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==Policies==
==Policies==
The founder of the Ming, the Hongwu Emperor, is often described as an autocrat and despot. He abolished the Grand Secretariat which in previous periods had handled important matters of state, insisting instead on handling such matters himself. He had three prime ministers killed, and no one was reappointed to that post for the duration of the dynasty. Further, unlike in earlier dynasties, regents were not appointed for young emperors, and in fact close male relatives of the emperor - essentially anyone who could contest his claim to the throne, or contest the succession - were removed from the palace, given lavish villas in the provinces, and were forbidden from traveling without the emperor's authorization. Ming emperors, even those not yet in their majority, thus bore more of the brunt of day-to-day administration than their predecessors.<ref>Ray Huang, ''1587: A Year of No Significance'', Yale University Press (1981), 18.</ref>
The founder of the Ming, the Hongwu Emperor, is often described as an autocrat and despot. He abolished the [[Grand Secretariat]] which in previous periods had handled important matters of state, insisting instead on handling such matters himself. He had three prime ministers killed, and no one was reappointed to that post for the duration of the dynasty. Further, unlike in earlier dynasties, regents were not appointed for young emperors, and in fact close male relatives of the emperor - essentially anyone who could contest his claim to the throne, or contest the succession - were removed from the palace, given lavish villas in the provinces, and were forbidden from traveling without the emperor's authorization.
Some later emperors were not as able, or as willing, to handle such a load, and during certain reigns, government processes slowed down and backed up dramatically. In the late Ming period, a succession of emperors showed little interest in governance; one even remained illiterate throughout his reign. As a result, the re-established Grand Secretariat and palace eunuchs gained considerable power at over policy and administration.
With no prime minister (chancellor, ''chengxiang'') to help handle the daily administrative business of governance, Ming emperors, even those not yet in their majority, thus bore more of the brunt of day-to-day administration than their predecessors.<ref>Ray Huang, ''1587: A Year of No Significance'', Yale University Press (1981), 18.</ref> The Hongwu Emperor himself is reported to have handled 1,660 memorials on 3,391 different matters in one particular 10-day period.<ref name=schiro244>Conrad Schirokauer, et al, ''A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations'', Fourth Edition, Cengage Learning (2012), 244.</ref> Some later emperors were not as able, or as willing, to handle such a load, and during certain reigns, government processes slowed down and backed up dramatically. In the late Ming period, a succession of emperors showed little interest in governance; one even remained illiterate throughout his reign. As a result, the re-established Grand Secretariat and palace [[eunuchs]] gained considerable power at over policy and administration.
Hongwu also implemented a "Great Ming Code," attempting to transform and regulate society in accordance with a legal framework informed by ancient precedents. This included numerous structures which did have lasting impact; however, the Hongwu Emperor also frequently contradicted his own Great Code to suit needs of the immediate moment, or purely on a whim. One of his lasting changes was the establishment of a system known as ''li-jia'', in which every ten families in a neighborhood or village constituted a ''jia'', and each ten ''jia'' a ''li''; each ''li'' and ''jia'' was then mutually responsible for ensuring the good conduct of its members, a system not entirely unlike the [[Edo period]] Japanese system of ''[[goningumi]]'' (five person groups).<ref name=schiro244/>
The Hongwu Emperor also continued a trend in significantly increasing the emperor's standing relative to his ministers, requiring them to bow in his presence, where they had stood in the emperor's presence during the [[Song Dynasty]], and sat before him or even alongside him during the [[Tang Dynasty]].<ref name=schiro244/>
==Demographic & Economic Expansion==
==Demographic & Economic Expansion==