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158-803: Shanwei City was established in 1988. It was politically administered as part of Huizhoufu (惠州府) by the Ming and Qing empires, Shanwei it gained its prefectural and administrative independence from Huizhou during the Nationalist period . The dominant ethnic population is Hoklo who came as a result of the large decrease in population caused by warfare in the early Qing dynasty in what is now Shanwei. The prefecture-level city of Shanwei administers 4 county-level divisions , including 1 district , 1 county-level city and 2 counties . These are further divided into 53 township-level divisions , including 40 towns , 10 townships and 3 subdistricts . Shanwei has

316-462: A 48 km (30 mi) long wall around Nanjing , as well as new palaces and government halls. The History of Ming states that as early as 1364 Zhu Yuanzhang had begun drafting a new Confucian law code, the Da Ming Lü , which was completed by 1397 and repeated certain clauses found in the old Tang Code of 653. Hongwu organized a military system known as the weisuo , which was similar to

474-767: A coup against the Tianshun Emperor out of fear of being next on his purge-list of those who aided him in the Wresting the Gate Incident. Cao's rebel force managed to set fire to the western and eastern gates of the Imperial City (doused by rain during the battle) and killed several leading ministers before his forces were finally cornered and he was forced to commit suicide. While the Yongle Emperor had staged five major offensives north of

632-670: A eunuch servant, hanged himself on a tree in the imperial garden right outside the Forbidden City. Seizing opportunity, the Eight Banners crossed the Great Wall after the Ming border general Wu Sangui (1612–1678) opened the gates at Shanhai Pass . This occurred shortly after he learned about the fate of the capital and an army of Li Zicheng marching towards him; weighing his options of alliance, he decided to side with

790-588: A force personally to face the Oirats after a recent Ming defeat; the emperor left the capital and put his half-brother Zhu Qiyu in charge of affairs as temporary regent. On 8 September, Esen routed Zhengtong's army, and Zhengtong was captured—an event known as the Tumu Crisis . The Oirats held the Zhengtong Emperor for ransom. However, this scheme was foiled once the emperor's younger brother assumed

948-937: A heart attack after he had confessed to damaging property and disrupting public services, but his friends and family rejected this explanation, and believed that Xue had died after being subjected to police brutality. According to Xue's relatives, Xue's body showed signs of torture: it was covered in bruises and cuts, both his nostrils were caked with blood, his thumbs were bent and twisted backwards. His daughter said her father had "a large bruise on his back suggested he had been kicked from behind." Xue's son-in-law Gao also noted that Xue's knees were bruised. Because Xue's clothes were clean, his family suggested that he had been stripped and then tortured. Xue's family refused official requests for an autopsy to be carried out. China News Service reported on 14 December that Xue's family members agreed with medical examiners' verdict that Xue died of "sudden cardiac failure". Xinhua News stated that he had

1106-433: A historical work lambasting and belittling his political opponents. The instability at court came right as natural calamity, pestilence, rebellion, and foreign invasion came to a peak. The Chongzhen Emperor (r. 1627–44) had Wei dismissed from court, which led to Wei's suicide shortly after. The eunuchs built their own social structure, providing and gaining support to their birth clans. Instead of fathers promoting sons, it

1264-409: A history of asthma and heart disease that forensic investigators had found no evidence of abuse, and that Xue died of cardiac arrest at age 42 / 43. Xue's eldest daughter, Xue Jianwan, categorically denied to a Hong Kong online journal, iSun Affairs , that her father had a history of heart problems. Villagers held a two-hour vigil for him at his home. Two post-mortem examinations were carried out:

1422-487: A hundred supporters from the effort, but the stall was later shut down. On 18 December, Lin Zuluan, one of Wukan's representatives, said that "leaders at a higher level of local government summoned [him] for talks" and that they wished to go to the village. Lin Zuluan refused the proposal, saying that there could be no talks until Xue's body was released, the four other village representatives held by police were released, and

1580-432: A low civil service rank. The one great advantage of the lesser functionaries over officials was that officials were periodically rotated and assigned to different regional posts and had to rely on the good service and cooperation of the local lesser functionaries. Eunuchs gained unprecedented power over state affairs during the Ming dynasty. One of the most effective means of control was the secret service stationed in what

1738-474: A major cause of "China's cultural stagnation and economic backwardness." However Benjamin Ellman argues there were some positive features, since the essay form was capable of fostering "abstract thinking, persuasiveness, and prosodic form" and that its elaborate structure discouraged a wandering, unfocused narrative". Scholar-officials who entered civil service through examinations acted as executive officials to

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1896-447: A massive influx of South American silver. This abundance of specie remonetized the Ming economy, whose paper money had suffered repeated hyperinflation and was no longer trusted. While traditional Confucians opposed such a prominent role for commerce and the newly rich it created, the heterodoxy introduced by Wang Yangming permitted a more accommodating attitude. Zhang Juzheng 's initially successful reforms proved devastating when

2054-645: A monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate ( Köppen Cwa ), with short, mild to warm winters, and long, hot, humid summers. Winter begins sunny and dry but becomes progressively wetter and cloudier. Spring is generally overcast, while summer brings the heaviest rains of the year though is much sunnier; there are 10.3 days with 50 mm (1.97 in) or more rainfall. Autumn is sunny and dry. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from 15.2 °C (59.4 °F) in January to 28.3 °C (82.9 °F) in July, and

2212-498: A much larger body of non-ranked personnel called lesser functionaries. They outnumbered officials by four to one; Charles Hucker estimates that they were perhaps as many as 100,000 throughout the empire. These lesser functionaries performed clerical and technical tasks for government agencies. Yet they should not be confused with lowly lictors, runners, and bearers; lesser functionaries were given periodic merit evaluations like officials and after nine years of service might be accepted into

2370-424: A new village leadership. On 11 February, over 6,500 villagers (85% of the population) voted to elect 107 village representatives, with protester leader Lin Zuluan as village Party chief replacing the ousted leader, who had held the position for 42 years. The young Xue Jianwan, the daughter of deceased protest leader Xue Jinbo, was also elected. According to WSJ writer Josh Chin, the election appeared to be "free of

2528-499: A peacemaker who listens and responds to the interests of the people that he serves. The citizens of Wukan welcomed intervention by Wang's government, and Wang has capitalized on the popularity of his approach since late December 2011. In a meeting with the Guangdong Party congress in January 2012, Wang pledged to use his "Wukan approach" to improve village politics throughout the province. Wang, commenting on his resolution of

2686-536: A professor at Tsinghua University , estimated that land sales accounted for 74 percent of local government income in 2010. According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences , by the end of 2011 there was a total of 50 million displaced farmers across China (from all preceding years), and an average of 3 million farmers are displaced across China per year. In most instances, the land is then sold to private developers at an average cost of 40 times higher per acre than

2844-467: A rebellion that sparked a three-year civil war . Under the pretext of rescuing the young Jianwen from corrupting officials, Zhu Di personally led forces in the revolt; the palace in Nanjing was burned to the ground, along with Jianwen himself, his wife, mother, and courtiers. Zhu Di assumed the throne as the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–24); his reign is universally viewed by scholars as a "second founding" of

3002-467: A rigid, immobile system that would guarantee and support a permanent class of soldiers for his dynasty: the empire's standing army exceeded one million troops and the navy 's dockyards in Nanjing were the largest in the world. He also took great care breaking the power of the court eunuchs and unrelated magnates, enfeoffing his many sons throughout China and attempting to guide these princes through

