| Date |
Emperor |
Events |
Other people/events |
| 1368 |
Hongwu |
City Wall of Nanjing is rebuilt. |
The Phagspa script, devised by the Tibetan lama Drogön Chögyal Phagpa as a universal writing system for Kublai Khan’s Mongol Empire, begins to wane in use and then becomes extinct over the course of the Ming Dynasty. |
| 1371 |
|
Hai Jin maritime trade ban |
|
| 1373 |
|
Emperor Hongwu bans the Imperial examinations in favor of a recommendation system. |
The Temple of the Six Banyan Trees is rebuilt. |
| 1375 |
|
Latest possible date for the writing of the Huolongjing treatise on gunpowder weapons, as its co-editor Liu Ji dies on May 16. |
|
| 1380 |
|
Hongwu abolishes the Chancellery of China, taking over direct responsibility of the Three Departments and Six Ministries, although the later Grand Secretariat would aid the emperor in managing the state. |
|
| 1381 |
|
The Ming Dynasty annexes land from the Kingdom of Dali, in what is now Yunnan and Guizhou, spurring a Chinese migration of hundreds of thousands. |
|
| 1382 |
|
The Jinyi Wei, a secret police organization, is established. |
|
| 1384 |
|
Imperial examinations are reinstated by Hongwu, but he had the chief examiner executed on charges of corruption. |
|
| 1397 |
|
The Daming Lu law code is completed, yet drawing much of its clauses from the earlier Tang Code of 653. |
|
| 1398 |
Jianwen |
|
|
| 1402 |
Yongle |
Yongle takes the throne after a three-year long civil war with his nephew, the Jianwen Emperor. |
|
| 1405 |
|
The overseas voyages of the eunuch Muslim admiral Zheng He begin, sailing around Southeast Asia, throughout the Indian Ocean, and as far as East Africa to reestablish tributary relations of foreign countries with China. |
Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum is completed. |
| 1406 |
|
Construction of the Forbidden City begins, as well as new Beijing city fortifications |
|
| 1407 |
|
Fourth Chinese domination of Vietnam, although Chinese troops were pushed out two decades later by Lê Lợi of the Lê Dynasty. |
Deshin Shekpa, the fifth Karmapa of Tibet, visits the court of Yongle. |
| 1408 |
|
The massive Yongle Encyclopedia is completed. |
|
| 1415 |
|
Restoration work on the Grand Canal is completed. |
|
| 1420 |
|
After 13 years of a massive construction project for a new capital and Forbidden City, the Yongle Emperor declares Beijing the new capital, while Nanjing is demoted. |
Ming Dynasty Tombs are built. |
| 1424 |
Hongxi |
|
|
| 1425 |
Xuande |
|
|
| 1427 |
|
Famous painter Shen Zhou is born. |
|
| 1431 |
|
The Lê Dynasty of Vietnam is recognized by the Ming court as a tribute state. |
|
| 1435 |
Zhengtong |
|
|
| 1443 |
|
The Zhihua Si Temple is built. |
|
| 1446 |
|
The Precious Belt Bridge is rebuilt. |
|
| 1449 |
Jingtai |
Battle of Tumu Fortress |
|
| 1457 |
Tianshun |
|
|
| 1461 |
|
Rebellion of Cao Qin |
|
| 1464 |
Chenghua |
The Miao people and Yao people of Guangxi rebel against Ming authority; a combined Ming force of 190,000 (including 1,000 Mongols) crushes the rebellion within two years. |
|
| 1473 |
|
Zhenjue Temple is completed. |
|
| 1487 |
Hongzhi |
|
|
| 1488 |
|
The Korean official Choe Bu shipwrecks along Zhejiang coast of China. Travels the entire length of the Grand Canal to repatriate back to Joseon Korea. He later wrote a famous book on his travels, which was printed in both Korea and Japan in the latter half of the 16th century. |
|
| 1505 |
Zhengde |
|
|
| 1516 |
|
First Portuguese contact by Jorge Álvares in Macau, followed up by Rafael Perestrello in Guangzhou. |
|
| 1517 |
|
Fernão Pires de Andrade and Tomé Pires are sent as ambassadors to China by Manuel I of Portugal; they land at Guangzhou. |
|
| 1521 |
Jiajing |
Events, such as the Portuguese conquest of Malacca, lead to the rejection of the Portuguese embassy and the new Jiajing Emperor calling upon the Portuguese to return power of Malacca to the loyal Ming vassal Mahmud Shah; Chinese and Portuguese ships fight at Tuen Mun, but relations are eventually smoothed out later by Leonel de Sousa and others determined to repair the reputation that the Portuguese initially won in China. |
|
| 1522 |
Jiajing |
|
|
| 1529 |
|
Death of philosopher Wang Yangming |
|
| 1530 |
|
Around this time, mechanical engineer Zhou Shuxue improves Zhan Xiyuan’s 14th century sand-driven mechanical clock by adding a fourth large gear wheel, revising gear teeth ratios, and widening the orifice which collected sand in Zhan’s clock, since Zhou complained that the device clogged up too often. Although lacking the essential escapement mechanism of earlier Chinese clocks, this sand-driven clock of Zhan and Zhou featured a stationary dial face over which a pointer circulated by mechanical timing. |
|
| 1549 |
|
Portuguese ships make continuous annual trade stops to Shangchuan Island from now on. |
|
| 1550 |
|
Altan Khan breaches the Great Wall, besieges Beijing, and burns down its suburbs after looting it. |
|
| 1553 |
|
Outer City of Beijing to the south is completed, which brought the overall size of the city to 4 by 4½ miles. |
|
| 1556 |
|
Shaanxi Earthquake. 850,000 casualties |
