Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a wealth of interdisciplinary work from art historians, specialists in Ming literature and drama, and archaeological and cartographic insights in addition to contributions from more traditionally focused historians. It considers not only Wang Yangming, undoubtedly the most influential and important Ming philosopher whose influence transcended China, but also a woman warrior, musicians, empresses, members of the imperial clan and even a peasant rebel turned loyalist. So for several centuries the image of a dynamic Qing and a corrupt, bumbling Ming was perpetuated in China and used to explain, at least in a general way, the dynastic succession and continuance of the so-called dynastic cycle. Ming emperors, perhaps influenced by their Mongol predecessors and certainly in imitation of their august founder, possessed a potential for unfettered action that was the product of centuries of political evolution in China.