Also called: Shenzong of Ming, Zhu Yijun
Ming emperor (r. 1572–1620) who, after Zhang Juzheng’s death, long refused to hold court; the “three great campaigns” including the Korean war and the defeat at Sarhu drained the dynasty
For ten years at the start of the Wanli reign the senior grand secretary Zhang Juzheng re-surveyed the land and tightened official discipline, and in 1581 extended across the empire the Single Whip law, which merged taxes and labour service into one payment in silver.
The Jesuit Matteo Ricci entered Beijing in 1601 and, through his world map and The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, introduced Western geography, science and Catholicism in Chinese. Carried home by envoys, these works reached Korea as “Western Learning” (Seohak).
In 1619 Nurhaci’s Later Jin defeated, one after another around Sarhu, the Ming armies advancing along four routes and Gang Hong-rip’s Korean force. The battle reversed the balance between Ming and Later Jin.
Senior grand secretary in the early Wanli reign who, for ten years from 1572, restored finances and discipline through performance reviews, a land survey and the Single Whip reform
Italian Jesuit missionary who entered Beijing in 1601 and introduced Western geography and Catholic teaching in Chinese through his world map and The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven
Late Ming scholar-official and Catholic convert who translated Euclid with Matteo Ricci, compiled the Complete Treatise on Agriculture and led the Western-style Chongzhen calendar project
Jianzhou Jurchen chief who united the Jurchens and founded the Later Jin in 1616 (r. 1616–1626), created the Eight Banners and the Manchu script and defeated the Ming at Sarhu
Commander of the Joseon army sent at Ming request against the Later Jin in 1619, who surrendered to the Jurchens after the defeat at Sarhu
The age when the Ming, shaken by northern raiders, southern pirates and the silver economy, fell to Li Zicheng’s rebels, and the Manchu Qing reached its greatest extent and prosperity under Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong — as Japan was unified out of the Warring States into the Edo shogunate’s bakuhan order and closed country, and Joseon, after two great wars, met its neighbours through embassies to Edo and the Northern Learning