The Dynastic Cycle & the Ming-Qing Transition

The dynastic cycle is a testament to the cyclical nature of dynastic political power in Chinese history and highlights the patterns of rise, consolidation, decline, and renewal. Understanding this cycle and the patterns of power it encapsulates is essential to understanding the strengths and flaws of ruling dynasties in China.

Through analysis of the Ming-Qing dynasties and the Ming-Qing transition, we are able to see how the manifestation and presence of the dynastic cycle deeply impacted the rise and fall of power in China. The time period of these two dynasties illustrate the patterns of mistake and strength that dynasties encountered, and serve as a testament to the repeating opportunities and challenges that arose throughout Chinese history.

The dynastic cycle is a political theory that applies to the rise to power of Chinese dynasties, as well as their eventual stagnation and downfall. It has also been described as “a periodic alternation between despotism and anarchy.” (Usher 1989) According to this cycle, Chinese dynasties experience a period of cultural, political, and economic growth, and, as time passes, corruption and decay begins, which leads to the eventual demise of the dynasty. This creates room and opportunity for a new dynasty to emerge, at which point the cycle repeats itself. The ruling dynasty is said to have lost the “mandate of heaven” before their breakdown and dynastic demise, which leads to more external challenges and difficulties. The “mandate of heaven” was the belief that Heaven or Sky - known as a god or divine force - had selected the emperor to rule the Earth and given them the great power to rule his people. However, it was believed that this power had to be used for the good of the emperor's people, and if this power was misused, the nation would suffer natural disasters and lose this “mandate of heaven”. (Cartwright 2017) This is why it’s believed that, in this dynastic cycle, the “mandate of heaven” would be lost before natural disasters would sweep the nation, due to governmental or internal corruption. 

This theory essentially applied a time limit on Chinese dynasties, where dynasties lasted around 100 years at most. As mentioned in our course, dynasties would come into power because of unique advantages of the ruling government or party, and their implementation of an effective system would satisfy their citizens and lead to growth. As time continued and the system solidified, things eventually become brittle and leaks started springing up, often resulting in corruption, inability to maintain public works, inability to collect taxes, and uprisings, which continue over time to the breakdown of the dynasty.

The specific pattern of the dynastic cycle can be broken down into certain characteristics and aspects, as outlined in the image to the right. Specific characteristics that define the dynasties' rise to power and success are rebuilding infrastructure, land distribution to peasants, and protecting people. Specific characteristics that define the dynasties' decline are overtaxation, mistreatment of people, decaying infrastructure, as well as corruption and economic decline. This, paired with the belief that the ruler has lost the “mandate of heaven”, as well as additional problems such as natural disasters, revolts, external attacks, and corruption lead to the loss of power.

Another breakdown of the cycle appears as follows:

The repetition of this cycle and the incredibly similar pattern of events, problems, successes, and mistakes potentially highlight the lack of change or development in social or economic structures in Chinese dynasties over time. Understanding this cycle provides insight into how power, politics, and governance evolved in Chinese history. This cycle sheds light on historical events, structures in society, and cultural developments in historical Chinese dynasties.

The transition between the Ming and the Qing begins with the rise of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty was founded by Zhu Yuanzhang, or Emperor Hongwu, and spanned from A.D. 1368 to 1644. 

Previous to the Ming’s rise to power, the Yuan dynasty, led by Mongols, ruled over China. (“Rise of the Ming Dynasty | World Civilization,” n.d.) Throughout the Yuan’s rule, there was extended discrimination against Han Chinese, as well as over-taxing, inflation, and neglected irritation projects that led to the flooding of the Yellow River. This, combined with the failing economy and poor state of Chinese agriculture, led to revolts from Chinese Han groups. Zhu Yuanzhang was in one of these groups - specifically the Red Turbans - and in this group, he captured the city of Nanjing in 1363, defeated his arch nemesis, and succeeded the dynastic leader of the Red Turbans.

The end of the Mongol rule, as well as Zhu Yuanzhang’s rise to power, is another testament and example of the dynastic cycle. Towards the end of this empire, we saw a number of actions that were both symptoms of the dynasty breaking down, as well as factors that led to their demise. Throughout their rule, the Mongols began to lose control of their people, couldn’t collect their taxes, and had their system start breaking down. At this point, people believed that the Dynasty would lose their mandate of heaven, as natural disasters would come in and sweep the nation - specifically the Black Death with the Mongols. In 1368, after the last Yuan emperor fled to Mongolia, Zhu Yuanzhang officially established the reign of the Ming Dynasty. 

Under the Ming, China experienced rapid growth in population as well as international trade and exportation. (History.com Editors. 2018. “Ming Dynasty.” HISTORY. A&E Television Networks. August 21, 2018. https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-china/ming-dynasty.) The Ming also pushed for increased education and focus on literacy, through initiatives such as creating boarding schools, establishing an examination system for bureaucracy, and urging citizens to study classics and books on morality, made possible with a publishing boom that made reading possible for commoners.

Throughout the beginning of their rule, we see the Ming dynasty following the earlier aspects of the dynastic cycle that lead to their growth and success in the nation. Specifically, we see the new dynasty bringing peace to the people by changing things from previous rule, rebuilding infrastructure, and protecting the people. Some specific examples of this, in addition to the wealth and protection that was brought to the Ming citizens through their economic success and military power, was the consistent maintenance done to the Great Wall of China, and the re-focus on agriculture. In comparison to the end of the previous dynasty's rule, where there was agricultural decay and overtaxation, the Ming focused on agricultural classes and enabled pro-agriculture policies, as well as reduced taxes on agriculture. (“Rise of the Ming Dynasty | World Civilization,” n.d.) This led to the development of large plantations, growth of cash crops, and new methods and tools. The Ming also focused on protecting their people and peasants through systems such as the Yellow Records and Fish Scale Records, as well as land distribution to peasants. (“Statewide Dual Credit World History, the Making of Early Modern World 1450-1700 CE, Chapter 1: Asia & Oceania, Ming and Qing Dynasties,” n.d.)

