ZHU YUAN ZHANG
Zhu Yuan Zhang
Early life
Zhu Yuan Zhang was born in to a peasant family in Anhui province in 1328. He was the youngest among his seven brothers. His family was so poor that some of his siblings had to be given away. When he was 16, the yellow river broke its dykes and flooded the land his family lived in. After this a plague hit and killed his parents and siblings one by one leaving him alone. Seeing that he was penniless and had to have food, he took his father’s suggestion and went to become a monk. He stayed in the monastery as a novice and until the monastery became broke and he had to leave.
Due to this incident, Zhu Yuan Zhang became a wandering beggar on the streets. However, because he wandered around everywhere, he could see and feel the people’s hardship. Nevertheless, after 3 years of wandering, he returned to the monastery and stayed there until he was 24. During this time in the monastery, he learned to read and write.
On the road of becoming king
When the monastery was destroyed by the army trying to suppress rebellion, Zhu Yuan Zhang once again became a wanderer again became a wanderer until in 1352, he joined one of insurgent forces which has risen in rebellion against the Yuan dynasty. He soon became commander of the rebel force and joined a sect related to white lotus society. As he rose through the ranks, he was widely known as the defender of Confucianism and soon became the leader of the rebels. Zhu Yuan Zhang’s army conquered Nanjing in 1356, which was the capital of ming dynasty and the base of his operations. As Nanjing has good governance, its name was spread to other cities and attracted many migrants from other cities, which resulted in the population increasing by 10 times over the next 10 years. Subsequently, the Yuan government was weakened and northern china and southern china were split between many different rebel groups. Zhu Yuan Zhang was the leader of a small faction.
Many people of talent and wisdom was attracted to his faction. A few years later, he fought a war with Chen Youliang who had a larger faction for control over the red turban territory. It was one of the largest naval battles fought and Zhu Yuan Zhang defeated the larger army. After this battle, he never participated in any more battle and stayed in Nanjing, directing his generals what to do. Later in 1367, he defeated one of the major kingdoms around the Yangtze River and gained authority to land north and south of the river. Realizing that Zhu Yuan Zhang is more powerful than them and have the ability to defeat them, all the other warlords surrendered to him. Hence, because of this, Zhu Yuan Zhang, proclaim himself emperor of Ming dynasty and took on the title of Hong wu. A few years later, his armies proceeded to attack the remaining territories under the Yuan Dynasty rule. In 1388, the Mongols finally gave of their capital city of Beijing and retreated back to Mongolia. After another Yuan controlled place was captured, the country was unified under the rule of Ming Dynasty.
His reign
Under him, Han officials replaced all Mongol bureaucrats and the Confucian examination system was revamped. The Confucian scholar-bureaucrats who were marginalized in the Yuan dynasty were returned their predominant positions in their government.
As he was born in a peasant family, he had seen and suffered hardships before. It was because of this, that he was able to understand how the peasants felt under the wealthy. Many of the wealthy, used their connections to the government officials to slyly take the peasants’ land and give the burden of taxation to them. To make sure that the peasants would be able to have these burdens off their shoulders, he instituted 2 systems that were made secured the government’s income and made sure the farmers did not lose their lands and are able continued to earn their living. Nevertheless, the problem was not resolved and made it better for the wealthy -------- not only did the wealthy gained access to more money, there were even tax exemption for those in government service. Due to this, the bureaucrats gained new privileges and some became illegal moneylenders. With their newfound power, the peasant’s lands were out rightly bought and used to expand their estates. The farmers then have no choice but to either became a tenant, a worker or sought employment elsewhere.
Great care was taken in distributing the lands. One way was by forcing people to move to areas with lesser people. Those who were unwilling were tied to a tree and taken to the designated place. Public works like building irrigation systems were to benefit the farmers. In 1370, lands were ordered by him to be given to farmers that reached adulthood. A few years later, he decreed that the land a farmer bought will be theirs and cannot be transferred. The farmers were happy that they did not need to pay taxes for keeping the land.
In his reign, he kept a powerful army and was re-organized in the wei-suo system in which soldiers had different roles. Soldiers were split in to many units and battalions. Some soldiers were assigned to grow crops and their positions were made hereditary. This was very effective in keeping the Mongols away. He made sure training was also conducted in military districts. In times of war, a commander is appointed to lead but after war, their power is returned to the government.
