L23 - The Ming Golden Age

The 15 th and 16 th centuries became a new age of economic growth, far surpassing that of the Song. Art and literature flourished, in part driven by the consumer power of a revived merchant class. Printing expanded and fueled a growth in literacy, which in turn, reinforced the demand for more and cheaper books. This dynamic economy created tensions in society, as commercial wealth gave greater power to non-literati elites, who increasingly challenged their systematic exclusion from participation in government. Merchants were legally barred from taking the Confucian examinations, but that restriction, which had extended to three generations, was reduced to one in the Ming. The great voyages of exploration at the beginning of the 15 th century, however, did not lead to a redefinition of China’s role in the larger world. After the 1430s, China returned to its traditional security concerns in Inner Asia and left the maritime world to private traders.