ABSTRACT
In the period between 1375 and 1400, an important shift brought with it many changes to Chinese history. Central to this shift was the transition from a tributary empire to a bounded monarchy. From the point of view of culture and ideology, this change was manifested in the turn from “Kingly Confucianism” to “Civilizing Confucianism.” But this transition had more to it: the Ming’s synthetic approach to orthodoxy characterized by its pursuit of perfect order and harmony and its quest for the “national” consciousness of the Chinese yielded a political and symbolic outcome.
