb 06, 2026 12:20PM
Brendan
is on page 521 of 1128
On the chaotic collapse of the Yuan Dynasty:
“The government issued ever stricter laws and set ever fiercer punishments in an effort to prop up the forces of order…Social order normally was not maintained by direct coercion but by the much less intrusive reliance on society at large to uphold the norms of appropriate behavior. When that no longer worked and the government’s failures could be openly ridiculed,
— Feb 04, 2026 08:26PM
“The government issued ever stricter laws and set ever fiercer punishments in an effort to prop up the forces of order…Social order normally was not maintained by direct coercion but by the much less intrusive reliance on society at large to uphold the norms of appropriate behavior. When that no longer worked and the government’s failures could be openly ridiculed,
Brendan
is on page 507 of 1128
On educated Chinese during Mongol rule:
“Many of the elite whose education and personal cultivation under more normal circumstances would have led them to serve in public life turned away from the usual careers to seek compensatory roles in public life.
Many withdrew into…turning their backs to the world to live out more obscure lives. Many who might have been ministers of state in normal times found meaning in
— Feb 03, 2026 08:45PM
“Many of the elite whose education and personal cultivation under more normal circumstances would have led them to serve in public life turned away from the usual careers to seek compensatory roles in public life.
Many withdrew into…turning their backs to the world to live out more obscure lives. Many who might have been ministers of state in normal times found meaning in
Brendan
is on page 343 of 1128
“That [Zhu Xi’s] system of learning should become primarily identified with the pursuit of success in the examination system is a great irony; his purpose was to teach people how to enlarge their minds and their humanity through study of the classics, and he was bitterly discouraged by trends becoming evident in his time toward the debasement of learning as a mere device for gaining status and wealth.”
— Jan 19, 2026 01:19PM
Brendan
is on page 324 of 1128
“In the Song Dynasty, a new spirit in learning and thought, in which all of the elite were immersed, encouraged at its best strong individual self-esteem coupled with feelings of direct responsibility for the world in which they lived. They were free to make their own decisions on what constituted ‘correct learning,’ because those truths were available to all through their own powers of study and reasoning, not
— Jan 17, 2026 02:48PM
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“The vast increase in the amount of silver in circulation in China…lowered the value of silver [] and greatly stimulated certain sectors of the economy, especially those supplying and serving the export of goods for the world market. At the same time, China became subject to wide variations in the flow of silver out of Mexico and Peru; its ultimate transfer to China in exchange for Chinese manufactures was dependent on conditions in markets as distant as Manila, Mexico, Macao, and Madrid. Sudden shifts in factors quite beyond China‘s control or understanding could cause temporary crises in its economy; something like that appears to have happened in the 1630s, weakening China just when it was beset by domestic disasters at the end of the Ming.”
There is nothing new under the sun…