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1 China's Decline: Zheng He
After 1433, an edict suddenly called off KBhHIST201ZhengHeSeafaring the missions of Zheng He. The ending of these mission, according to KBhHIST201KennedyCh1 and KBhHIST201MannMing, is the warning sign for the decline of the economy in general.
Researchers speculate different causes of ending…
1.1 Models for Reasons for Zheng He's Missions Ending
1.1.1 Camp China-Was-Lazy and Conservative
- cultural superiority
- self-engrossment
- CONFUCIANISM! #sic
@KBhHIST201KennedyCh1
- China is a conservative, Confucian country
- Merchants are disliked
- So are private capital
- Armies are too!
- A side note about tech
- Confucianism actually does encourage tech
- Simply requires building for knowledge or state purposes, and not for armies/private property
- China attempted to emulate their "old ways", especially after the mongol clearing => caused closing
- China is a conservative, Confucian country
1.1.2 Camp China-Coulden't-Care-Less
- Abundant resources already in China
- Nothing that the expedition saw actually actively "wow"ed China
- Assets needed could be found easily through good-ol-fashioned trade
- Seafaring was costly, and did not help the Northern Mongol invasions (duh)
Mann kind of agree with these people, but he mostly thinks that KBhHIST201ChinasDeclineWRTCurrency China's Decline w.r.t. Currency is the main issue.
Sidenote: "party A says, party B says, I say" is a very common order.
1.2 China never had a free market??
- Along with Zheng He's mission, overseas trade was banned @fact
- However, it was reversed again (see the source KBhHIST201ChinasDecline1500), confusingly