3160-564: A series of lit beacons and signalling stations to allow rapid warning to friendly units of advancing enemy troops. There were many problems—fiscal or other—facing Ming China that started during the reign of the Wanli Emperor (1572–1620). In the beginning of his reign, Wanli surrounded himself with able advisors and made a conscientious effort to handle state affairs. His Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng (1572–82) built up an effective network of alliances with senior officials. However, there

3318-408: A short time after the protests began. On the third day of unrest, the municipality of Shanwei , which has the responsibility for Lufeng, issued a statement saying that "hundreds of villagers attacked government buildings". It said "more than a dozen police officers had been injured and '6 police vehicles had suffered damage'". In what appeared to analysts as a change of tactics, observers noted that

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3476-471: A slowdown in agriculture was produced by the Little Ice Age . The value of silver rapidly increased because of a disruption in the supply of imported silver from Spanish and Portuguese sources, making it impossible for Chinese farmers to pay their taxes. Combined with crop failure, floods, and an epidemic , the dynasty collapsed in 1644 as Li Zicheng's rebel forces entered Beijing. Li then established

3634-674: A stand-off with the farmers. Video footage shot by villagers in Wukan showed people of all ages being chased and beaten with truncheons by riot police. One Wukan villager described the police and other security staff as "like mad dogs, beating everyone they saw". The Financial Times reported that two children, aged nine and 13, were "badly injured", and that one may have died. Some villagers said that elderly people and children protesting peacefully were harassed and assaulted by "hired thugs", provoking an angry reaction from other villagers. The attacks on civilians by 400 police officers were described by

3792-559: A vast imperial household, staffed with thousands of eunuchs, who were headed by the Directorate of Palace Attendants. The eunuchs were divided into different directorates in charge of staff surveillance, ceremonial rites, food, utensils, documents, stables, seals, apparel, and so on. The offices were in charge of providing fuel, music, paper, and baths. The bureaus were in charge of weapons, silverwork, laundering, headgear, bronze work, textile manufacture, wineries, and gardens. At times,

3950-442: A very expensive, sophisticated tutoring of the sort that wealthy gentry families specialized in providing their talented sons. In practice, 90 percent of the population was ineligible due to lack of education, but the upper 10 percent had equal chances for moving to the top. To be successful young men had to have extensive, expensive training in classical Chinese, the use of Mandarin in spoken conversation, calligraphy, and had to master

4108-443: A warrant in front of a restaurant just before noon (local time) on 9 December 2011. He was taken away in a minibus without licence plates. Four other village representatives were also detained on 9 December 2011. At 11 pm on 11 December, a Lufeng City official, Huang, called Xue's daughter asking about Xue's full medical history, stating that Xue had been admitted to hospital in critical condition. Xue's daughter and wife went to

4266-525: Is a new attraction that brings rich visitors from out of town. In 2011, villagers alleged local officials had grabbed hundreds of hectares of cooperative land and were "secretly selling" it to a real estate developer. According to a news analysis in The New York Times , China's village committees are elected by the villagers themselves, and are thus theoretically the most representative forms of governance, yet most residents are unfamiliar with how

4424-594: Is a village that had often been described as being especially harmonious. International newspapers described the December uprising as being exceptional compared to other "mass incidents" in the People's Republic of China which numbered approximately 180,000 in 2010. The village representatives and provincial officials reached a peaceful agreement, satisfying the villagers' immediate requests. Local Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Shanwei City said that

4582-616: Is part of the Jieshi Bay ( 碣石湾 ) of the South China Sea ; the location of the village near the South China Sea coast lends itself well to urban development. The village has enjoyed the reputation on the mainland for many years as a model village for its harmoniousness, civility and prosperity. Since the abolition of agricultural taxes in 2006, local government has been increasingly raising money through land sales to

4740-466: Is that they return the body of my father, he belongs to us, not to the government." Protesters continued to demonstrate while displaying banners pledging loyalty to the CCP. A villager reported that the government had offered rice and cooking oil – both of which were in low supply due to the blockade – to villagers who switch sides from the protesters and over to the government. The government gained at least

4898-588: Is underrepresented in modern scholarship. Others note the Ming need for Central Asian horses and the need to maintain the tea-horse trade . The Ming sporadically sent armed forays into Tibet during the 14th century, which the Tibetans successfully resisted. Several scholars point out that unlike the preceding Mongols, the Ming dynasty did not garrison permanent troops in Tibet. The Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620) attempted to reestablish Sino-Tibetan relations in

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5056-725: The Huang-Ming Zuxun , a set of published dynastic instructions. This failed when his teenage successor, the Jianwen Emperor , attempted to curtail his uncle's power, prompting the Jingnan campaign , an uprising that placed the Prince of Yan upon the throne as the Yongle Emperor in 1402. The Yongle Emperor established Yan as a secondary capital and renamed it Beijing , constructed the Forbidden City , and restored

5214-581: The fubing system of the Tang dynasty (618–907). In 1380 Hongwu had the Chancellor Hu Weiyong executed upon suspicion of a conspiracy plot to overthrow him; after that Hongwu abolished the Chancellery and assumed this role as chief executive and emperor, a precedent mostly followed throughout the Ming period. With a growing suspicion of his ministers and subjects, Hongwu established

5372-736: The Censorate , and the Chief Military Commission and personally took charge of the Six Ministries and the regional Five Military Commissions. Thus a whole level of administration was cut out and only partially rebuilt by subsequent rulers. The Grand Secretariat , at the beginning a secretarial institution that assisted the emperor with administrative paperwork, was instituted, but without employing grand counselors, or chancellors . The Hongwu Emperor sent his heir apparent to Shaanxi in 1391 to "tour and soothe" ( xunfu )

5530-489: The Embroidered Uniform Guard , and other peoples such as Jurchens were also prominent. He frequently wrote to Mongol, Japanese, Korean, Jurchen, Tibetan, and Southwest frontier rulers offering advice on their governmental and dynastic policy, and insisted on leaders from these regions visiting the Ming capital for audiences. He resettled 100,000 Mongols into his territory, with many serving as guards in

5688-638: The Financial Times as "indiscriminate". One of the 'hired guns' bragged that he had been brought in by an influential businessman, who paid him RMB3,000 and promised him immunity from reprisals for any assaults. Officials blamed the escalating violence on "rumours" that police officers had beat a child to death. The official statement denied that any civilians had died. Internet news of the riots, including photos and videos, were quickly deleted by CCP censors . Press reported that searches on Sina Weibo (a microblog) for terms linked to Lufeng were blocked

5846-531: The Financial Times , Reuters, The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal and others. 58 articles were surveyed across the region in total, of which 37 were from Hong Kong, 6 from Taiwan, 14 from Malaysia and 1 from Singapore. Some Sina Weibo microbloggers told the BBC that internet searches related to Wukan and the area were blocked after the December uprising started, and villagers' microblogs were deleted. Web users reacted by using alternative terms to refer to

6004-684: The Grand Canal and the primacy of the imperial examinations in official appointments. He rewarded his eunuch supporters and employed them as a counterweight against the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats . One eunuch, Zheng He , led seven enormous voyages of exploration into the Indian Ocean as far as Arabia and the eastern coasts of Africa. Hongwu and Yongle emperors had also expanded the empire's rule into Inner Asia . The rise of new emperors and new factions diminished such extravagances;

6162-546: The Great Wall against the Mongols and the Oirats, the constant threat of Oirat incursions prompted the Ming authorities to fortify the Great Wall from the late 15th century to the 16th century; nevertheless, John Fairbank notes that "it proved to be a futile military gesture but vividly expressed China's siege mentality." Yet the Great Wall was not meant to be a purely defensive fortification; its towers functioned rather as

