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The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Ming dynasty | Dates, Achievements, Culture, & Facts.” Britannica, 4 September 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ming-dynasty-Chinese-history. Accessed 29 September 2023.

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Cartwright, Mark. “Ming Dynasty.” World History Encyclopedia, 6 February 2019, https://www.worldhistory.org/Ming_Dynasty/. Accessed 29 September 2023.

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“EUROPEANS IN MING- AND EARLY-QING ERA CHINA (16th-18th CENTURIES).” Facts and Details, https://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/sub4/entry-5499.html#chapter-4. Accessed 29 September 2023.

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The economy of the Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644) of China was the largest in the world during that period. It was characterized by extreme inflation with people, the return to silver bullion, and the rise of large agricultural markets.

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At first China recognized that it was necessary to learn from the West and tolerated limited European presence. As time went on, the Western powers, adopting superior military technology, gaining more economic and political privileges. The Ming government ended mandatory forced labor by peasants and replaced it with working labor. They advanced agriculture throughout china  and saw the rise of large commercial plantations, crops, and expanded markets.

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Over hundreds of years, the Ming Dynasty social structure evolved it was influenced by Confucianism. The Ming society was divided into four types of people. The Ming dynasty saw a decrease in the number of categories, in comparison to the policy implemented during the Yuan dynasty. The three categories that remained were hereditary, making it nearly impossible to move between them. Gentry was also divided into two types.

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The Ming dynasty government structure was a Monarchy,  consisting of one department, the secretariat. The department controlled six ministries held by a minister, all under direct control of the Emperor. Court members came from the imperial clan or given titles by the emperor, western titles like prince, duke, marquis, and count.

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The Ming Dynasty typically disagreed with the presence of the Catholic missionaries in their government, but eventually they retained Jesuits as advisers at court. The Jesuits were curious about and generally respectful of Chinese culture and customs, including religious rites and Confucianism, and the government systems of the Ming. China soon started to question weather the Jesuits had gone too far with their attempts to make the Catholic faith more compatible with Chinese beliefs, especially on the question of Confucius and the ancestors. This disagreement which later was known as the “Rites Controversy” set off a large debate among European Catholics that would go on for about 100 years.

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After the Ming Dynasty started to trade with the Europeans they started to get into a groove the Ming Dynasty saw a decrease in the number of categories for commoners, in comparison to the policy implemented during the Yuan dynasty. The three categories that remained the same were hereditary, making it nearly impossible to move between them. Gentry was also divided into two types.