However, despite the fact that he made the base of ming dynasty strong, he was a cruel emperor. He tortures people slowly and expects all people to obey him. There were as much as resistance and rebellions against him. As he was becoming scared of rebellions and coups, he was even ready to kill his advisors that criticized him. There was a massacre of thousands of people when one talked about him without respect. These massacres only stopped when a lightning bolt struck his palace. During his reigned, eunuchs were reduced in both numbers at court and in power. The eunuchs were to be illiterate to not be able to intrude in administrative matter. He wanted to have all the power in his own hands so that no other group of people would be able to overthrow him. He largely succeeded in this area. He used the opportunity to relate more officials to the case of the grand councilor, helping him to usurp the throne and hence killing them and their family. This chance was then used to purge his government and resulted in more than 30,000 people killed in a decade. Many people were killed; even his closest friend was executed along with his extended family for helping someone else to usurp the throne. This was something that he never did. He increased the absolutism of emperor thus changing the centuries old government structure. He even went to great pains to personally write essays posted in every village throughout China warning the people to behave, and of the horrifying consequences if they disobeyed.
As mean as Zhu Yuan Zhang was , he made one of the great achievements in that period ------- the best legal code. He devoted much of his time to creating these laws must be easy to read and comprehensive so that no officials are able to find loopholes within it and deliberately misinterpret it. It was a great improvement from the tang code, for example, slves were treated like animals in the tang code and if any slave is kill by a free citizen, the government will not take any action against the person However, under the ming code, both free citizens and slaves were protected.
He believed that merchants were paraistic and hence agriculture should be the source of wealth for the country. Ming dynasty emphasized on agriculture. Zhu Yuan Zhang’s prejudice against merchants did not decrease the number of merchants but instead increased them as firstly, the soil was unsuitable for growing crops and secondly, some areas are over populated which caused many people to seek fortune in trade. He ordered mosques to be built in some of the cities with inscriptions praising prophet muhammed and that attracted many hui people to come to the city. He even had 10 muslim military generals in his army. He and his wife Empress Ma were somewhat associated with the muslim people.
He was a non-interventionist, hence, when vietnam invaded champa, he did not be engage in the war too and only rebuked the vietnamese. He told future emperors not to attack and have conquest in other countries but defend themselves against the barbarians. His rule saw the introduction of paper money but due to his little knowledge to inflation that caused the paper money’s value to decrease greatly. During his reign, not only was there dramatic and rapid population growth but living standards also improved greatly. He died in 1398 after his reign of 30 years and at the old age of 69.
Why was he a catalyst ? :D
Why was he a catalyst ? :D
He was able to understand the hardship of the peasants as he had once been a peasant and a beggar himself, hence, he could fully feel and understand them. He tried his best to help to live better. For example, making sure lands were given to farmers who reached adulthood and made sure that lands belonged to the farmers forever and cannot be transferred to another person's name. He made many people lives better. Secondly, He was able to understand the hardship of the peasants as he had once been a peasant and a beggar himself, hence, he could fully feel and understand them. He tried his best to help to live better. For example, making sure lands were given to farmers who reached adulthood and made sure that lands belonged to the farmers forever and cannot be transferred to another person's name. He made many people lives better.
Zheng He
Life
In 1381, the year his father was killed, following the defeat of the Northern Yuan, a Ming army was dispatched to Yunnan to put down the army of the Mongol Yuan loyalist Basalawarmi during the Ming conquest of Yunnan. Ma He, then only eleven years old, was captured by the Ming Muslim troops of Lan Yu and Fu Youde and made a eunuch. He was sent to the court of one the emperor's son, Zhu Di the Prince of Yan, where he was called San Bao meaning 'Three Jewels.' The young eunuch eventually became a trusted adviser of the Prince of Yan, and assisted the prince in his insurrection against his nephew the Jianwen Emperor. For his valor in this war, the eunuch received the name Zheng He from his master. Once Zhu Di deposed Jianwen and became crowned as Yongle Emperor , Zheng He continued serving in his court as a Eunuch Grand Director. It was during the Yongle era that Zheng He, with the rank of Chief Envoy carried his first of six overseas missions.
In 1425 Yongle's successor the Hongxi Emperor appointed Zheng He to be Defender of Nanjing. In 1428 the Xuande Emperor ordered him to complete the construction of the magnificent Buddhist nine-storied Da Baoen Temple in Nanjing, and in 1430 appointed him to lead the seventh and final expedition to the "Western Ocean". It is commonly believed that Zheng He died during the treasure fleet's last voyage, on the returning trip after the fleet reached Hormuz in 1433.
Voyages
In 1402, after Emperor Cheng Zu of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) ascended the throne, he dispatched Zheng He and Wang Jinghong to lead a giant fleet to Southeast Asia, carrying members of soldiers and large quantity of goods. The fleet reached the countries of Southeast Asia, east Africa and Arabia, initiating a feat in the history of navigation and regarded as an unprecedented great historical period in Chinese history of trade and cultural exchanges.
From 1405 to 1433, Zheng He led his fleet to voyage to the Western Sea for seven times. The number of ships of his fleet was from 40 to 63 each time, taking many soldiers and sailors on the voyage, with a total party over 27,000 people. Their ships navigated the wide sea area from Ryukyu Islands, the Philippine Islands and Maluku Sea to the Mozambican Channel and the costal areas of South Africa, developing mutual trade, exchanging culture and technologies, communicating traffic on the sea and promoting social and economic development in such countries and areas. The mighty fleet voyaged on the Indian Ocean, not only astonishing the Arabian navigators, but also amazing the Venice businessmen coming and going between Hormuz and Aden, hence providing a new enlightenment to the European navigation. Zheng He's voyages are 87 years earlier than that of Columbus, 93 years earlier than that of Gama, and 116 years earlier than that of Magellan.