6320-643: The Han River to Wuchang , and finally along the northern border of Jiangxi province, Li Zicheng died there in the summer of 1645, thus ending the Shun dynasty . One report says his death was a suicide; another states that he was beaten to death by peasants after he was caught stealing their food. Despite the loss of Beijing and the death of the emperor, the Ming were not yet totally destroyed. Nanjing, Fujian, Guangdong, Shanxi, and Yunnan were all strongholds of Ming resistance. However, there were several pretenders for

6478-621: The Japanese invasions of Korea in the 1590s. Ming officials declined the offer, but granted him the title of dragon-tiger general for his gesture. Recognizing the weakness of Ming authority in Manchuria at the time, he consolidated power by co-opting or conquering surrounding territories. In 1616 he declared himself Khan and established the Later Jin dynasty in reference to the previous Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty . In 1618 he openly renounced

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6636-557: The Jinyiwei , a network of secret police drawn from his own palace guard. Some 100,000 people were executed in a series of purges during his rule. The Hongwu Emperor issued many edicts forbidding Mongol practices and proclaiming his intention to purify China of barbarian influence. However, he also sought to use the Yuan legacy to legitimize his authority in China and other areas ruled by

6794-523: The Qing dynasty in 1739—states that the Ming established itinerant commanderies overseeing Tibetan administration while also renewing titles of ex-Yuan dynasty officials from Tibet and conferring new princely titles on leaders of Tibetan Buddhist sects . However, Turrell V. Wylie states that censorship in the Mingshi in favor of bolstering the Ming emperor's prestige and reputation at all costs obfuscates

6952-527: The Second Manchu invasion of Korea and forced Joseon to become a Qing tributary. Shortly after, the Koreans renounced their long-held loyalty to the Ming dynasty. A peasant soldier named Li Zicheng mutinied with his fellow soldiers in western Shaanxi in the early 1630s after the Ming government failed to ship much-needed supplies there. In 1634 he was captured by a Ming general and released only on

7110-637: The Shaanxi earthquake of 1556 , occurred during the Jiajing Emperor 's reign, killing approximately 830,000 people. Originally a Ming vassal who officially considered himself a guardian of the Ming border and a local representative of imperial Ming power, Nurhaci , leader of the Jianzhou Jurchens , unified other Jurchen clans to create a new Manchu ethnic identity. He offered to lead his armies to support Ming and Joseon armies against

7268-601: The Shun dynasty , but it was defeated shortly afterwards by the Manchu -led Eight Banner armies of the Qing dynasty , with the help of the defecting Ming general Wu Sangui . The Mongol -led Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) ruled before the establishment of the Ming dynasty. Explanations for the demise of the Yuan include institutionalized ethnic discrimination against the Han people that stirred resentment and rebellion, overtaxation of areas hard-hit by inflation , and massive flooding of

7426-676: The Yellow River as a result of the abandonment of irrigation projects. Consequently, agriculture and the economy were in shambles, and rebellion broke out among the hundreds of thousands of peasants called upon to work on repairing the dykes of the Yellow River. A number of Han groups revolted, including the Red Turbans in 1351. The Red Turbans were affiliated with the White Lotus , a Buddhist secret society. Zhu Yuanzhang

7584-568: The conquest of Tibet by Güshi Khan (1582–1655) in 1642, establishing the Khoshut Khanate . The Hongwu Emperor specified his grandson Zhu Yunwen as his successor, and he assumed the throne as the Jianwen Emperor (r. 1398–1402) after Hongwu's death in 1398. The most powerful of Hongwu's sons, Zhu Di, then the militarily mighty disagreed with this, and soon a political showdown erupted between him and his nephew Jianwen. After Jianwen arrested many of Zhu Di's associates, Zhu Di plotted

7742-1037: The fishing industry , including other harvest industries such as agriculture each year. With its long, interesting coastline and unique customs , Shanwei has a great potential for tourism. The few major tourist points in Shanwei are Lufeng Jieshi Xuanwu Mountain Tourist Area, Shanwei Fengshan Ancestral Temple Tourist Area, Red Bay Tourist Area, Haifeng Lotus Mountain Resort, Tongdingshan Tourist Area, Haifeng Red Palace Red Square Former Residence, Peng Pai Martyr's Former Residence, Shuide Mountain Tourist Resort, Luhe Luodong Shiwai Meiyuan Tourist Area, Lufeng Fushan Mazu Tourist Area, Lufeng Jinxiang Beach Seascape Area, Lufeng Qingyun Mountain, Luhe God Elephant Mountain Park, Luhe Red Spine Forest Ecological Park. It's also one of

7900-521: The siege of Wukan , was an anti-corruption protest that began in September 2011, and escalated in December 2011 with the expulsion of officials by villagers, the siege of the town by police, and subsequent détente in the village of Wukan , in the east of Guangdong province. The villagers rose up again in June 2016, but were again suppressed. The most recent rounds of clashes were in September 2016, when

8058-462: The timber and fish industry , the agriculture industry makes 25099 million Chinese yuan yearly. Shenwei have a rich and diverse sea ecosystem , it's a famous fishing ground in Guangdong . With a vast amount of fish, shrimp , crab , shellfish , and seaweed found, the fishing industry there has been thriving for centuries. Currently 25099 million Chinese yuan are earned from

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8216-642: The 12th century. Ming era examinations were perhaps more difficult to pass since the 1487 requirement of completing the " eight-legged essay ", a departure from basing essays off progressing literary trends. The exams increased in difficulty as the student progressed from the local level, and appropriate titles were accordingly awarded successful applicants. Officials were classified in nine hierarchic grades, each grade divided into two degrees, with ranging salaries (nominally paid in piculs of rice) according to their rank. While provincial graduates who were appointed to office were immediately assigned to low-ranking posts like

8374-518: The 13 communist revolution starting points in China , which can be used as a selling point. On the night of December 6, 2005, a protest had broken out for land confiscated by the government. To calm the protest, armed police were sent to the village of Dongzhou after the aggressive villagers attacked the unarmed police. It was reported by the Chinese government that, three people were found dead after

8532-504: The 16th century, the expansion of European trade —though restricted to islands near Guangzhou such as Macau —spread the Columbian exchange of crops, plants, and animals into China, introducing chili peppers to Sichuan cuisine and highly productive maize and potatoes , which diminished famines and spurred population growth. The growth of Portuguese , Spanish , and Dutch trade created new demand for Chinese products and produced

8690-573: The Bedchamber, Bureau of Handicrafts, and Office of Staff Surveillance. Starting in the 1420s, eunuchs began taking over these ladies' positions until only the Bureau of Apparel with its four subsidiary offices remained. Hongwu had his eunuchs organized into the Directorate of Palace Attendants, but as eunuch power at court increased, so did their administrative offices, with eventual twelve directorates, four offices, and eight bureaus. The dynasty had

8848-583: The Communist Party meddling that typically mars Chinese election results." Several other villages in China have drawn inspiration from the Wukan protests. Observers have credited the peaceful resolution of the Wukan protests to the intervention of the CCP chief in Guangdong, Wang Yang . By demonstrating his ability to resolve the issue peacefully, Wang has improved his reputation within the Party as

9006-580: The Manchus. The Eight Banners under the Manchu Prince Dorgon (1612–1650) and Wu Sangui approached Beijing after the army sent by Li was destroyed at Shanhaiguan ; the Prince of Shun's army fled the capital on the fourth of June. On 6 June, the Manchus and Wu entered the capital and proclaimed the young Shunzhi Emperor ruler of China. After being forced out of Xi'an by the Qing, chased along

