Overview and History 17began to slowly turn inwards. Naval exploits were replaced
by a spate of navel-gazing.
Though looking increasingly inward, Chinese society at
the time included a growing number of Europeans. Macau
had been leased to Portugal as a trading outpost; the Jesuits
arrived in vast numbers, Matteo Ricci being one of the most
well-known among them; and other nationalities interested
in uncovering the secrets of the Orient arrived as well.
A manageable balance was created between these mixing
cultures, but by the late Ming, successive emperors presided
over a government that was notoriously corrupt, at both the
central and provincial levels. Greedy provincial leaders and
eunuchs were managing taxation and distribution of funds
to their own advantage, rapidly weakening the ability of the
court to actually govern.
The timing of this decline in government authority
coincided with an increase in pirates on the east coat and a
rise in the strength of the Manchus to China’s north. In the
end, it was a last-ditch attempt to save Korea from invading
Japanese troops that depleted the reserves of the government
to a level beyond that which they could recover from. The
dynasty was now easy prey for a sweeping invasion by the
Manchus that meant the end of the Ming and the beginning
of the Qing.
The Qing Dynasty (1616–1911)
Though a foreign power, the Manchus differed from the
Mongols in one important way—they involved Chinese
officials in governing and attempted to preserve many of
the institutions and governing philosophies of the time. Their
determined attempt at preservation, however, often resulted
in such strictness of approach that made them even more
inflexible than their predecessors.
This became most apparent in the area of foreign policy.
During the Qing dynasty, firm belief in the emperor as the
‘Son of Heaven’ ruling with the ‘Mandate of Heaven’ did
not allow room for the presence of other countries existing
at the same level of importance as China herself; there was
China, and there was everyone else. Demands for tribute