276 Ming dynasty state and religion However their position in Mayan society was tenuous During the Postclassic period, there was peace among Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, and Mayapán for about a century, until in about 1100 Mayapán went on a war of conquest and seized the other two Yucatán Mayan city-states For about 200 years Mayapán controlled what may have been the closest political organization to a kingdom that the Mayans evolved Yet in 1441 Uxmal threw off the rule of Mayapán From then on the Mayan city-states became embroiled in a series of civil wars that would only end with the Spanish conquest that followed the arrival of Hernán Cortés in Mexico in 1519 See also Mesoamerica: Postclassic period Further reading: Coe, Michael D The Maya London: Thames and Hudson, 2005; Collier, John Indians Of The Americas New York: Mentor Books, 1947; Tedlock, Dennis, trans Popol Vuh New York: Touchstone, 1985 John F Murphy, Jr Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, which spanned 1368–1644, can be divided into two segments The first part, between 1368 and c 1450, was a period of great achievement, growth, stability, and prosperity; the latter part, from c 1450 to 1644, was characterized by weak and unstable rulers, corruption, and abuse of power that culminated in rebellions and overthrow The Ming dynasty has an important place in Chinese history because of its longevity and rule over unified China, and because it was the last Chinese imperial dynasty not founded and ruled by peoples of nomadic origin MING TAIZU (T’AI-TSU) China was in ruins by the mid-1300s under the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) It suffered from a collapsing economy, wrecked by financial mismanagement, runaway inflation, natural disasters, famine, and plague Numerous rebel movements rose to topple the Yuan dynasty, among them one led by an impoverished peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang (Chu Yuan-chang) Zhu focused on consolidating his power in the Yangzi (Yangtze) River valley in southern China, establishing his capital in Nanjing (Nanking), a city rich with historic significance, from which he invaded the north, sending the last Yuan emperor in flight to Mongolia in 1368 It was the second time in Chinese history that a commoner had ascended the throne (the first was Liu Bang, who founded the Han dynasty in 202 b.c.e.) He chose the dynastic name Ming, which means “brilliant.” He reigned for 30 years (1368–98), chose for himself the reign title Hongwu (Hung-wu), which means “bounteous warrior,” and is also known by his posthumous title Taizu, which means “Grand Progenitor.” He and his immediate successors worked to restore Chinese prosperity and prestige after the humiliation and exploitation of Mongol rule Emperor Hongwu’s policies put his stamp on the dynasty He restored the economy by freeing people enslaved by Mongols and resettling them on ravaged lands, especially in northern China He gave tax breaks to the peasants, repaired irrigation works, rebuilt granaries, and adopted a tax policy that favored the poor He gave much authority to localities for maintaining law and order by organizing them into the baojia (paochia) system: 10 families formed a jia under a leader and were responsible for each other, and 10 jia formed a bao in which 100 families were responsible for each other This system of local organization persisted in China into modern times CONFUCIAN EDUCATION Hongwu ordered the founding of schools throughout the empire, based the curriculum on Confucian teachings, and reinstated the examination system to recruit officials His son the emperor Yongle (Yung-lo) followed up on this by ordering the foremost scholars to compile an official version of the Confucian classics and commentaries to guide students in their studies In 1415 The Great Compendium of the Five Classics and the Four Books was published, followed by the publication of The Great Compendium of the Philosophy of Human Nature in 1417 These works reflected the officially accepted Neo-Confucian philosophy as interpreted by the Song philosopher Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi) and became textbooks in schools in China, Korea, and Japan Another major contribution to learning was the Yongle Dadian (Yung-lo ta-tien) or Great Literary Repository of the Yongle Reign It contained 22,277 volumes, whose index alone ran to 60 volumes Too large to be printed, it was preserved in manuscript sets in imperial libraries Such great government-sponsored works reflected and resulted in huge national interest in learning, which made the Ming a great period in human history Economic prosperity permitted wider and growing literacy, from which the printing industry also benefited