In chronological order, which factors led to the Ming dynasty’s decline?

In the middle of the 14th century a rebellion broke out among the Chinese farmers, who were forced to erect dams on the Yellow River by the Emperor Huizong, belonging to the Yuan Dynasty of Mongol origin, initiated by Kublai Khan almost a century before.

After the rebellion, a poor farmer and Buddhist monk, Zhu Yuanzhang, rose to the imperial throne by initiating the Ming Dynasty. Its lineage would direct the destinies of the most extensive empire of its time during almost three centuries and would lead to China to its period of greater stability, favoring a great cultural splendor and a social and economic development without precedents in the history of the country.

With the seventeenth century came the decline of the Ming Dynasty. The Little Ice Age brought years of cold and dry weather that, by shortening the periods of cultivation, produced strong shortages.

Thus, the famine returned to China. The taxes went up and the works were paralyzed, which in turn generated floods that, like a wheel, generated more hunger due to shortage of crops.

In contrast to the majority ethnic group in China, the Han, in the region of Manchuria, in the northeast of the country, the predominant ethnic group is Manchu.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century the Manchu tribal leader Nurhaci unified the region, vassal of the Ming Empire and, with a strengthened army and the dominant empire in full decline, declared war on Emperor Wanli.

The war lasted for more than twenty years. The Ming empire, in the midst of the economic and social crisis, had scarce resources for war, and desertions in the army were continuous and numerous.

As had happened three centuries before, social discontent resulted in numerous popular uprisings across the country. But finally the catalyst was a mutiny of the troops, who did not receive supplies.

The mutinous troops, with popular support, had no difficulty in imposing themselves on the loyal, weakened army, mostly for the defense of the northern wall. The rebels marched on Beijing and its leader, a former postal service worker named Li Zicheng, proclaimed himself emperor.

When the gates of the Forbidden City opened thanks to a betrayal and the mob entered, the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen, hanged himself from a tree in the imperial garden.

Despite the death of the emperor and the fall of the dynasty, the Ming power did not disappear from China immediately. Some cities and provinces, still loyal to the old emperor, resisted the Manchu power. However, little by little they were falling in front of the new imperial power and the last suitor Ming was defeated and executed in 1662.