Chinese treasure ships carried a great deal of special Chinese products to foreign countries. As to craftwork, there were brocade, gauze, and skein; as to china, there were newly developed celadon, Xiulihong, as well as the enamelware with Chinese characteristics. By the way, during the Tang Dynasty Chinese people had grasped the technology of sintering glass, but only after Zheng He's voyage, Chinese had grasped the technology of adding borax in glass to resist heat. The Arabian glass artisan came to China with Zheng He's fleet and imparted the new technology to sinter new kinds of glass vessel resistant to sudden changes of temperature. Since then, this kind of glass was produced in large quantities in China and became a common utensil.
Zheng He also brought back building materials, fuels and exotic articles. It was at this time that the so-called kylin and Fulu (African giraffe and zebra) became decorative animals for the Chinese imperial garden. After coming back, Zheng He's subordinates wrote the books as Travel Notes of Foreign Countries, Chorography of Western Countries, etc., introducing the geographic and natural conditions, local customs, as well as production and living of those foreign countries and regions, widening Chinese people's vision and enlarging their knowledge on foreign countries.
Zheng He's expedition was half a century earlier than those of the European navigators. Zheng He died in 1435 at the age of 65. After Zheng He's last voyage no further voyages were launched.
A Timeline of Zheng He‘s expenditions
· July 11, 1405-Oct. 2 1407. First voyage of Treasure Fleet, led by Admiral Zheng He, to Calicut, India.
· 1407. Treasure Fleet defeats pirate Chen Zuyi at Straights of Malacca; Zheng He takes pirates to Nanjing for execution.
· 1407-1409. Second Voyage of Treasure Fleet, again to Calicut.
· 1409-1410. Yongle Emperor and Ming army battle Mongols.
· 1409-July 6, 1411. Third Voyage of Treasure Fleet to Calicut. Zheng He intervenes in Ceylon succession dispute.
· Dec. 18, 1412-August 12, 1415. Fourth Voyage of the Treasure Fleet to Hormuz. Capture of the pretender Sekandar in Semudera (Sumatra) on return trip.
· 1413-1416. Yongle Emperor's second campaign against the Mongols.
· May 16, 1417. Yongle Emperor enters new capital city at Beijing, leaves Nanjing forever.
· 1417-August 8, 1419. Fifth Voyage of the Treasure Fleet, to Arabia and East Africa.
· 1421-Sept. 3, 1422. Sixth Voyage of the Treasure Fleet, to East Africa again.
· Aug. 12, 1424. Yongle Emperor dies of possible stroke while fighting Mongols.
· Sept. 7, 1424. Zhu Gaozhi, eldest son of Yongle Emperor, becomes Hongxi Emperor. Orders to stop Treasure Fleet voyages.
· May 29, 1425. Hongxi Emperor dies. Son Zhu Zhanji becomes Xuande Emperor.
· June 29, 1429. Xuande Emperor orders Zheng He to take one more voyage.
· 1430-1433. Seventh and final Voyage of the Treasure Fleet, to Arabia and East Africa.
· 1433, exact date unknown. Zheng He dies and is buried at sea on the return leg of the final voyage.
My first impression was like...WOW what a capable man...I totally look up to him and take off my hats to him.He is AWE-some.Even leading a small group or class is already difficult.wow.seriously.To be even leading a total of 200 or more ships on 7 voyages is really very amazing.
Not only that,he had also traded with many of the other countries and even brought the giraffeback to China...(giraffe wasn't found in china then;weird...couldn't they have went to the zoo XD)
Why was he a Quality Change Catalyst?
All Zheng He had found out about of the foreign countries were recorded as books that allowed many Chinese to benefit from it.Chinese now expanded their knowledge and vision of other parts of the world. He taught the Chinese what he had learn from other countries which resulted in China improving and moving foward. He changed the world by spreading the Chinese culture to other parts of the world. He helped the people in some countries to improve their harvest by teaching them better irrigation systems. This thus allowed them to produce more crops and hence were able to earn more money.
Why was he a Quality Change Catalyst?
All Zheng He had found out about of the foreign countries were recorded as books that allowed many Chinese to benefit from it.Chinese now expanded their knowledge and vision of other parts of the world. He taught the Chinese what he had learn from other countries which resulted in China improving and moving foward. He changed the world by spreading the Chinese culture to other parts of the world. He helped the people in some countries to improve their harvest by teaching them better irrigation systems. This thus allowed them to produce more crops and hence were able to earn more money.
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