East Asia: Center of the World - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 288

steppes and, in 1368, announced the formation of the
Ming Dynasty .

circumference. There were nine double gates with watch-
towers. Inside the city was the Imperial City with its own
walls, 5 miles (8 km) around. Inside the Imperial City
was the moated Forbidden City—2 miles around—con-
taining the emperor' s palace, throne halls, audience halls,
and other buildings situated along a north-south axis.
Buildings with gold-colored tile roofs were set on ter-
races of white marble. The entire complex was designed
to awe and impress (Figure 10-15).
Rice was the dominant element in the diet, supple-
mented by wheat noodles (brought back to Venice by
Marco Polo as spaghetti). Food was eaten with chop-
sticks, a method quickly adopted in Korea and Japan.
Bean curd ( dofu or tofu ) was a major source of protein,
as were fish and chicken. Oxen and water buffalo were
used as draft animals but eaten only if they died natu-
rally . Whatever was put on the rice or noodles was
sliced finely and cooked quickly in a wok. The shortage
of fuel (as a result of deforestation) fostered the need
for stir frying.
Humans altered the landscape with irrigated and ter-
raced rice paddies and fish ponds. New towns and vil-
lages emerged as craft centers and periodic markets.
From Tang times, the house became a common center for
socializing and negotiating business deals and marriage
contracts. It was not necessary to travel far—people
rarely ventured beyond the nearest village. The wheel-
barrow and the flexible bamboo carrying pole were the
major means of transporting goods on land. These meth-
ods are still used in China and much of Southeast Asia.
Peasants adhered to a folk proverb: “Work when the sun

THE MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)
What was Chinese culture like at this time? With the
Sinification begun under the Han and solidified under
subsequent dynasties such as the Tang, Chinese culture
had reached great heights. The scholarly bureaucracy
was in place, as was a landed gentry . Government was
administered through the multiple bureaus of the civil
service and the military . The countryside was managed
largely by the gentry and county magistrates. Strict Confu-
cianism was enforced at all levels of society . Most impor-
tant was the family that, in Confucian form, controlled
members' actions and settled disputes.
The Y ung-lo Emperor commissioned 3,000 scholars
to produce an encyclopedia of all knowledge, a task that
took five years. This was followed by a great medical en-
cyclopedia that listed more than 10,000 drugs and pre-
scriptions mostly unknown to the West. This text also
recorded the use of inoculation to prevent smallpox, a
medical advance not discovered in Europe until the eigh-
teenth century . There was also a handbook of industrial
technology describing techniques in canal lock construc-
tion, weaving, the manufacture of porcelain, shipbuild-
ing, papermaking, and many other items and pursuits.
China during the Ming Dynasty led the world in science
and technology .
In Ming Beijing the walls surrounding the city were
40 feet (12 m) high and nearly 15 miles (24 km) in

Figure 10-15
Hall of Supreme Harmony viewed from the Gate of
Supreme Harmony . This is the largest and most
important building in the Forbidden City . Leading
to the Hall is a three-tiered “dragon pavement”
over which the Emperor was carried. Dragon
motifs cover the pavement. Photograph courtesy of
B. A. Weightman.