The Ming dynasty is also characterized by additional aspects and accomplishments, such as being the most productive economy in the world at the time, their competent military, the defense of their borders, and their ability to extinguish threats. 

We see here how the Ming fulfilled the earlier patterns of the dynastic cycle, which led to their conquest of power and the upheaval of the previous dynasty, as well as their success and growth throughout the beginning of their rule. However, as depicted in the cycle, as their rule continued, problems that arose eventually led to their unraveling, much like the dynasties before them.

The Fall of the Ming can be attributed to a number of factors that fall within this pattern of demise we see in the dynastic cycle. When looking at the characteristics that define this pattern of downfall in the dynastic cycle, we specifically see overtaxation, economic breakdown, government corruption, decaying of infrastructure, and then poverty and war, paired with natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, etc.

There are a number of ways these aspects of the dynastic cycle are reflected in the Ming dynasty.

Between the inner court and the outer court, there was intense factionalism between the eunuchs and Confucian officials, which led to corruption and intense backstabbing, as well as manipulation of the ruling emperor. While the emperor still continued their duties and rituals, it would mostly be government officials who were close to the emperor who would be making all of the decisions.

There were also strengthened maritime bans that cut off a majority of exchange channels for the Ming, as well as their extensive Northern military expeditions. This bankrupted their treasury, and left them distracted from other threats. (“Rise of the Ming Dynasty | World Civilization,” n.d.) Another economic crisis developed surrounding China’s lack of silver - their currency and medium of exchange - and this made collecting taxes very difficult. (“Statewide Dual Credit World History, the Making of Early Modern World 1450-1700 CE, Chapter 1: Asia & Oceania, Ming and Qing Dynasties,” n.d.)

Growing seasons for agriculture were impacted by changing weather patterns, which is now known as the Little Ice Age. “Loss of life and normal civility was caused by widespread famine, tax increases, massive military desertions, a declining relief system, natural disasters such as flooding, and the inability of the government to properly manage irrigation and flood-control projects.” (“Statewide Dual Credit World History, the Making of Early Modern World 1450-1700 CE, Chapter 1: Asia & Oceania, Ming and Qing Dynasties,” n.d.) Due to the combination of these external and internal factors, the government was unable to support and protect their people from these crises. Famine and local corruption in the nation led to rebellions from peasants, similar to those that brought Zhu Yuanzhang to power during the downfall of the Mongols. 

These events highlight how overtaxation, economic breakdown, government corruption, decaying of infrastructure, famine/poverty, war, and natural disasters - as shown to occur in the dynastic cycle - manifested and repeated themselves in the Ming dynasty. Understanding the layers of decline in the Ming dynasty - that are portrayed in the dynastic cycle - helps showcase the warning signs of governance failures and political instability that lead to dynastic demise.

Many individuals might view conquering and taking power from the Ming system as something futile - they were the largest and most successful empire in the world at the time - but the Qing were able to do it in the span of 40 to 50 years. The events that led to the end of the Ming dynasty reflected the downfall of the Mongols, and eventually the Qing as well, as all dynasties went through the same aspects of the cycle. 

The Qing were founded by the Manchus, who established partnerships with Mongol and Chinese groups to rise to power. The Manchus had the advantage of getting to know the Ming system, and were able to pick off Ming officials and have them turn over to their side. The Manchus were also descendants from the Jurchens, which provided them with knowledge about China. By the 1640s, under Ming rule, Chinese peasants were starving, still being overtaxed despite their poverty, and had seen the incompetence and flaws of the Chinese army. They formed rebel bands, and - “the Chinese military, caught between fruitless efforts to defeat the Manchu raiders from the north and huge peasant revolts in the provinces, essentially fell apart.” (“Statewide Dual Credit World History, the Making of Early Modern World 1450-1700 CE, Chapter 1: Asia & Oceania, Ming and Qing Dynasties,” n.d.)

Throughout this period where the Ming was falling apart, the Qing had just picked off Korea. Chinese rebels had taken over Beijing for a couple of months, and during this time, the rebel government was essentially running the country while the Ming army was fighting the Manchus. The Ming general, Wu Sangui, eventually decided to side with the Manchus against the Chinese rebel leaders, which allowed the Qing to rise to power. 

The transition between the Ming and the Qing dynasties highlight how external factors like foreign conquests or invasions can play an important role in the dynastic cycle, as well as internal flaws and weaknesses that are developed through years of rule and made possible with how political and governance structures are established. Through understanding these events with the dynastic cycle in context, we can see how internal and external factors shape the rise and fall of dynasties in Chinese history.

The transition between the Ming and the Qing highlights the role of the dynastic cycle in Chinese dynasties’ rise to power and subsequent decline. Understanding this cycle helps us understand how power evolves and changes throughout China, as well as the similarities in successes and mistakes of ruling dynasties. This cycle is a roadmap for understanding how ruling dynasties maneuvered power and ruling throughout their initial rise to power, during periods of stability and prosperity, and the eventual challenges and problems that lead to their decline.