Civilizations throughout all time and around the world have had their own traditions and unique cultures. China had a belief that there was a cycle that should take place with their emperors called the Dynastic Cycle and within that the Mandate of Heaven (Duiker) This means that emperors cycle in and out of power in a unique way, and it is the god’s decision on how this comes about. This tradition is demonstrated clearly through the Ming dynasty’s overthrow of power by their neighbors Manchus through the Dynastic Cycle and Mandate of Heaven. In China, the Dynastic Cycle repeats itself throughout its history (Jackson). It begins with a new family rising to power by the Mandate of Heaven. Half way through the emperor's
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The Dynastic Cycle started with the Ming Dynasty prospering in brilliance, art, and wealth; they invested in art and created beautiful porcelain pieces. They had large amounts of land that expanded to Mongolia and Central Asia (Jackson). Soon troubles arouse such as major epidemics as well as peasant, robber groups form and threaten civil order. Earthquakes and floods also make bad harvests making taxes harder to pay. Prices then inflate in effect. Peasant rebellions begin thus putting in motion the Mandate of Heaven. In 1644, a peasant chieftain, Lizicheng, conquers the Capital, Beijing, making the emperor commit suicide. Lizicheng was then supposed to claim the Mandate of Heaven and rule, but a Ming general recruited the Manchus to rescue Beijing from the turmoil this was causing (Jackson). In turn, the Manchus then took over and seized power for themselves putting their own emperor as emperor over China (Duiker). The fall of the Ming dynasty to the Manchus is because of the thinking embedded in the people of the Dynastic Cycle and the Mandate of Heaven. Without these the Ming dynasty would have never been in a position where they deemed it necessary to ask for help from a different dynasty and put itself in a vulnerable
The Dynastic Cycle started with the Ming Dynasty prospering in brilliance, art, and wealth; they invested in art and created beautiful porcelain pieces. They had large amounts of land that expanded to Mongolia and Central Asia (Jackson). Soon troubles arouse such as major epidemics as well as peasant, robber groups form and threaten civil order. Earthquakes and floods also make bad harvests making taxes harder to pay. Prices then inflate in effect. Peasant rebellions begin thus putting in motion the Mandate of Heaven. In 1644, a peasant chieftain, Lizicheng, conquers the Capital, Beijing, making the emperor commit suicide. Lizicheng was then supposed to claim the Mandate of Heaven and rule, but a Ming general recruited the Manchus to rescue Beijing from the turmoil this was causing (Jackson). In turn, the Manchus then took over and seized power for themselves putting their own emperor as emperor over China (Duiker). The fall of the Ming dynasty to the Manchus is because of the thinking embedded in the people of the Dynastic Cycle and the Mandate of Heaven. Without these the Ming dynasty would have never been in a position where they deemed it necessary to ask for help from a different dynasty and put itself in a vulnerable