Question

What happened after the collapse of the Ming dynasty?

Answer 1

The Ming Dynasty fell due to a combination of many different factors: incompetence of later emperors, natural disasters, hermit outlook, and the Manchu/Tungusic threat. Beyond the famed Yongle Emperor, each following Emperor was only successively worse. The infamous of the late emperors was Wanli, who for 40 years refused to “shangchao,” the daily process of consulting the beaurocracy and making governing decisions. The high ranking officials had refused to accept the choice of Crown Prince that Wanli had wanted and as a demonstration of his anger he refused to participate in any government. Civil unrest and corruption inflated greatly in the four decades and when he finally resumed participating it was too late. The three following emperors had little choice but to watch the Dynasty waste away. The issue were compounded when natural disaster struck and the growing threat on the northern border only made things worse. The boil finally bursted when an rebel army marched on Jingshi, modern day Beijing, and Zhongzhen emperor hanged himself.