The Study Of The Imperial Clan Problem Of Jiajing Period

The imperial clan problem is the outcome of subinfeudation, it played a crucialrole in a country’s prosperity and decline. For generations of China’s ancientdynasties, no monarch dared to ignore the importance of those problems. If thoseproblems were not handled properly, they would trigger series of social contradictions.Based on lessons learned from former dynasties, emperors of Ming dynasty conductedstrict management on imperial clan problems. However, instead of working well,those measures caused chaos in the imperial clan management and intensified socialcontradictions, which at last caused social turbulence and speeded up the fall of MingDynasty. How could the imperial clam problems take on such kind of features inMing Dynasty?The imperial clan problem is one of three main social problems of later MingDynasty, which posed great influence on its political aspects. While, as for thisproblem, Jiajing period was a turning point and caused significant aspects on laterMing Dynasty. Therefore, it is quite essential to study the imperial clan problems ofJiajing period. During Jiajing’s45year reign, the social contradictions wereunprecedented intensified, and eventually the problem of imperial clan headed towarda collapse. By studying the imperial clan problem of this period, it would be easy forus to understand the historical development of the problem and conduct in-depthstudy about Ming Dynasty’s rise and decline.To begin with, the thesis comprehensively recounts the origin of Ming’ssubinfeudation and lists relevant administrative departments and staff designated toimperial clans. The next part is about detailed discourse analysis about the imperialclan problem of Jiajing period, such as, the increasing population of the imperial clan,severe financial pressure and people’s burden caused by imperial clans’ emolument,various kinds of crimes committed by imperial clan, etc. After that, by comparing thechange of policies implemented before and after the enactment of The Imperial ClanRegulations, the thesis advances its main points about the policy adjustments duringJiajing period about imperial clans. At last, the thesis reviews the implementation and influence of those new policies and makes a brief analysis on what resulted in thefailure of the imperial clan reformation.