Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368-1644

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Based largely upon original Ming documents, the Dictionaryexplores the lives of nearly 650 representative figures, both Chinese and foreign, who deeply influenced the course of almost three hundred years of Chinese history. Written by noted scholars throughout the world, the articles span all classes, professions, and fields of endeavor, from emperors, empresses, and imperial concubines to soldiers and scholars, writers and artists, philosophers and musicians, missionaries and monks, physicians and architects, pirates and shipbuilders, and even a single lacquer maker.Notable figures include the founder of the Ming, Chu Yuan-chang, his redoubtable son, Chu Ti, who fought the Mongols, built Peking, and authorized a great thesaurus of Chinese literature, the famed eunuch Cheng Ho, who directed the great fleets that explored as far as Africa, the eminent thinker Wang Shou-jen, whose ideas dominated the philosophical thought of the time, the dramatist Kao Ming, author of the Lute Song, the poetess Huang O, the celebrated painter, Shen Chou, the great Jesuit missionary, Matteo Ricci, and many other writers, musicians, and scientists.In addition to the specific entries, each of which contains its own bibliography, this exhaustive reference work includes maps and illustrations. Volume II of the work incorporates extensive name and book indexes. There is also a general topic index conveniently arranged according to the subject areas found in the book. Written with the cooperation of museums, libraries, and institutions of learning the world over, the Dictionary of Ming Biography represents a substantial, much-needed breakthrough in a major frontier of Chinese studies.