Decline of China pt. 1

Ming Dynasty China

The Ming dynasty is considered by some historians to be one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history. The Ming dynasty in the mid 14th century could field an army of over one million soldiers and Nanjing housed the largest dockyards in the world. The Ming built the famous Forbidden City in Beijing, restored the Grand Canal, which were a series of water ways that went deep into mainland China and built/rebuilt much of the Great Wall.

How could such a prosperous country become isolationist and unstable in the 19th century? How did China decline?

First we will talk about the fall of the Ming Dynasty, and then the isolationism of the Qing Dynasty that caused China to become easily controlled by the Great Powers of Europe, and then the periods of instability in the early 20th century and then World War II and the rise of the Chinese Communist Party.

The Wanli Emperor

The decline of the Ming Dynasty started under the reign of the Wanli Emperor from 1572 to 1620 A.D. The court became split into different political factions, causing Wanli to seperate himself from the court and stay in the Forbidden City. The Emperor's officials lost direct contact with the Emperor and whenever they needed to tell the Emperor something or make a demand they would need to bribe an eunuch to relay their message to him. This disconnect with his court caused the eunuchs to become more powerful.

The eunuchs gained the ability to collect taxes along with the rights they were given by the Yongle Emperor to manage imperial workshops, lead armies and participate in the appointment and promotion of officials.

The Tianqi Emperor

During the reign of the Tianqi Emperor from 1620 to 1627 an eunuch named Wei Zhongxian controlled the imperial court. Members of the Donglin Society, a confucion group who were opposed to the bureaucracy, were tortured to death, he had temples dedicated to himslef built across China and used the money that was supposed to be used on the Emperor's tomb on the construction of palaces. Wei Zhongxian's family and friends gained important positions in the court without any qualifications. The court became unstable and unmanageable.

Philip IV of Spain in 1628

In the 17th century China had a shortage of silver which caused an economic crisis. Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands had been China's main trade partners for silver. Spain under Philip IV began cracking down on silver being smuggled from Peru into the Pacific to China, which caused problems. In 1639 Japan stopped trading with foreigners, ending another source of silver for China. These events happened at roughly the same time which caused Silver prices to skyrocket, making it very difficult for the populace to pay their taxes. People started hoarding silver, further raising its price. In 1643 one thousand copper coins could buy only one-third of an ounce of silver. Peasants payed taxes in silver and conducted trade in copper so this drastic change in prices caused an economic disaster for them.

Change in temperature from 1000 to 1900 A.D.

The little ice age struck China during this time, causing widespread famine in northern China.

Taxes rose, many soldiers deserted the army and natural disasters struck. People lost confidence in the government and many died. Everyday life was completely changed. Because of the widespread poverty the government lacked the resources to help in any way or even manage the irrigation system. A large epidemic killed a very large but unrecorded amount of people and the deadliest earthquake of all time killed 830 000 people in 1556.

Meanwhile in the north the Jurchens united the manchurians and prepared to invade China. In 1636 the newly named Great Qing declared themselves the new Chinese dynasty.

During the manchurian invasions a mutiny took place in Shaanxi as the government was unable to send supplies the soldiers desperately needed. A widespread rebellion soon broke out in China and soldiers turned against the government. By the 1640s the starving peasants no longer feared the Chinese military who were incapable of winning any battles. They rose in rebellion. The army failed at fighting back the Manchus and the rebels, and essentially fell apart as they were unpaid and unfed.

Manchu Invasion of China

In 1644 the self proclaimed Shun Dynasty seperated from the Ming and took their capital. The same year the Shanhai pass of the Great Wall was opened, allowing the Manchu to invade China. In 1662 China was completely invaded by the new Qing Dynasty.

The Crisis of the Third Century

The Gallic Empire, Roman Empire and Palmyrene Empire during the crises

The crises starts with the death of Emperor Alexander Severus in 235 A.D. The Emperor was too focused on fighting Persia and didn’t pay much attention to the Germanic incursions that were killing Roman troops. Alexander lost the respect of his troops when he started paying the Germans to leave. This led to his assassination.

After the death of Alexander Severus Roman generals neglected their duties and started fighting for the throne. Without protection Roman provinces were frequently raided by Germanic tribes such as the Alamanni. In the east Sassanid Persia launched attacks on a weakened Roman Empire.

In 251 the plague of Cyprian broke out and killed a large amount of Romans.

