100px|The Great Wall of China
The Ming Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644.
The Ming was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han Chinese.
Ming rule saw the construction of a vast navy and a standing army of
one million troops. There were enormous construction projects,
including the restoration of the Grand Canal and the Great Wall
(pictured) and the establishment of the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Emperor Hongwu's rebuilding of China's agricultural base and
strengthening of communication routes through the militarized courier
system had the unintended effect of creating a vast agricultural
surplus that could be sold at burgeoning markets located along courier
routes. By the 16th century, China became involved in a new global
trade of goods, plants, animals, and food crops known as the Columbian
Exchange. Trade with European powers and the Japanese brought in
massive amounts of silver, which then replaced copper and paper
banknotes as the common medium of exchange in China. During the last
decades of the Ming the flow of silver into China was greatly
diminished, thereby undermining the entire Ming economy. The ensuing
breakdown of authority and people's livelihoods allowed rebel leaders
such as Li Zicheng to challenge Ming authority. (more...)
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Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Dynasty>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1491:
Several Jews and conversos were executed in Toledo, Spain, for the
alleged ritual murder of an infant, who was later canonised as the Holy
Child of La Guardia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Child_of_La_Guardia>
1776:
American Revolutionary War: British and Hessian units captured Fort
Washington from the Patriots.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Washington>
1944:
World War II: Operation Queen commenced in Düren, Germany, with one of
the heaviest Allied tactical bombing attacks of the war.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Queen>
1959:
The Sound of Music, a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein based on The
Story of the Trapp Family Singers, opened on Broadway at the
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Music>
1997:
Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng was released from prison after nearly
18 years of on-and-off incarceration for "medical reasons" and deported
to the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wei_Jingsheng>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
ostinato (n):
A piece of melody, a chord progression, or a bass figure that is
repeated over and over as a musical accompaniment
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ostinato>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
There will not be one kind of community existing and one kind of life
led in utopia. Utopia will consist of utopias, of many different and
divergent communities in which people lead different kinds of lives
under different institutions. Some kinds of communities will be more
attractive to most than others; communities will wax and wane. People
will leave some for others or spend their whole lives in one. Utopia is
a framework for utopias, a place where people are at liberty to join
together voluntarily to pursue and attempt to realize their own vision
of the good life in the ideal community but where no one can impose his
own utopian vision upon others.
--Robert Nozick
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Nozick>