Vistopia
Cover of Crisis Beneath the Surface: The Ming Dynasty
Crisis Beneath the Surface: The Ming Dynasty
Yang Zhao Retells Chinese History, Season 9
Completed · 59 episodes
Buy for ¥98.00 （Original price ¥128.00）
Audio in Chinese
1. Is “All History Contemporary History”? 2. Did Late-Imperial China Gradually “Drift Away” from Global Currents? 3. Amid Regional Rule at the End of the Yuan, How Did Zhu Yuanzhang Maneuver Between Powers? 4. Unifying the Realm: How Did Zhu Yuanzhang Consolidate Military Power? 5. From Humble Origins, How Did Zhu Yuanzhang Build the Ming from Nothing? 6. Why Did the Ming Emphasize a Civil-Official System? 7. Why Did the Hu Weiyong Case and the “Cup of Wine” Settlement Reach Opposite Extremes? 8. In the Ming, Were Scholar-Officials a Bridge of Communication or Tools of Imperial Power? 9. From Serving the Imperial Household to Rivers of Silver: How Did Ming Society’s Center of Gravity Shift? 10. Was the “Freshest and Most Beautiful Scenery” Hidden in Ming Urban Life? 11. How Should We Explain China’s Historical “Sprouts of Capitalism”? 12. Why Did Capitalism in Chinese History Remain Only a “Sprout”? 13. Why Did Hu Shi Devote Such Attention to the Commentary on the Water Classic Late in Life? 14. Beyond Making Money, What Drew People to Ming Cities? 15. How Did Ming Merchant Guilds Capture the Pulse of Urban Vitality? 16. How Did Huizhou Merchants Use Zhu Xi to Prevail over Shanxi Merchants? 17. How Did Capital Transform Relations Between Scholars and Merchants in the Ming? 18. What Practical Handbooks Did Ming Merchants Possess? 19. Where Did Travel on Paper and on Foot Take Ming Culture? 20. Why Was “Literati Culture” So Entrenched in the Ming? 21. Why Did Late-Imperial China Experience a Population Boom? 22. Compared with Western Europe, What Unusual Situation Did Late-Imperial Chinese Merchants Face? 23. How Did Ming Merchants Display Their Status? 24. What Spectacles Did the Ming Fashion for “Inventing the Strange” Produce? 25. How Did Tea Culture Reshape Everyday Ming Life? 26. How Extravagant Were Ming Dining Rituals? 27. How Did the Postal-Road System Shape Ming Commerce and Travel? 28. Carts of Every Kind: How Did Ming Travelers Choose Transportation? 29. Facing South with Woods and Views: How Was a Ming Garden Mansion Built? 30. How Did Neo-Confucianism Change Before the Ming? 31. Once It Became Orthodoxy, What Did Ming Neo-Confucianism Lose? 32. Is a Life Not Personally Experienced Meaningless? | Wang Yangming’s “Investigation of Things” 33. In What Age of Great Hypocrisy Was Wang Yangming’s “Unity of Knowledge and Action” Born? 34. Why Did Chinese Drama Remain Underdeveloped Before the Yuan? 35. Why Was Zaju Sung Instead of Performed Entirely as Spoken Dialogue? 36. How Did “Professional Audiences” Help Ming Drama Break Through? 37. From Speech to Writing: A “New Character-Making Movement” in Chinese Civilization? 38. What Major Problem Was Ray Huang Solving in 1587, A Year of No Significance? 39. Why Did Ray Huang Choose an “Insignificant” Year? 40. If an Emperor Wants to Strike, Can He Reasonably Stop Trying? 41. What Was the Greatest Problem Created by Abolishing the Chancellorship? 42. Did the Civil-Official System “Kidnap” Zhang Juzheng, Trap the Wanli Emperor, and Push the State into Crisis? 43. Did “Moral Correctness” Destroy Ming Administration? 44. Did the Precocious Empire Depend on “Leadership of Consciousness”? 45. How Did Ming Public Finance Operate Without Modern Tools? 46. “Dead Numbers” and “Living Flows”: Why Was Ming Fiscal Management So Troubled? 47. Did Ming Fiscal Chaos Come from a Decaying Bureaucracy? 48. Did the Ming Fall to Rebels or to the Manchus? 49. What History of the Manchus Might We Have Missed? 50. Why Did Nurhaci Finally Declare War on the Ming? 51. With Threats Within and Without, Was Late-Ming Factional Conflict Worse Than Rebellion? 52. How Deeply Did Late-Ming Ministers Interfere in Palace Affairs? 53. Did Conflict Between the Emperor and Scholar-Officials Give Eunuchs Their Opening to Power? 54. What Role Did the Emperor Play in Late-Ming Factional Struggles? 55. How Did Late-Ming Factionalism Make Generalship a High-Risk Profession? 56. Was Loyalty to the Emperor the Only Faith of a Ming Official? 57. What Happens When Absolute Power Is Granted by Accident? 58. The Chongzhen Emperor: Suspicious and Angry? 59. Did Absolute Monarchy and Egocentrism Destroy the Ming? (Main Series Finale)