During the early part of the crises several Emperors ruled for very short terms. The crises escalated after the death of Emperor Valerian in 260. The Empire split into three seperate states, the Gallic Empire in the west and the Palmyrene Empire in the east, with Rome trapped in the middle.

The crises reached its climax in 268 with the battle of Naissus in which Rome beat an army of marauding Goths.

Militaristic Emperors found their way onto the throne and reunited the Empire militarily. By 274 the empire was reunited after defeating the Gallic Empire, the Palmyrene Empire and the Sassanid Empire while fending off barbarians.

This near collapse experience led to the fortification of Rome and other cities. The economic system was ruined with the destruction of many Roman cities and the dispersing of their populations, especially in the west.

Aurelian and the other soldier-Emperors had defended Rome from external threats and reunited the Empire but the problems that caused the crises needed to be addressed, especially the fact that the succession of Emperors was not clarified (throughout the crises the senate named 26 people Emperor).

The crises ended with the reign of Emperor Diocletian. Diocletian started out as a commoner in Dalmatia (modern day Croatia) before joining the army. He quickly rose up through the ranks of the army until he was the Emperor’s cavalry commander. After Emperor Carus’ death Diocletian was proclaimed Emperor in 284.

Emperor Diocletian stabilised Rome and ended the crises. Diocletian created the tetrarchy and split the Empire between three Emperors.

The Empire was split beween Constantius (yellow), Maximius (blue/green), Diocletian (purple) and Galerius (pink)

This arrangement only lasted until his death, however, but during his life the Empire restabilised and went on to survive until 476 A.D.

Genetically Modified Foods

I first want to state my stance on genetically modified foods.

Throughout human history we have been modifying animals and plants and genetic modification is not as new or complicated as one might think.

Lets take the Aztecs for example. By the 16th century they had a population of 250 000 people in their capital Tenochtitlan. Their main food was maize. Maize is a plant that was developed by interbreeding different cereals and creating a more effective filler that could support more people more efficiently. Maize eventually spread to the rest of North America and the population hit over 60 million people, which wouldn’t have been possible without maize.

Genetic modification doesn’t mean a plant is injected with toxins, it is as simple as taking two species and breeding them together to create a new plant, or forcing plants to adapt quicker than usual as a sort of forced evolution.

Genetic modification has taken place for thousands of years as farmers have manipulated their crops to increase yields and create all the food we eat today. Non genetically modified food just doesn’t exist except for in limited circumstances, and they are extremely rare.

Radiation is used to mutate foods the same way all life on earth has been mutating for millions of years. Without radiation we cannot create plants with traits that don’t exist in the wild. Here is an example; if a new disease popped up and started killing all our oranges, scientists would need to mutate the oranges to give them resistance to this disease. Without radiation oranges would have been completely wiped out.

At least 3000 fruits, vegetables and crops have been mutated and most of the food we eat is mutated. An example of a genetically modified fruit is the grapefruit. The reason it’s red and barely has any seeds is because scientists subjected grapefruit trees to thermal neutrons which created the modern grapefruit we eat today. If your grapefruit is red its genetically modified, even if the box says it isn’t. In fact many of the foods that have been subjected to radiation are labelled as “organic” and “natural” and the fact that they were mutated is not labelled.

The Nijisseiki pear made up 28 percent of Japan’s pear crop in 1990. Thanks to mutation this plant still exists today. In 1962 the pears were exposed to gamma radiation to help them combat black spot disease, which would have completely killed them off if it wasn’t for radiation. In 1981 the plant developed complete immunity to the disease and had no symptoms when subjected to it.

Crops produced through mutation breeding have been sold in supermarkets for decades with no label or widespread common knowledge about their genetic alterations. These varieties can even be labeled organic as long as they are grown meeting other production requirements. They are not required to undergo any testing, and mutation breeding may still require years of continued crossing to separate preferred traits from undesirable ones. If we stop the genetic modification of food we will destroy a tradition thousands of years old that has allowed our population to grow to its current level.

Research in the field of genetic modification continues and someday we will have flawless ways to modify plants without creating any negative effects, decreasing the amount of time needed to develop new foods. Although it is considered old technology, mutation breeding is experiencing a re-emergence in popularity thanks to new techniques known as “tilling,” which allow researchers to rapidly identify mutations in specific genes.

Governments who block genetic food research, such as Scotland, actually allow more shady institutions from abroad produce their food since the domestic, tested, trusted and certified institutions are shut down by the government. This allows more foods with negative effects into our diet.