Research On The Public Opinion In Ming Dynasty

Ming Dynasty had a special place in the history of China. Comparing with Tang Dynasty, which manifested as an"extravert and open-mind"dynasty, Ming dynasty revealed as a"introvert and closed-mind"dynasty. In Ming Dynasty, even though the political power highly centered, there were still the special departments in charge of the public opinion, which not only collect the opinion from the society, but also gave opinion in the government affairs. There was a big difference between Ming Dynasty and the previous dynasties, so that the public opinion in Ming Dynasty demonstrated its own characteristics. Now, the research on the history of public opinion lacks attention, and there is no monographic study in the public opinion in Ming Dynasty.This thesis will start with the public opinion in the pre-Qin period, and analyze the poems and songs of the nature of public opinion. Then the opinion in each dynasty from Han will be analyze, from the aspects of characteristic, nature, development tendency, etc., and the opinion before the Ming Dynasty will be summarize.This thesis will analyze the historical background of the appearance of opinion in Ming Dynasty. In 16th century, the opening of new sea routes connected the whole world. Under its influence, there are also some changes in China, biggest of which is the class of new citizens'appearance. In the late of Ming Dynasty, there were many new cities appeared and commenced for the seeds of capitalism. In this period, the class of the new citizens grew and they became the big power in the opinion. This thesis will pay more attention to the class of new citizens and their affects in the public opinion. This thesis will also analyze the official opinion channels and the opinion among the folks. More attention will be paid to the system of Supervisors, system of Official Newspaper and the key events in Ming Dynasty.