Changes In The Ming Dynasty

The life of a merchant changes depending on the period in which someone describes them. If the Emperor in power felt strongly about trade and foreign affairs, then they would have of course been in a good situation. In the Ming dynasty, we can see that merchants had an easy time in the beginning. This dynasty was considered Chinas Golden Age and contacts were setup for trade in the East and West. In 1405, Chengzu instructed Zheng He, one of his most trusted Muslim eunuchs, to begin his maritime expeditions, which would lead them to far distant lands that housed many fruitful commodities.

In the Ming dynasty, international trade was at its highest when Zhu Di took power over his nephew Jianwen. There were vibrant markets and trade was booming with Africa, India, and the Middle East with an influx of goods and different types of cultures. However, the government soon started to intervene in foreign trade under the reigns

The introduction of paper money guaranteed money to citizens from the state and not from private merchants or bankers. In this dynasty, one can see that trade with the Middle East picked up drastically and many of the merchants who came from these areas permanently immigrated to China. The Chinese also saw an influx of Europeans during the Mongol occupation, but had an opposite reaction. Ebrey states, “During the Mongol occupation, China was tied into a Eurasian empire, and foreigners from the west Asia and Europe visited China in unprecedented numbers. These cross-cultural contacts whetted the appetite of Europeans for increased contact with distant lands but had the opposite effect on the Chinese.” The Mongols were open to trade relations between other states, but the invention of paper money led to the complete down fall of this dynasty. Nonetheless, in the late Ming dynasty would soon turn their attention to the