EAST 211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Li Zicheng, Shun Dynasty, Li Zi

• School: McGill University
• Department: Asian Language & Literature
• Course: EAST 211
• Professor: Rebecca Robinson

Document Summary

Violence and accommoda2on: the manchu conquest of china. Many of the boarders established was continued today. Western powers asserting themselves on a global scale, increase conflict between china and the west. Engagement with earlier trends, put knowledge into action. Ex. know pain when you feel it: primacy of the mind. The mind is what spaces the world, not vice versa. The mind innately knows the pattern in which you should act. Study you own mind, recognize the distinction of good and evil: decadence of late ming. Many scholars talk about how the ming elite culture fell away of virtuous simplicity. A lot of commodity and extravagance: when ming dynasty end, confucian scholars blamed imperial decadence, overall decline in morality. The ming decline: weak emperors, factionalism at court. Eunuchs: global trade, the little ice age, two sparks, external treats - the manchus, internal threats - lizicheng. Li zicheng: soldier in the ming army before joining rebel group.