9164-660: The Ming court in 1557 to settle Macau as their permanent trade base in China. Their role in providing silver was gradually surpassed by the Spanish , while even the Dutch challenged them for control of this trade. Philip IV of Spain (r. 1621–1665) began cracking down on illegal smuggling of silver from New Spain and Peru across the Pacific through the Philippines towards China, in favor of shipping silver mined in

9322-400: The Ming dynasty since he reversed many of his father's policies. Yongle demoted Nanjing to a secondary capital and in 1403 announced the new capital of China was to be at his power base in Beijing . Construction of a new city there lasted from 1407 to 1420, employing hundreds of thousands of workers daily. At the center was the political node of the Imperial City , and at the center of this

9480-402: The Ming in campaigns against aboriginal tribes. In 1381, the Ming dynasty annexed the areas of the southwest that had once been part of the Kingdom of Dali following the successful effort by Hui Muslim Ming armies to defeat Yuan -loyalist Mongol and Hui Muslim troops holding out in Yunnan province. The Hui troops under General Mu Ying , who was appointed Governor of Yunnan, were resettled in

9638-484: The Ming overlordship and effectively declared war against the Ming with the " Seven Grievances ." In 1636, Nurhaci's son Hong Taiji renamed his dynasty the " Great Qing " at Mukden (modern Shenyang), which had been made their capital in 1625. Hong Taiji also adopted the Chinese imperial title huangdi , declared the Chongde ("Revering Virtue") era, and changed the ethnic name of his people from "Jurchen" to " Manchu ". In 1636, Banner Armies defeated Joseon during

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9796-432: The Ming throne, and their forces were divided. These scattered Ming remnants in southern China after 1644 were collectively designated by 19th-century historians as the Southern Ming . Each bastion of resistance was individually defeated by the Qing until 1662, when the last Southern Ming emperor, Zhu Youlang , the Yongli Emperor, was captured and executed. Despite the Ming defeat, smaller loyalist movements continued until

9954-531: The Spanish Latin American colonies through Spanish ports. People began hoarding precious silver as there was progressively less of it, forcing the ratio of the value of copper to silver into a steep decline. In the 1630s a string of one thousand copper coins equaled an ounce of silver; by 1640 that sum could fetch half an ounce; and, by 1643 only one-third of an ounce. For peasants this meant economic disaster, since they paid taxes in silver while conducting local trade and crop sales in copper. Historians have debated

10112-527: The Yongle Emperor's reign (1402–1424) and afterwards managed huge imperial workshops, commanded armies, and participated in matters of appointment and promotion of officials. Yongle put 75 eunuchs in charge of foreign policy; they traveled frequently to vassal states including Annam, Mongolia, the Ryukyu Islands, and Tibet and less frequently to farther-flung places like Japan and Nepal. In the later 15th century, however, eunuch envoys generally only traveled to Korea. The eunuchs developed their own bureaucracy that

10270-434: The Yongle Emperor, the Ming Dynasty established the Nurgan Regional Military Commission on the banks of the Amur River , and Yishiha , a eunuch of Haixi Jurchen origin, was ordered to lead an expedition to the mouth of the Amur to pacify the Wild Jurchens. After the death of Yongle Emperor, the Nurgan Regional Military Commission was abolished in 1435, and the Ming court ceased to have substantial activities there, although

10428-417: The Yuan capital Dadu (present-day Beijing ) in 1368. The last Yuan emperor fled north to the upper capital Shangdu , and Zhu declared the founding of the Ming dynasty after razing the Yuan palaces in Dadu to the ground; the city was renamed Beiping in the same year. Zhu Yuanzhang took Hongwu, or "Vastly Martial", as his era name . Hongwu made an immediate effort to rebuild state infrastructure. He built

10586-402: The Yuan. He continued policies of the Yuan dynasty such as continued request for Korean concubines and eunuchs, Mongol-style hereditary military institutions, Mongol-style clothing and hats, promoting archery and horseback riding, and having large numbers of Mongols serve in the Ming military. Until the late 16th century Mongols still constituted one-in-three officers serving in capital forces like

10744-589: The aloof emperor and his officials; any senior official who wanted to discuss state matters had to persuade powerful eunuchs with a bribe simply to have his demands or message relayed to the emperor. There were several military campaigns, which included the Ordos campaign , Bozhou rebellion by the Chiefdom of Bozhou in southwestern China and the Imjin War , during the Wanli Emperor's reign. The Hongwu Emperor forbade eunuchs to learn how to read or engage in politics. Whether or not these restrictions were carried out with absolute success in his reign, eunuchs during

10902-501: The annual mean is 22.60 °C (72.7 °F). The annual rainfall is around 1,891 mm (74 in), about two-thirds of which occurs from May to August. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 26% in March to 57% in October, the city receives 1,925 hours of bright sunshine annually. According to a December 2011 report, officials from Shenzhen considered Shanwei as one of the major destinations to which air-polluting industries should be relocated from Shenzhen. According to

11060-439: The authorities withdrew visible police presence for several days instead of stepping up police presence and suppressing the protesters more forcefully. Guangdong party chief Wang Yang also reassured residents by declaring that he was prepared to accept lower economic growth in Guangdong in exchange for increased harmony within the province. Jean Pierre Cabestan, a politics professor at Hong Kong Baptist University , suspected that

11218-539: The authorities. Lin's family reportedly hired the civil rights lawyer Ge Yongxi , including a retainer fee. The judicial authorities later made them return the funds, however. "The firm was banned from accepting any client from Wukan village, which obviously interferes with our normal, legal business. ... He should not be denied the right of legal counsel, whether he has taken any bribe or not," Ge told South China Morning Post . On 13 September, new reports emerged that riot police had again repressed Wukan protesters. At

11376-517: The authority of the city has been "overridden" by provincial intervention. Wukan village (population 20,000) is located in Lufeng county-level city of Guangdong province, some 5 km south ( 22°53′N 115°40′E  /  22.883°N 115.667°E  / 22.883; 115.667 ) of Lufeng's central urban area. The village is near the shore of the Wukan Harbor ( 乌坎港 ), which

11534-460: The capital. The emperor also strongly advertised the hospitality and role granted to Chinggisid nobles in his court. Hongwu insisted that he was not a rebel, and he attempted to justify his conquest of the other rebel warlords by claiming that he was a Yuan subject and had been divinely-appointed to restore order by crushing rebels. Most Chinese elites did not view the Yuan's Mongol ethnicity as grounds to resist or reject it. Hongwu emphasised that he

11692-550: The capture of the Emperor Yingzong of Ming during the 1449 Tumu Crisis ended them completely. The imperial navy was allowed to fall into disrepair while forced labor constructed the Liaodong palisade and connected and fortified the Great Wall into its modern form. Wide-ranging censuses of the entire empire were conducted decennially, but the desire to avoid labor and taxes and the difficulty of storing and reviewing

11850-652: The control imposed upon the Jurchens in Manchuria by the Mongols, yet it created a norm of organization that would ultimately serve as the main instrument for the relations with peoples along the northeast frontiers. By the end of the Hongwu reign, the essentials of a policy toward the Jurchens had taken shape. Most of the inhabitants of Manchuria, except for the Wild Jurchens , were at peace with China. In 1409, under

12008-441: The county graduates, those who passed the palace examination were awarded a jinshi ('presented scholar') degree and assured a high-level position. In 276 years of Ming rule and ninety palace examinations, the number of doctoral degrees granted by passing the palace examinations was 24,874. Ebrey states that "there were only two to four thousand of these jinshi at any given time, on the order of one out of 10,000 adult males." This

