ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the main reason for China's fate was the restrictive overseas policy of the Ming and early Qing dynasties. Since attention had to be paid to the threat of invasion from the north during this period, it was virtually impossible for the Ming Dynasty to adopt an active policy at sea to defend its coastal areas from Japanese harassment. The high degree of self-sufficiency of the national economy enabled rulers in the Ming and early Qing period to believe there was no great need for foreign trade, considered it merely a one-sided favor granted to foreign countries. The worldwide expansion of Western capitalism became the main trend of modern history and moulded the world in its own shape. Faced with this powerful force, many ancient civilizations in Asia, Africa and America declined or even disappeared. The Ming Dynasty initiated a policy of “ban on sea-borne activity” prohibited people from going abroad during its early and middle periods.
