HIS280Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Wei Zhongxian, Ming Ming, Aisin Gioro
Document Summary
Lecture 6: ming long-run problems: factionalism and bureaucratic self-interest. Leading (1568-1627) leader, dictator eunuch = wei zhongxian. He gave positions of power to family & friends (nepotism and corruption under his reign) The donglin academy faction (a neo-confucian fundamentalist group that was self-declared as being more morally pure" than the imperial bureaucracy: the chongzhen emperor. The last ming emperor (r. of 17 years during 1620s) He came into rule as a 20 yr. old. When he comes into the throne, the first thing he does is to get rid of wei. Chongzhen still can"t get rid of the generational factionalism and self-interest officials too much discontent & cynicism from impoverished, natural-disaster-affected ppl. Ming shows us that the imperial bureaucracy is not only the emperor. It requires the collaboration of inner + outer courts and society, too: external ming threats. Manchu = a new rival, close to the korean frontier (sort of steppe-land, but not totally)