12166-609: The court of the Tianqi Emperor (r. 1620–1627) and had his political rivals tortured to death, mostly the vocal critics from the faction of the Donglin Society . He ordered temples built in his honor throughout the Ming Empire, and built personal palaces created with funds allocated for building the previous emperor's tombs. His friends and family gained important positions without qualifications. Wei also published

12324-410: The crowd grew in numbers, protesters became restless and started damaging buildings and equipment in an industrial park in the village and blocking roads. Policemen were dispatched, and one villager said that they severely beat some teenagers who were banging on a gong to alert fellow villagers of the protest. Three villagers were arrested during the first day's violence. The next day, the police station

12482-492: The developer, Hua Hui Real Estate, that had acquired a 110,000 square meter plot of land in Wukan without the approval of the village committee. The company gave a perfunctory response, and the Lufeng government, in which Wukan resides, later stated that the land did not belong to the villagers. On 18 June, after calls for "renewed mass protests" over land seizures, Lin was arrested by special police who broke into his walled house in

12640-549: The dispute, started publishing articles on 22 December that praised the provincial government for its handling of the event. During the protests, media including the BBC and the New York Times described the protests as "larger", "unusual for their longevity", and "a likely first in China's modern history". The Wall Street Journal declared the protests "[2011's] most serious case of mass unrest in China". However, after

12798-544: The emperor and ministers at times). The Secretariat operated as a coordinating agency, whereas the Six Ministries— Personnel , Revenue , Rites , War , Justice , and Public Works —were direct administrative organs of the state: The imperial household was staffed almost entirely by eunuchs and ladies with their own bureaus. Female servants were organized into the Bureau of Palace Attendance, Bureau of Ceremonies, Bureau of Apparel, Bureau of Foodstuffs, Bureau of

12956-531: The emperor, handling paperwork under the reign of the Yongle Emperor and later appointed as top officials of agencies and Grand Preceptor, a top-ranking, non-functional civil service post, under the Hongxi Emperor (r. 1424–25). The Grand Secretariat drew its members from the Hanlin Academy and were considered part of the imperial authority, not the ministerial one (hence being at odds with both

13114-497: The emperor. As in prior dynasties, the provincial administrations were monitored by a travelling inspector from the Censorate. Censors had the power to impeach officials on an irregular basis, unlike the senior officials who were to do so only in triennial evaluations of junior officials. Although decentralization of state power within the provinces occurred in the early Ming, the trend of central government officials delegated to

13272-454: The enormous archives at Nanjing hampered accurate figures. Estimates for the late-Ming population vary from 160 to 200 million, but necessary revenues were squeezed out of smaller and smaller numbers of farmers as more disappeared from the official records or "donated" their lands to tax-exempt eunuchs or temples. Haijin laws intended to protect the coasts from Japanese pirates instead turned many into smugglers and pirates themselves. By

13430-557: The establishment of the Xi dynasty , while Li's center of power was in Hubei with extended influence over Shaanxi and Henan. In 1640, masses of Chinese peasants who were starving, unable to pay their taxes, and no longer in fear of the frequently defeated Chinese army, began to form into huge bands of rebels. The Chinese military, caught between fruitless efforts to defeat the Manchu raiders from

13588-587: The events. In an undated video circulated to the national media, Zheng Yanxiong blamed the media for his woes in front of a group of local officials and village representatives, saying that cadres like him were the only ones facing increasing hardship every year: "Our powers decline every day, and fewer and fewer methods are at our disposal. But responsibility becomes bigger and bigger ... Ordinary people have bigger and bigger appetites, and become smarter every day. They are harder and harder to control." Xinhua and various state media, which had previously hardly reported

13746-466: The exam generally limited participants to those already coming from the landholding class. However, the government did exact provincial quotas while drafting officials. This was an effort to curb monopolization of power by landholding gentry who came from the most prosperous regions, where education was the most advanced. The expansion of the printing industry since Song times enhanced the spread of knowledge and number of potential exam candidates throughout

13904-541: The extent that this is now a primary revenue stream. Conflicts between farmers and local officials have risen throughout China, often because of land seizures (or "land grabs"). The rate of forced evictions has grown significantly since the 1990s, as city and county-level governments have increasingly come to rely on land sales as a source of revenue. In 2011, the Financial Times reported that 40 percent of local government revenue comes from land sales. Guan Qingyou,

14062-555: The first was undertaken by the Shanwei public security department, after which the family was informed that Xue had died of "sudden cardiac death". Following the family's protests, the authorities consented to a second autopsy, which was carried out by the medical examiner from Zhongshan University , Guangzhou. At no stage were any relatives present. The family said that the short written autopsy report given to them failed to address their queries. Villagers began holding daily protest meetings starting on 12 December. Throughout mid-December

14220-530: The former village leader Lin Zulian was sentenced to jail. The clashes were suppressed. The protests began on 21–23 September 2011 after officials sold land to real estate developers without properly compensating the villagers. Several hundred to several thousand people protested in front of and then attacked a government building, a police station and an industrial park. Protesters held signs saying "give us back our farmland" and "let us continue farming." Rumors that

14378-446: The government paid to the villagers. There are more than 90,000 civil disturbances in China each year, and an estimated 180,000 mass protests occurred in the country in 2010; grievances are often corruption or illegal land seizures. The Jamestown Foundation offers a macroscopic explanation for the rise in conflicts: that local officials, caught between local government revenue shortfalls due to measures by central government to cool

14536-504: The government to properly manage irrigation and flood-control projects caused widespread loss of life and normal civility. The central government, starved of resources, could do very little to mitigate the effects of these calamities. Making matters worse, a widespread epidemic, the Great Plague of 1633–1644 , spread across China from Zhejiang to Henan, killing an unknown but large number of people. The deadliest earthquake of all time,

14694-424: The guards continued to exist in Manchuria. Throughout its existence, the Ming established a total of 384 guards (衛, wei ) and 24 battalions (所, suo ) in Manchuria, but these were probably only nominal offices and did not necessarily imply political control. By the late Ming period, Ming's political presence in Manchuria has declined significantly. The Mingshi —the official history of the Ming dynasty compiled by

14852-564: The hospital at Shanwei in the following few hours, and were made to wait without having access to Xue. Officials told the Xue family that Xue Jinbo had arrived at a local prison at 7 am on 10 December and died at 10 am on 11 December. Other family members were contacted and arrived in Shanwei. Ten family members, including Xue's daughter and wife, were permitted to see Xue's body, but were prevented by police from using cameras and telephones. The local police alleged that Xue had died suddenly of

15010-721: The incident, to address flaws in electing local officials, and to redistribute land which had been confiscated by the local government. A survey conducted on 19 December by the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong indicates strong coverage outside mainland China, but none of the 200+ newspapers inside the country published any articles. The story was extensively covered in Ming Pao and Apple Daily in Hong Kong; abroad, articles were published by

15168-430: The intricate poetic requirements of the eight-legged essay. Not only did the traditional gentry dominated the system, they also learned that conservatism and resistance to new ideas was the path to success. For centuries critics had pointed out these problems, but the examination system only became more abstract and less relevant to the needs of China. The consensus of scholars is that the eight-legged essay can be blamed as

