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The Ming Dynasty was also the first to establish [[tribute]] relations with Japan (briefly, under the [[Ashikaga shogunate]]), and with the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]]. Though the Ming, at times, implemented strict policies of [[hai jin|maritime restrictions]], in other ways, or at other times, it was also a high point of trade and foreign relations.
The Ming Dynasty was also the first to establish [[tribute]] relations with Japan (briefly, under the [[Ashikaga shogunate]]), and with the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]]. Though the Ming, at times, implemented strict policies of [[hai jin|maritime restrictions]], in other ways, or at other times, it was also a high point of trade and foreign relations.
The population of China is believed to have been around 60-90 million at the beginning of the Ming, growing to around 125-150 million by the end of the period.<ref>[[Albert M. Craig]], ''The Heritage of Chinese Civilization'', Third Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 100.<br>Benjamin Elman, ''A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China'', University of California Press (2000), 130.</ref>
==Demographic & Economic Expansion==
While the [[Song Dynasty]] is often credited with seeing the emergence of many proto-modern economic institutions, including banking, paper money, and extensive interconnected domestic commercial networks, it was in the Ming period that these advances spread more completely throughout the country. Song agricultural advances, including new strains of rice, combined with the expansion of lands under cultivation, contributed to a considerable increase in agricultural production throughout much of the country. This boost in the food supply, combined with commercial growth, fueled a considerable expansion of population, which in turn further fueled commercial and urban growth. These in turn led to an increased need for administrative organization both in the cities and the provinces, and so the scholar-bureaucrat class grew in numbers and importance. By the end of the Ming period, the ''jìnshì'' degree, held only those who had passed the top levels of the [[Chinese imperial examinations|civil examinations]], became quite standard for anyone claiming elite status, while the social value or status of the degrees held by those who passed only regional and provincial exams decreased considerably.
Areas of northern China which became relatively depopulated during the period of Mongol rule were resettled during the Ming, and the [[Grand Canal]] was reopened in [[1415]], reconnecting a vital trade route between north and south.
==Foreign Relations==
==Foreign Relations==