Mongol Rule
In 1206 ad, the Mongols, from a region north of China, became unified under the leader Genghis Khan. In the years that followed, Mongol armies conquered and seized parts of China. By 1260 ad, the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan had captured northern China and become the emperor. By 1279 ad, he had conquered southern China and founded the Yuan dynasty. The Yuan dynasty ruled for about 90 years until a former Buddhist monk and military leader, Zhu Yuanzhang, took the throne as the first ruler of the Ming dynasty.
Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (1328 AD-1398 AD) founded the Ming Dynasty.
The Grand Canal
During the Sui dynasty (581 ad to 618 ad), emperors ordered the construction of a canal crossing the Huang He and the Yangtze rivers, to connect northern and southern China. People used the canal, known as the Grand Canal, to transport agricultural products from the Yangtze basin to northern China. The Sui emperors forced about six million laborers to work at building the canal. About 1,100 miles (1,770 km) long, it remains the world’s longest human-made waterway. The canal flows through some of China’s most historically important cities.
Originally built to transport grain from the south to Beijing, the Grand Canal today is an important shipping route for barges carrying goods such as bricks, gravel, sand, and coal.
The servant fell under the discipline of the master and mistress of the house. Shanghai Metro Map For example, in Puritan New England, parents were encouraged to discipline not only their children but also their servants in order to maintain a moral family structure for all who lived in the household. Social Status of Domestic Servants Domestic servants also fell low in the hierarchy of status. Domestic work was considered unskilled labor, because it required little formal training. It also did not require the period of apprenticeship that accompanied the skilled craft positions usually reserved for males. Within the household, servants knew that their place was below the master, mistress, and children.
Colonists brought this view with them from England and used it to legitimize the low social status of servants in Country. The existence of slavery in the Country colonies also contributed to the stigma of servitude. Although there was a distinct difference between servant and slave (especially concerning the law), slavery was generally associated with any type of servitude. Immigration had a similar effect. By the 1710s, German and Irish immigrants began coming to Country. Many of the newly arriving immigrants became domestic servants, a trend that continued well into the nineteenth century. The negative attitude toward immigrants in general reinforced the stigma of domestic work.
Shanghai Metro Map Photo Gallery