15326-686: The kingdoms visited by Zheng He, Yongle proclaimed the Kingdom of Cochin to be its protectorate. The Chinese had sent diplomatic missions over land since the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE) and engaged in private overseas trade , but these missions were unprecedented in grandeur and scale. To service seven different tributary voyages, the Nanjing shipyards constructed two thousand vessels from 1403 to 1419, including treasure ships measuring 112 to 134 m (367 to 440 ft) in length and 45 to 54 m (148 to 177 ft) in width. Yongle used woodblock printing to spread Chinese culture. He also used

15484-510: The land dispute underlying the unrest, a senior official admitted that a sale of the land was planned, and interested property developers had already surveyed the site with local officials, but officials said that no contract had yet been signed. Guangdong media published reports that suggested protesters acted as mobs that assaulted and injured dozens of riot policemen. Villagers accused the press of blatant bias. The Shanwei city government offered to appoint an inter-agency committee to delve into

15642-464: The land seizure allegations in exchange for an immediate end to the protests. Officials also said they would consider a fresh village election for clean and fair representatives to take part in future land negotiations. Because the government had agreed to deal with the issue openly and fairly, the villagers temporarily suspended their protests. The local government agreed to negotiate with thirteen democratically elected officials from Wukan; but, before

15800-594: The largest political division was the circuit ( lu 路). However, after the Jurchen invasion in 1127, the Song court established four semi-autonomous regional command systems based on territorial and military units, with a detached service secretariat that would become the provincial administrations of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Copied on the Yuan model, the Ming provincial bureaucracy contained three commissions: one civil, one military, and one for surveillance. Below

15958-459: The last opposing rebel faction, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang in uncontested control of the bountiful Yangtze River Valley and cementing his power in the south. After the dynastic head of the Red Turbans suspiciously died in 1367 while a guest of Zhu, there was no one left who was remotely capable of contesting his march to the throne, and he made his imperial ambitions known by sending an army toward

16116-413: The level of the province ( sheng 省) were prefectures ( fu 府) operating under a prefect ( zhifu 知府), followed by subprefectures ( zhou 州) under a subprefect. The lowest unit was the county ( xian 縣), overseen by a magistrate. Besides the provinces, there were also two large areas that belonged to no province, but were metropolitan areas ( jing 京) attached to Nanjing and Beijing. Departing from

16274-479: The local government illegally confiscated farmland for private development", according to official news media, but he police refused to release the body of Xue Jinbo to his family in order to have it buried. The same day, about 7000 people gathered for a ceremony for Xue Jinbo, and the standoff between villagers and authorities continued, with checkpoints from both sides set up around the village. Xue's son, Xue Jiandi, stated: "Right now we have only one demand, and that

16432-701: The local peoples. After the overthrow of the Mongol Yuan dynasty by the Ming dynasty in 1368, Manchuria remained under control of the Mongols of the Northern Yuan dynasty based in Mongolia . Naghachu , a former Yuan official and a Uriankhai general of the Northern Yuan dynasty, won hegemony over the Mongol tribes in Manchuria ( Liaoyang province of the former Yuan dynasty). He grew strong in

16590-664: The main central administrative system generally known as the Three Departments and Six Ministries system, which was instituted by various dynasties since late Han (202 BCE – 220 CE), the Ming administration had only one department, the Secretariat, that controlled the six ministries. Following the execution of the Chancellor Hu Weiyong in 1380, the Hongwu Emperor abolished the Secretariat,

16748-427: The mayor of Shenzhen, some 4000 Shenzhen factories should be moved to an industrial park in Shanwei. Farming is a large part of Shanwei's economy, thanks to its relatively warm climate . Many different types of crops are planted, rice, sesame , sweet potatoes , corn, bananas, just to name a few. 29 families and 42 species of plants are planted in total, on its 96.6 thousand hectares of farmland. Together with

16906-490: The middle of the night. In an enquiry about the land deal and treatment of Lin, the Lufeng government said that it "has not discovered any situation of unfair suppression or punishment." Lin later appeared on state TV admitting that he had taken bribes for government contracts. This sparked protests, with thousands marching accusing the government of forcing the confession. Attempts by Lin and other village leaders to gain legal representation have been met with resistance by

17064-564: The military to expand China's borders. This included the brief occupation of Vietnam , from the initial invasion in 1406 until the Ming withdrawal in 1427 as a result of protracted guerrilla warfare led by Lê Lợi , the founder of the Vietnamese Lê dynasty . The Oirat leader Esen Tayisi launched an invasion into Ming China in July 1449. The chief eunuch Wang Zhen encouraged the Zhengtong Emperor (r. 1435–49) to lead

17222-606: The most influential eunuch in the Directorate of Ceremonial acted as a de facto dictator over the state. Although the imperial household was staffed mostly by eunuchs and palace ladies, there was a civil service office called the Seal Office, which cooperated with eunuch agencies in maintaining imperial seals, tallies, and stamps. There were also civil service offices to oversee the affairs of imperial princes. The Hongwu emperor from 1373 to 1384 staffed his bureaus with officials gathered through recommendations only. After that

17380-442: The negotiations could settle any of the villagers' disputes, three of the representatives were arrested. One of the representatives, Xue Jinbo ( 薛錦波 ) died in police custody under mysterious circumstances. After news of Xue's death became widely known, the villagers forcefully evicted local CCP officials and police from the village, leading to a blockade of the village by police. Xue Jinbo was arrested by plainclothes police without

17538-560: The nine members of Wukan's village committee had held their posts since the creation of the committee system by Deng Xiaoping , and the village's CCP committee secretary, Xue Chang, has been in the position since 1970. Residents in several villages near Wukan alleged that village officials had confiscated their farm land and sold it to developers. The livelihoods of many were at stake: many were facing severe hardship with no land to till, and had difficulty buying food on their meagre urban incomes. Wukan villagers said that they were unaware of

17696-422: The north and huge peasant revolts in the provinces, essentially fell apart. Unpaid and unfed, the army was defeated by Li Zicheng—now self-styled as the Prince of Shun —and deserted the capital without much of a fight. On 25 April 1644, Beijing fell to a rebel army led by Li Zicheng when the city gates were opened by rebel allies from within. During the turmoil, Chongzhen , the last Ming emperor, accompanied only by

17854-457: The northeast, with forces large enough (numbering hundreds of thousands) to threaten invasion of the newly founded Ming dynasty in order to restore the Mongols to power in China. The Ming decided to defeat him instead of waiting for the Mongols to attack. In 1387 the Ming sent a military campaign to attack Naghachu , which concluded with the surrender of Naghachu and Ming conquest of Manchuria. The early Ming court could not, and did not, aspire to

18012-412: The nuanced history of Sino-Tibetan relations during the Ming era. Modern scholars debate whether the Ming dynasty had sovereignty over Tibet. Some believe it was a relationship of loose suzerainty that was largely cut off when the Jiajing Emperor (r. 1521–67) persecuted Buddhism in favor of Daoism at court. Others argue that the significant religious nature of the relationship with Tibetan lamas

18170-444: The overheated property market and their personal ratings based on their contributions to GDP growth, have resorted to undercompensating villagers for land appropriations. Farmland in Lufeng city has been progressively giving way to new developments. Projects in recent years have included a palatial new government building and a sumptuous holiday hotel resort that contained a row of 60 luxury villas. A glitzy new "Golden Sands" nightclub

18328-471: The palace until the coup against the Jingtai Emperor in 1457 known as the "Wresting the Gate Incident". The former emperor retook the throne under the new era name Tianshun (r. 1457–64). Tianshun proved to be a troubled time and Mongol forces within the Ming military structure continued to be problematic. On 7 August 1461, the Chinese general Cao Qin and his Ming troops of Mongol descent staged

