RAS Summer School: Currents of the Ming: Commercial and Intellectual Exchanges in a Globalizing World

Long before the modern era of globalization, the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) was actively reshaping the world economy, intellectual landscapes, and the natural environment. This year's summer school invites you to look beyond emperors and armies to discover how merchants, missionaries, and mariners connected China to the globe. This four-part series explores the massive "inflows and outflows" of silver, exotic spices, revolutionary ideas, and botanical imports that transformed the Ming dynasty and laid the foundations of our modern, interconnected world. The summer school meets on Zoom every Monday in July at 8pm,

Part 1: The Illusion of Tribute Was the famous Chinese tribute system really about foreign nations bowing to the emperor, or was it a highly sophisticated scheme to monopolize international commerce? In our first session, we will demystify the early Ming dynasty's strict border controls and state-managed markets. Together we will discover how the Ming court wielded bureaucratic power to carefully orchestrate the inflow of exotic goods and the outflow of luxury Chinese silk and tea. Later we will see how this state management of border control gave way to private enterprise that led to the migration of Chinese people across South East Asia.

Reading materials will be sent to registered attendees 48 hours before the event.