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Confucius was a Chinese philosopher who lived long before the
Ming Dynasty (551—479 BC). His teaching was called
Confucianism. For centuries this was the off cial rule of
life for all Chinese people. Many Chinese today still The emperors of the Ming Dynasty, and of the Qing

hold to his ideas and values.

Dynasty that followed it, ruled the kingdom

from the Forbidden City in Peking (Beijing).

Chinese people followed Confucius but Chinese temple
could also practice Buddhism. Buddhist

monks lived in monasteries.

The Great Wall of China was constructed largely during the Ming a kingdom of farming villages and compulsory military service. f reworks to make a rocket to send Chinese vases from the Ming Dynasty are world renowned.
Dynasty to protect China against enemy raiders from the steppes.

Rice grows in f ooded f elds.

It was said that Wan Hu used

himself to the moon.
The f rst Ming emperor, a rebel leader with peasant origins, wanted

During the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing

Kung fu is a Chinese martial art. was the biggest port in the world.

A samurai was a Japanese warrior. Admiral Zheng He made seven voyages of discovery between 1405 and 1433.
Cormorants, f sh-eating aquatic birds, were trained to catch f sh at night.

The Ming Dynasty

China has one of the oldest cultures in the world, with origins five to seven thousand
years ago. Centuries ago the country was ruled by dynasties. A dynasty began with an
emperor, whom people believed had a divine right to rule, and continued with that
emperor’s descendants. In adversity, or if the people were unhappy, the old emperor
had to give way to another and to a new dynasty. The Ming Dynasty ruled China
from 1368 until 1644: during these three centuries of stable rule people made great
discoveries and trade flourished. There was military rule in Japan during the Japanese Middle

Ages, from the 12th century until halfway into the 16th
century. It was known as the “bakufu.”