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Upon leading a victorious rebellion against the
foreign Mongul rulers of the Yuan Dynasty, a
peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang seized control of
China and founded the Ming Dynasty in 1368. As
emperor, he founded his capital at Nanjing and
adopted the name Hongwu as his reign title.
Hongwu, literally meaning “vast military,” reflects
the increased prestige of the army during the
Ming Dynasty. Due to the very realistic threat still
posed by the Mongols, Hongwu realized that a
strong military was essential to Chinese
prosperity. Thus, the orthodox Confucian view
that the military was an inferior class to be ruled
over by an elite class of scholars was
reconsidered. During the Ming Dynasty, China
proper was reunited after centuries of foreign
incursion and occupation. Ming troops controlled
Manchuria, and the Korean Joseon Dynasty
respected the authority of the Ming rulers, at
least nominally.
Like the founders of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-
220 A.D.), Hongwu was extremely suspicious of
the educated courtiers that advised him and,
fearful that they might attempt to overthrow him,
he successfully consolidated control of all aspect
of government. The strict authoritarian control
Hongwu wielded over the affairs of the country
was due in part to the centralized system of
government he inherited from the Monguls and
largely kept intact. However, Hongwu replaced
the Mongul bureaucrats who had ruled the
country for nearly a century with native Chinese
administrators. He also reinstituted the
Confucian examination system that tested
would-be civic officials on their knowledge of
literature and philosophy. Unlike the Song
Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.), which received most of
its taxes from mercantile commerce, the Ming
economy was based primarily on agriculture,
reflecting both the peasant roots of its founder
as well as the Confucian belief that trade was
ignoble and parasitic.
Culturally, the greatest innovation of the Ming
Dynasty was the introduction of the novel.
Developed from the folk tales of traditional
storytellers, these works were transcribed in the
everyday vernacular language of the people.
Advances in printmaking and the increasing
population of urban dwellers largely contributed
to the success of these books. Architecturally,
the most famous monument of the Ming Dynasty
is surely the complex of temples and palaces
known as the Forbidden City that was
constructed in Beijing after the third ruler of the
Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle, moved the
capital there. Today, the Forbidded Palace
remains one of the hallmarks of traditional
Chinese architecture and is one of the most
popular tourist destinations in the vast nation.
Ming statuette art reflects the attempt to restore
purely "Chinese" artistic genres with a healthy
injection of Confucian aesthetic, political, and
moral standards. Realistic depictions of daily life
became popular themes among artists who were
often patronized by the court. Under Xuande's
reign (1426-35), the art industry flourished,
producing many exquisite porcelain and ceramic
pieces. This glazed set is a product of the
artistic revival that occurred throughout the
Ming. This Ming set of glazed figurines depicts
an aspect of Chinese political and social life.
Tributary processions were common protocol at
this time, the emperor requiring provincial lords
to pay tribute and tax on a regular basis.
Processions were also held for funerals,
marriages, and rituals differing in grandeur
depending on the status of the individuals
involved and nature of the ceremony. The
palanquin served as the primary form of
transportation for the elite who often traveled
with several attendants.
This miniature procession consists of nine
attendants and a palanquin. The attendants wear
green-glazed robes with long flowing sleeves
and shoes that have been painted black. Their
tall rounded black caps accentuate their dignified
appearance. As Chinese statuette art prescribes,
the faces are created individually with uniquely
painted features, owing to their distinctive
expressions. One of the attendants carries a
black stool around his back, perhaps providing a
seat for the emperor once they arrived at their
destination. Glazed in the same rich forest
green as the figures, the palanquin is elegantly
constructed with molded screens on both sides
and curved hip roof crowned with a diamond
ornament. Here, the emperor would have once
sat. However, he is not depicted, since this
processional set was intended to usher the soul
of the deceased emperor into the afterlife.
- (H.867)
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