|
| 1557 |
|
Portuguese establish permanent settlement in Macau. |
|
| 1558 |
|
Qi Jiguang is victorious over Japanese pirates at Cengang. |
|
| 1566 |
Longqing |
|
|
| 1567 |
|
Hai jin laws are formally repealed; government allows private foreign maritime trade, although the state had conducted all foreign trade during the ban. |
|
| 1572 |
Wanli |
|
|
| 1573 |
|
After the Spanish establish a permanent base at Manila in the Philippines, their American-mined silver trade with China trumps the Portuguese-Japanese silver trade. |
|
| 1574 |
|
Qin Liangyu, a later female military officer of Miao heritage, is born. |
|
| 1576 |
|
Pagoda of Cishou Temple is built. |
|
| 1577 |
|
Wanshou Temple is built. |
|
| 1581 |
|
Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng implements the Single Whip Reform, allowing the land tax to be paid entirely in silver due to inflated paper currency and widespread counterfeit coinage. |
|
| 1582 |
|
Jesuits begin mission work in China |
First reference is made about the publishing of private newspapers in Beijing. |
| 1584 |
|
Abraham Ortelius, in his atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, is the first known European to feature an illustration of the Chinese invention known as the ’sailing carriage’, essentially a wheelbarrow with a ship’s mast and a sail. |
|
| 1587 |
|
Physician and pharmacologist Li Shizhen publishes the Bencao Gangmu, detailing the use of over 1,800 medicinal drugs. |
|
| 1590 |
|
Journey to the West is written. |
|
| 1592 |
|
When Japan invades Korea in the Imjin War, Ming China aids Korea with troops and supplies. |
|
| 1593 |
|
Siege of Pyongyang |
|
| 1597 |
|
Siege of Ulsan |
|
| 1598 |
|
Battle of Sacheon |
Battle of Noryang Point; the theatrical drama The Peony Pavilion, written by playwright Tang Xianzu, is performed at the Pavilion of Prince Teng. |
| 1602 |
|
From this year until 1682, the Dutch East India Company ships some six million Chinese porcelain items to Europe. |
|
| 1604 |
|
Donglin Movement |
|
| 1607 |
|
The Greek mathematical treatise Euclid’s Elements is translated into Chinese by Xu Guangqi, Sabatino de Ursis, and Matteo Ricci. |
|
| 1609 |
|
Sancai Tuhui encyclopedia is published. |
|
| 1610 |
|
Plum in the Golden Vase is published. |
|
| 1615 |
|
The Chinese dictionary Zihui is compiled by Mei Yingzuo. |
|
| 1616 |
|
Nurhaci found the Qing Dynasty in Manchuria |
The Nanjing Religious Incident begins in this year, when all foreign Jesuits were expelled from the Ming court and the astronomy bureau; this was a temporary triumph of traditionalist Confucian officials who rejected Western science in favor of Chinese science; by 1622 this policy was reversed, and the astronomy burea was once again staffed by European Jesuits and Chinese supportive of Western science. |
| 1619 |
|
Battle of Sarhu |
Chinese philosopher Wang Fuzhi is born. |
| 1620 |
Tianqi |
|
|
| 1624 |
|
Headquartered in Jakarta, the Dutch East India Company establishes Dutch rule of Taiwan. |
|
| 1626 |
|
Johann Adam Schall von Bell writes the first treatise on the telescope into the Chinese language. |
Jesuit Nicolas Trigault writes the Xiru Ermu Zi, establishing the first system of Chinese Romanization. |
| 1627 |
Chongzhen |
First Manchu invasion of Korea; downfall of eunuch Wei Zhongxian, who ruled as a virtual dictator for seven years; Zhang Zilie publishes the Chinese dictionary Zhengzitong. |
Polish Jesuit Michael Boym first introduces the heliocentric model of the solar system into Chinese astronomy. |
| 1628 |
|
Battle of Ningyuan |
|
| 1632 |
|
By this time, the Manchus have conquered much of Inner Mongolia. |
|
| 1634 |
|
Chongzhen Emperor acquires the telescope of the late Johann Schreck. |
|
| 1635 |
|
Liu Tong adds his preface to the Dijing Jingwulue, a Chinese prose classic. |
|
| 1637 |
|
Second Manchu invasion of Korea |
Song Yingxing publishes the Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia; due to his scholarly and encyclopedic achievements, scientist and sinologist Joseph Needham calls him the “Diderot of China”. |
| 1638 |
|
The Beijing Gazette switches its production method from woodblock printing to movable type printing in this year. |
|
| 1639 |
|
The Nongzheng Quanshu agricultural treatise of Xu Guangqi is published. |
Painter Chen Hongshou travels to Beijing and earns instant acclaim by the court. |
| 1641 |
|
Death of Xu Xiake, whose published travel diary of some 404,000 Chinese characters includes notes on regional geography, climate, and mineralogy. |
|
| 1642 |
|
The Kaifeng flood |
With new additional Han Chinese banners, the full Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty are established. |
| 1644 |
|
Battle of Shanhai Pass; the Chongzhen Emperor hangs himself on the Guilty Chinese Scholartree, after hearing that rebels under Li Zicheng breached the gates of the capital Beijing |
Chinese general Wu Sangui and the Manchu prince Dorgon occupy Beijing; soon after, the Shunzhi Emperor is proclaimed ruler of China under the Qing Dynasty. |
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