内容简介

本书从“洪武开国”讲起，以明朝的政治演变为主线，对明朝的治乱兴衰做了深入浅出的解读，阐述了严刑重典、宦官干政、内阁倾轧、倭寇之乱、皇帝荒政、晚明党争、农民起义、明清鼎革等影响明朝衰亡的重要事件，对明代重要的历史事件、关键人物以及历史疑案做了通俗的考释与解说。最后，对明代的文学、思想、科技等也做了简明的概述。

作者简介

主编简介

主编之一李学勤（1933—2019）

著名历史学家、考古学家、古文字学家、古文献学家和教育家，被学术界誉为“百科全书式的学者”。曾担任中国社会科学院历史研究所所长、“夏商周断代工程”首席科学家与专家组组长、清华大学出土文献研究与保护中心主任、中国先秦史学会理事长和名誉理事长。1997年当选为国际欧亚科学院院士，2018年被聘为清华大学首批文科资深教授。2013年获首届“汉语人文学术写作终身成就奖”和“孔子文化奖”，2014年获首届国学大典“全球华人国学奖终身成就奖”，2015年获第四届“吴玉章人文社会科学终身成就奖”。

长期致力于中国古代文明的研究，在甲骨学研究、青铜器研究、战国文字研究、简帛学研究等多学科领域都做出了开创性的贡献，提出了“重新估价中国古代文明”“走出疑古时代”等学术主张，引领和推进了中国古代史、考古学、古文字学等多学科的发展。出版了《殷代地理简论》《东周与秦代文明》《古文字学初阶》《新出青铜器研究》《比较考古学随笔》《走出疑古时代》《简帛佚籍与学术史》《重写学术史》《中国古史寻证》《中国古代文明研究》《清华简及古代文明》等学术著作40多部。

主编之一郭志坤

出版家，历史学家，上海市文史研究馆馆员，享受国务院颁发的政府特殊津贴，被出版界称为“学者型编辑”。曾担任文汇出版社和上海人民出版社总编辑，荣获首届上海出版人金奖和“全国百佳出版工作者”称号。策划了《中国通史》（白寿彝总主编）和“中国断代史系列”丛书，主编了《贤哲自述丛书》《香港全纪录》《澳门全纪录》，并著有《秦始皇大传》、《隋炀帝大传》、《荀学论稿》、《成语里的中国通史》（与陈雪良合著）、《提问诸子丛书》（与陈雪良合著）等。

著者简介

张海英

历史学博士，现为复旦大学历史学系教授、博士生导师。长期从事明清史、中国古代经济史、经济思想史等领域的研究工作，并在历史学系讲授《中国古代史》《明清史》等课程。已出版《明清江南商品流通与市场体系》等学术专著。在《历史研究》《中国经济史研究》《中国社会科学（英文版）》《学术月刊》《社会科学》等杂志上发表学术论文多篇。

Content introduction

This book starts with "Hongwu Founding the Country", takes the political evolution of the Ming Dynasty as the main line, and makes a profound and simple interpretation of the rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty. It expounds the important events that affected the decline of the Ming Dynasty, such as severe punishment and heavy discipline, the interference of eunuchs in government, the rebellion of the Cabinet, the rebellion of the Japanese pirates, the chaos of the emperor, the struggle of the party in the late Ming Dynasty, the peasant uprising, and the reform of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It makes a popular explanation and explanation of the important historical events, key figures and historical mysteries in the Ming Dynasty. Finally, the literature, thought, science and technology of the Ming Dynasty are also briefly summarized.

About the author

Profile of the chief editor

Li Xueqin (1933-2019)

He is a famous historian, archaeologist, paleographer, bibliologist and educator, and is praised as an "encyclopedic scholar" by the academic circle. He has served as the director of the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the chief scientist and group leader of the "Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties Project", the director of the Research and Protection Center of Unearthed Documents of Tsinghua University, and the chairman and honorary chairman of the Chinese Pre-Qin History Society. He was elected as an academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences in 1997, and was appointed as one of the first senior professors of liberal arts at Tsinghua University in 2018. In 2013, he won the first "Chinese Humanities Academic Writing Lifetime Achievement Award" and "Confucius Culture Award", in 2014, he won the first "Global Chinese Studies Award Lifetime Achievement Award", and in 2015, he won the fourth "Wu Yuzhang Humanities and Social Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award".

He has been committed to the study of ancient Chinese civilization for a long time, and has made pioneering contributions in the multidisciplinary fields of oracle bone study, bronze ware study, Warring States script study, and silk study. He has put forward academic propositions such as "reappraising ancient Chinese civilization" and "stepping out of the doubtful ancient era", leading and promoting the development of Chinese ancient history, archaeology, ancient philology and other disciplines. He has published more than 40 academic works, such as "Brief Introduction to Yin Dynasty Geography", "Civilization of Eastern Zhou and Qin Dynasties", "Early Stage of Ancient Literature", "Research on New Bronzes", "Essays on Comparative Archaeology", "Stepping Out of the Doubtful Ancient Times", "Lost Books and Academic History", "Rewriting Academic History", "Searching for Evidence of Ancient Chinese History", "Research on Ancient Chinese Civilization", and "Tsinghua Jane and Ancient Civilization".

Guo Zhikun, one of the chief editors

The publisher, historian, and librarian of Shanghai Institute of Literature and History enjoy the special government allowance issued by The State Council, and are called "academic editors" in the publishing industry. He served as the editor-in-chief of Wenhui Publishing House and Shanghai People's Publishing House, and won the first Shanghai Publishers Gold Award and the title of "National Top 100 Publishing Workers". He planned the "General History of China" (chief editor of Bai Shouyi) and the "Chinese History Series", edited the "Sage Self-Narrative Series", "Hong Kong Complete Records" and "Macao Complete Records", and wrote "The Biography of Qin Shihuang", "The Biography of Emperor Yang", "Manuscript of Xunxun Studies", "The General History of China in Idioms" (co-authored with Chen Xueliang), "Questions of the Sons Series" (co-authored with Chen Xueliang) and so on.

Author profile

Zhang Haiying

Doctor of History, Professor of History Department of Fudan University, doctoral supervisor. He has been engaged in research on the history of Ming and Qing Dynasties, ancient Chinese economic history, and history of economic thought for a long time, and taught courses such as Ancient Chinese History and History of Ming and Qing Dynasties in the Department of History. He has published academic monographs such as Commodity Circulation and Market System in Jiangnan of Ming and Qing Dynasties. He has published many academic papers in such journals as "Historical Research", "Chinese Economic History Research", "Chinese Social Sciences (English Edition)", "Academic Monthly" and "Social Sciences".