Interestingly, I believe when the Qing took control, the Han made 8 banners for themselves and adopted the banner system. I wonder how this affected the general population and if civilians were also sorted under the han banners

This is a really interesting way to put it. At the same time, I can only assume that he probably didn't care that much about losing his power, as he was tired of the courts and bureaucrats.

This is an interesting effect. Even if you can get a specific definition or conditions for "modernity", and then try and match those up to different eras in Chinese history, I still think one would face issues when trying to pin down and fully understand an abstract concept like modernity. It makes me wonder how important it really is to have a period defined as modern, because the events still transpired in the same exact way whether we define them as modern hundreds of years later.

I agree with this. This effect has happened all over the world, and I read about it at length in a class about islamic societies, where many traditions change to conform to European norms and culture. In the past, the idea of civility has also been associated with westerness or Europe, and its Interesting to see that the ming dynasty had its own version of this, considering other cultures to be barbarians.

I have read and agree with the syllabus.

This sentence and paragraph reminds me of our conversation about black artists being pressured to create Statement or protest pieces. The art is made by an individual, and his motives and reasons are his own, not something that can be assumed because of his race.