18486-522: The police cordoned off the area around the village and blocked the roads leading to it. The government dispatched a force of 1000 armed officers to maintain order, but it was unsuccessful in retaking control of the village. The authorities held the village in siege, preventing supplies from entering. Local CCP officials accused the Wukan village representatives of being ringleaders of the protests. County-level official Wu Zili accused village representatives Lin Zuluan and Yang Semao of organizing and inciting

18644-462: The police had killed a child further inflamed the protesters and provoked rioting. Residents of Wukan had previously petitioned the national government in 2009 and 2010 over the land disputes. In an apparent attempt to ease tensions, authorities allowed villagers to select 13 representatives to engage in negotiations. Security agents abducted five of the representatives and took them into custody in early December. The protests strengthened after one of

18802-455: The policing change was due to the political aspirations of Wang, who wants to "survive and protect his image until next year". Wang, a strongly-touted candidate for the politburo when the Hu / Wen generation retires, had been projecting a " Happy Guangdong " model of development to level the wealth gap and emphasise social harmony. Police only returned on the fourth day after the riots. Addressing

18960-545: The primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng (who established the short-lived Shun dynasty ), numerous rump regimes ruled by remnants of the Ming imperial family —collectively called the Southern Ming —survived until 1662. The Ming dynasty's founder, the Hongwu Emperor ( r.   1368–1398), attempted to create a society of self-sufficient rural communities ordered in

19118-461: The proclamation of the Republic of China . Described as "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history" by Edwin O. Reischauer , John K. Fairbank and Albert M. Craig , the Ming emperors took over the provincial administration system of the Yuan dynasty, and the thirteen Ming provinces are the precursors of the modern provinces. Throughout the Song dynasty,

19276-519: The protest. However, the number was doubted by media to be between 20 and 40. In 2011, a conflict between the residents of the Wukan village (in Shanwei's Lufeng county-level city, on the Jieshi Bay some 30 km (19 mi) east of Shanwei city center) attracted world media's attention. Generally used is Haklau Min which is similar to Hokkien and Teochew , belonging to the Southern Min division of Min Chinese . Haifeng , Lufeng and

19434-434: The protests' peaceful resolution, The Atlantic concluded that they were "not as unusual as it might have seemed" in the context of China's many small land and labor disputes, describing as "typical" the protestors' pledges of loyalty to the CCP. Al Jazeera English has produced a four-part observational documentary series about Wukan's transition to democracy. Following the standoff in December, protest leader Lin Zuluan

19592-653: The protests, has stated that it "was not only meant to solve problems in the village, but also to set a reference standard to reform village governance across Guangdong." Villagers began marching in protest daily since mid-June 2016 after the arrest of protest leader Lin Zulian (formerly known as Lin Zuluan), an elected leader of the village. Lin, 72, had written a letter to the village on 2 March complaining of continued corruption. Seized land had been "raped by power, money, and gangsters," he wrote. This protest letter followed multiple attempts to gain redress from direct contact with

19750-553: The provinces as virtual provincial governors began in the 1420s. By the late Ming dynasty, there were central government officials delegated to two or more provinces as supreme commanders and viceroys, a system which reined in the power and influence of the military by the civil establishment. Governmental institutions in China conformed to a similar pattern for some two thousand years, but each dynasty installed special offices and bureaus, reflecting its own particular interests. The Ming administration utilized Grand Secretaries to assist

19908-485: The provinces. For young schoolchildren there were printed multiplication tables and primers for elementary vocabulary; for adult examination candidates there were mass-produced, inexpensive volumes of Confucian classics and successful examination answers. As in earlier periods, the focus of the examination was classical Confucian texts, while the bulk of test material centered on the Four Books outlined by Zhu Xi in

20066-468: The region as part of a colonization effort. By the end of the 14th century, some 200,000 military colonists settled some 2,000,000 mu (350,000 acres) of land in what is now Yunnan and Guizhou . Roughly half a million more Chinese settlers came in later periods; these migrations caused a major shift in the ethnic make-up of the region, since formerly more than half of the population were non-Han peoples. Resentment over such massive changes in population and

20224-543: The region; in 1421 the Yongle Emperor commissioned 26 officials to travel the empire and uphold similar investigatory and patrimonial duties. By 1430 these xunfu assignments became institutionalized as " grand coordinators ". Hence, the Censorate was reinstalled and first staffed with investigating censors, later with censors-in-chief. By 1453, the grand coordinators were granted the title vice censor-in-chief or assistant censor-in-chief and were allowed direct access to

20382-448: The resulting government presence and policies sparked more Miao and Yao revolts in 1464 to 1466, which were crushed by an army of 30,000 Ming troops (including 1,000 Mongols) joining the 160,000 local Guangxi . After the scholar and philosopher Wang Yangming (1472–1529) suppressed another rebellion in the region, he advocated single, unitary administration of Chinese and indigenous ethnic groups in order to bring about sinification of

20540-468: The right to establish a new dynasty . In 1363, Zhu Yuanzhang eliminated his archrival and leader of the rebel Han faction, Chen Youliang , in the Battle of Lake Poyang , arguably the largest naval battle in history . Known for its ambitious use of fire ships , Zhu's force of 200,000 Ming sailors were able to defeat a Han rebel force over triple their size, claimed to be 650,000-strong. The victory destroyed

20698-569: The sale until developers began construction work, and alleged that local CCP officials had profited from the sale of communal land, selling it for $ 1 billion RMB (US$ 156 million) to Country Garden . Villagers asserted that 400 hectares of farmland had been appropriated without compensation since 1998. The villagers petitioned various levels of government in vain over the years, accused local cadres of "pocketing more than 700 million yuan" (US$ 110 million), which should legally have gone to compensating local farmers, since 2006. Local officials blamed

20856-456: The scholar-officials who populated the many ranks of bureaucracy were recruited through a rigorous examination system that was initially established by the Sui dynasty (581–618). Theoretically the system of exams allowed anyone to join the ranks of imperial officials (although it was frowned upon for merchants to join); in reality the time and funding needed to support the study in preparation for

21014-414: The scrutiny of recorded evaluation, although they were expected to confess any of their faults. There were over 4,000 school instructors in county and prefectural schools who were subject to evaluations every nine years. The Chief Instructor on the prefectural level was classified as equal to a second-grade county graduate. The Supervisorate of Imperial Instruction oversaw the education of the heir apparent to

21172-517: The terms that he return to service. The agreement soon broke down when a local magistrate had thirty-six of his fellow rebels executed; Li's troops retaliated by killing the officials and continued to lead a rebellion based in Rongyang, central Henan province by 1635. By the 1640s, an ex-soldier and rival to Li— Zhang Xianzhong (1606–1647)—had created a firm rebel base in Chengdu , Sichuan , with

21330-426: The throne under the era name Jingtai (r. 1449–57); the Oirats were also repelled once the Jingtai Emperor's confidant and defense minister Yu Qian (1398–1457) gained control of the Ming armed forces. Holding the Zhengtong Emperor in captivity was a useless bargaining chip for the Oirats as long as another sat on his throne, so they released him back into Ming China. The former emperor was placed under house arrest in

21488-408: The throne; this office was headed by a Grand Supervisor of Instruction, who was ranked as first class of grade three. Historians debate whether the examination system expanded or contracted upward social mobility. On the one hand, the exams were graded without regard to a candidate's social background, and were theoretically open to everyone. In actual practice, the successful candidates had years of

21646-586: The urban area have basically the same accent. Most parts of the rural Luhe county formerly part of Lufeng use the rural Hakka Chinese language belonging to the Xinhui subdialect of the Yuetai dialect. As Shanwei is near the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong , together with the impact of television programs from Hong Kong and population movements within Guangdong province, many local residents, especially

