The Ming Dynasty was the embryonic period of Chinese capitalism, and if it continued to develop, it would certainly enter the capitalist era in advance, and as for whether it was the capitalist era of constitutional monarchy, it depended on the arrogance of the people at that time.
At that time, the capital market was already highly developed, and all forms of capitalism had already been formed.
Just waiting for a foot at the door, someone changed the dynasty of this feudal society into a capitalist country. In this way, we will be able to avoid detours of more than two hundred years, and we never expected that we would finally be beaten back to the original form by the Manchu Qing.
It can be said that the Manchu Qing Dynasty's entry into the Central Plains was the greatest sorrow of China. Originally, the whole world was on the same starting line, and we were more abundant and experienced than others, and we were at the forefront. If everyone continues to develop in this way, it is logical that there will be a highly developed scientific and technological civilization, but unfortunately the Manchu Qing killed all this.
The Ming Dynasty's constitutional monarchy can be seen from the cabinet auxiliary government.
The earliest constitutional monarchy was in 1688, a Glorious Revolution in Britain. So what year was 1688 in China? It was the 27th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, which means that at this time, it is reasonable for the whole world to enter the capitalist world from the feudal dynasty, but unfortunately we are still ruled by another feudal dynasty.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it was still the era of monarchy dictatorship, after all, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di were both emperors with strong wrists. However, by the middle of the Ming Dynasty, this situation had changed. Because of the introduction of the cabinet system, the emperor gradually delegated power to the cabinet ministers.
During the time of Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji and the three Yangs of the Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen period, Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, and Yang Pu,
That was the representative of the cabinet in power, who gradually grasped the core power of the state apparatus and the beginning of a constitutional monarchy.
By the time of Emperor Mingwu Zhu Houzhao, the situation had changed further, and Yang Tinghe, the first assistant minister of the cabinet, gradually had the power to compete with the imperial power.
The first assistant of the cabinet really became the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty.
The most famous is, of course, the cabinet ministers of the Jiajing Dynasty and the Wanli Dynasty, Yan Song, Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng basically controlled the entire Ming Dynasty and played the emperor in the palm of his hand.
Especially in the first ten years of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng monopolized power, and Wanli was just a decoration.
If at this time, Zhang Juzheng can break the window paper, completely empty the imperial power, and let the cabinet preside over the overall situation in the future, then the situation of constitutional monarchy can be realized.
Of course, the late Ming Dynasty was actually a process of competing for power and profit between imperial power and relative power. Most of the time, it was the imperial power that won, after all, there was no glorious revolution that was on the doorstep.
The Ming Dynasty's science and technology developed and continued to develop, and its future is unlimited.
The science and technology of the Ming Dynasty, in the eyes of the whole world at that time, was quite developed. This is something that many people did not expect, in fact, before the Qing Dynasty, we did not lag behind the Western countries at all, and everyone should naturally transition from feudal society to capitalist society.
In terms of astronomy, in 1607, Li Zhizao had already completed the book "Hun Gai Tong Xian Tu Theory" for the introduction of celestial phenomena, which detailed the important tasks of studying celestial phenomena.
In 1634, Xu Guangqi led a group of ministers to compile the Chongzhen Almanac, which Copernicus quoted a large number of arguments.
In mathematics and physics, Cheng Dawei's "Algorithm Tongzong" in 1592 was the earliest work to calculate squares and cubes using abacus. In 1606, Xu Guangqi and Matteo Ricci collaborated to translate the geometric original.
In 1637, Song Yingxing studied the transmission of sound through the air, and Fang Yizhi interpreted the phenomenon of atmospheric refraction.
In terms of chemical industry and chemistry, in 1596, the Ming Dynasty invented the explosive mining technology, and in the same year, Li Shizhen recorded the chemical properties of 276 inorganic drugs in the "Compendium of Materia Medica", and recorded the science and technology of distillation, evaporation, and sublimation.
In 1637, Song Yingxing regarded elements such as lead, copper, mercury, and sulfur as basic substances in the "Tiangong Kaiwu".
In terms of thermal weapons, in 1580 Qi Jiguang developed a mine-like one
Self-offense
Steel wheel fire. Invented in 1590, the Underwater Dragon King Cannon is the world's earliest underwater time bomb. Invented in 1637, the Mixed River Dragon resembles a modern torpedo
。 Ming cavalry was about 200 years ahead of Europe. In 1643, the Ming Dynasty invented the flowering cannon, which was equipped on a three-masted warship, about 300 years ahead of the British.
Therefore, at that time, no matter what aspect of the development of scientific and technological civilization in the Ming Dynasty, it was more advanced than that of Western countries, at least it could be said to be in parallel. If we continue to develop, it will only be a matter of time before we move from the backward feudal era to the advanced capital era.
A constitutional monarchy may not be suitable for us.
Have any of us ever thought about constitutional monarchy? Of course there is. At that time, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, the royalists, had always insisted on keeping the emperor, and their change of law was actually to embark on the road of constitutional monarchy.
Why? Because Japan did the same, in the end Japan became incredibly powerful, becoming the most powerful country in Asia. Therefore, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao naturally hope that China will become strong.
But the national conditions are completely different, let alone the constitutional monarchy,
After the success of the Xinhai Revolution that year, the abdication policy given to Puyi by the new government allowed him to continue to live in the Forbidden City, and there was an annual supply of expenses. Within a few years of hard work, some people were red-eyed, why did they raise such a person in vain? So he led his soldiers to drive him out of the Forbidden City.
On our soil, it is true that such a person will not be raised in vain, and it still occupies such a large piece of homestead. So constitutional monarchy doesn't work here.
Even if you look at the Ming Dynasty, this is the same reason.
The descendants of your old Zhu family no longer have enough imperial power, so why should the state still support you? Just because you are a national symbol?
Sorry, this set doesn't work for us here. The descendants of the old Zhu family, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were more than one million in the whole country, all of which had to be supported by the imperial court, and the financial burden was really too great.
In the feudal era, it was completely fine to do so, because it was a family world. However, in the capitalist era of constitutional monarchy, it is impossible to do so, and for this reason, the lethality of constitutional monarchy to the old Zhu family is really too great.
Summary: It was easy for the Ming Dynasty to enter capitalism, but it was difficult to embark on a constitutional monarchy.
In fact, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, various characteristics of capitalism have emerged, and if it continues to move forward, if it is not blocked by the Qing Dynasty, it may have entered capitalist society long ago.
But it is not an easy task to embark on the path of constitutional monarchy. After all, people's hearts are selfish, and they are good at jealousy, and they cannot and are not willing to spend tens of millions of dollars a year to raise a useless symbolic family.
Reference: History of the Ming Dynasty