21804-456: The validity of the theory that silver shortages caused the downfall of the Ming dynasty. Famines became common in northern China in the early 17th century because of unusually dry and cold weather that shortened the growing season—effects of a larger ecological event now known as the Little Ice Age . Famine, alongside tax increases, widespread military desertions, a declining relief system, and natural disasters such as flooding and inability of

21962-408: The village representatives and government representatives reached a peaceful agreement for the villagers to stand down and cancel their march. In return, Xue's corpse would be released, and those detained by police would go free. The provincial government also agreed to make the village's financial records public, to dismiss and investigate two local officials identified by villagers as responsible for

22120-457: The village representatives, Xue Jinbo, died in police custody in suspicious circumstances. The villagers forced the entire local government, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership and police out of the village. On 14 December 2011, a thousand police laid siege to the village, preventing food and goods from entering the village. Government authorities set up internet censorship against information about Wukan, Lufeng and Shanwei . Wukan

22278-539: The village system functions, and are unaware of their rights. The sale of collectivised land is supposed to require approval of the villagers under Chinese law, and the proceeds are supposed to be shared. However, the approval process lacks transparency in practice, and most decisions are taken by the elected village committee with the blessing of the Donghai township – the level of government just above Wukan. The residents of Wukan made allegations of corruption: five of

22436-402: The villagers protested against the local government, waiting for the intervention of the central government and hoping that the central government would conduct an investigation. After the news of Xue's death became widely known in Wukan on 14 December, residents stormed the local police station and clashed with police, forcing them and local CCP officials out of the village. After evacuating,

22594-426: The villagers to set up barricades around the village since 8 December (a day before Xue Jinbo was arrested): "They did this to prevent officials from entering the village and to stop the perpetrators of the earlier riots from leaving the village and turning themselves into the authorities." On 16 December, provincial Chinese officials "vowed to temporarily halt questionable property sales and to investigate claims that

22752-515: The villagers' concerns on "troublemakers" who were manipulating those who were "unaware of the truth". On the morning of 21 September 2011, hundreds of villagers participated in a sit-in protest against local officials outside government offices in Lufeng. According to official statements, initially about 50 people shouting slogans and holding banners protested peacefully. Protesters hoisted banners and carried placards with slogans like "give us back our farmland" and "let us continue farming". Then as

22910-451: The villagers' land was returned. During the siege the villagers administered Wukan, as of 18 December 2011 , from a temple to the goddess of the sea, Mazu . A breakthrough occurred on 20 December when senior provincial officials intervened in the dispute and acknowledged villagers' basic demands. The officials admitted to mistakes in handling the grievances and vowed to crack down on corruption. On 21 December, after 3 tense days,

23068-640: The wake of a Mongol-Tibetan alliance initiated in 1578, an alliance which affected the foreign policy of the subsequent Manchu Qing dynasty (1644–1912) in their support for the Dalai Lama of the Yellow Hat sect. By the late 16th century, the Mongols proved to be successful armed protectors of the Yellow Hat Dalai Lama after their increasing presence in the Amdo region, culminating in

23226-589: The younger generation, have communication skills in Cantonese . Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty ( / m ɪ ŋ / MING ), officially the Great Ming , was an imperial dynasty of China , ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol -led Yuan dynasty . The Ming dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Han people , the majority ethnic group in China. Although

23384-546: Was a matter of uncles promoting nephews. The Heishanhui Society in Peking sponsored the temple that conducted rituals for worshiping the memory of Gang Tie, a powerful eunuch of the Yuan dynasty. The Temple became an influential base for highly placed eunuchs, and continued in a somewhat diminished role during the Qing dynasty. During the last years of the Wanli era and those of his two successors, an economic crisis developed that

23542-451: Was a penniless peasant and Buddhist monk who joined the Red Turbans in 1352; he soon gained a reputation after marrying the foster daughter of a rebel commander. In 1356, Zhu's rebel force captured the city of Nanjing , which he would later establish as the capital of the Ming dynasty. With the Yuan dynasty crumbling, competing rebel groups began fighting for control of the country and thus

23700-427: Was besieged by more than 100 villagers demanding the release of the detained villagers, and the violence escalated. The news that several youngsters had been seriously injured after being set upon by 'thugs' caused hundreds of irate villagers armed with makeshift weapons to besiege a local police station, where 30 to 40 officials were sheltering. Hundreds of well-equipped riot police were dispatched, and they engaged in

23858-576: Was called the Eastern Depot at the beginning of the dynasty, later the Western Depot. This secret service was overseen by the Directorate of Ceremonial, hence this state organ's often totalitarian affiliation. Eunuchs had ranks that were equivalent to civil service ranks, only theirs had four grades instead of nine. Siege of Wukan [REDACTED] Government of China The Wukan protests ( Chinese : 乌坎事件 ), also known as

24016-478: Was centered on a sudden widespread lack of the empire's chief medium of exchange: silver. The Portuguese first established trade with China in 1516. Following the Ming Emperor's decision to ban direct trade with Japan, Portuguese traders acted as an intermediary between China and Japan by buying Chinese silks from China and selling it to Japan for silver. After some initial hostilities gained consent from

24174-536: Was in comparison to the 100,000 shengyuan ('government students'), the lowest tier of graduates, by the 16th century. The maximum tenure in office was nine years, but every three years officials were graded on their performance by senior officials. If they were graded as superior then they were promoted, if graded adequate then they retained their ranks, and if graded inadequate they were demoted one rank. In extreme cases, officials would be dismissed or punished. Only capital officials of grade 4 and above were exempt from

24332-545: Was named the new CCP committee secretary of Wukan. As part of the truce with authorities, the governor of Guangdong, Wang Yang , acquiesced to a village election in Wukan: the first of its kind to employ a secret ballot. A series of three elections was planned, which would select 100 representatives to oversee the village's governing committee. During the first round of elections on 1 February, some 6,000 Wukan villagers voted for an independent committee to supervise elections for

24490-431: Was no one after him skilled enough to maintain the stability of these alliances; officials soon banded together in opposing political factions. Over time Wanli grew tired of court affairs and frequent political quarreling amongst his ministers, preferring to stay behind the walls of the Forbidden City and out of his officials' sight. Scholar-officials lost prominence in administration as eunuchs became intermediaries between

24648-503: Was not conquering territory from the Yuan dynasty but rather from the rebel warlords. He used this line of argument to attempt to persuade Yuan loyalists to join his cause. The Ming used the tribute they received from former Yuan vassals as proof that the Ming had taken over the Yuan's legitimacy. Tribute missions were regularly celebrated with music and dance in the Ming court. Hui Muslim troops settled in Changde , Hunan , after serving

24806-448: Was organized parallel to but was not subject to the civil service bureaucracy. Although there were several dictatorial eunuchs throughout the Ming, such as Wang Zhen , Wang Zhi, and Liu Jin , excessive tyrannical eunuch power did not become evident until the 1590s when the Wanli Emperor increased their rights over the civil bureaucracy and granted them power to collect provincial taxes. The eunuch Wei Zhongxian (1568–1627) dominated

24964-497: Was the Forbidden City , the palatial residence of the emperor and his family. By 1553, the Outer City was added to the south, which brought the overall size of Beijing to 6.5 by 7 kilometres (4 by 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles). Beginning in 1405, the Yongle Emperor entrusted his favored eunuch commander Zheng He (1371–1433) as the admiral for a gigantic new fleet of ships designated for international tributary missions . Among

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