Map Introduction

I. Politics and Frontier Governance

The eighth year of the Xuande era (1433) marked the late reign of the Ming Emperor Xuanzong (Zhu Zhanji), during which the Ming dynasty implemented various measures to consolidate its rule in border regions. In the Northeast, the court re-erected the Yongning Temple Stele at the Nurgan Regional Military Commission (in the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River), inscribed in Chinese, Jurchen, Mongolian, and Tibetan scripts, reaffirming sovereignty over the Heilongjiang River basin. In the Northwest, Hami Guard remained an outpost for Ming control over the Western Regions, although its actual influence was gradually receding. Rule in Yunnan was maintained through the Tusi (native chieftain) system, extending its sphere of influence into northern Burma and Laos.

II. Economy and Fiscal Reforms

To alleviate the "currency shortage," the court implemented a system converting official salaries to paper currency: for capital officials, one shi of salary rice was converted to 15 guan of paper money, with 70% converted to silk (400 guan per bolt) and 30% to cloth (200 guan per bolt). Local officials and banner troops underwent similar adjustments. That year, the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln produced over 400,000 pieces of blue-and-white porcelain, using imported cobalt pigments like "Sumali blue" from Southeast Asia, making them important commodities in maritime trade.

III. End of the Naval Age

Zheng He died of illness (March 1433) on the return voyage of his seventh and final maritime expedition, marking the termination of official Ming naval activities. Although the fleet had previously reached Hormuz, Emperor Xuanzong abandoned further ocean-going plans due to financial pressures, leading to the gradual replacement of strategic strongholds like Malacca by the Portuguese.

IV. Society and Culture

The court reorganized the bureaucracy, dismissing 77 redundant capital officials, and reviewed the selection process for examination-qualified officials. The first edition of the vernacular story collection More Tales Told under the Lamplight was published, its secular themes of love and marriage influencing later works like Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. Buddhist culture continued to develop, evidenced by the restoration of a fifty-meter-high Buddhist pagoda in Beijing.

V. Military Affairs and Coastal Threats

Coastal raids by Japanese pirates (Wokou) intensified in the Southeast, with pirates plundering under the guise of tribute missions, forcing the Ming court to issue maritime prohibition orders. Uprisings by the Wuluo minority in Guizhou and famished peasants in Jiangxi were suppressed, highlighting pressures on local governance.

Summary

The year 1433 represents a turning point where the Ming dynasty began shifting from prosperity to decline. The retrenchment in the frontiers, cessation of naval expeditions, and fiscal adjustments foreshadowed the later Tumu Crisis (1449). Although the Xuande reign's reforms stabilized the situation in the short term, they failed to resolve structural contradictions, marking the end of the Yongle-Xuande golden age.

Map Source

The online historical map of China for the eighth year of the Xuande era (1433 AD) of the Ming Dynasty is sourced from the National Geographic Atlas of China.

This atlas was chiefly edited by Wang Jing'ai and Zuo Wei, compiled by the Editorial Committee of the National Geographic Atlas of China, and published by China Map Press. The map employs an Equal Area Conic Projection and has a scale of 1:25,000,000.

This atlas includes three map groups: Physical Geography, Human Geography, and Resource Development & Land Management. Among them, the Physical Geography group contains 11 units: Natural Landscape, Geomorphology, Geology, Climate, Hydrology, Soil, Vegetation, Animals, Oceans, Physical Regionalization, and Evolution of the Natural Environment. This section forms the foundational part of physical geography, primarily depicting the types, intensity, and spatiotemporal distribution patterns of various physical geographic elements in China. The Human Geography group contains 7 units: Ancient Territory, Population, Urban and Rural Areas, Society, Culture and Tourism, Transportation and Modern Communications, Education and Science & Technology, and Economic Development. This is the section with the fastest updates of geographic base data, mainly showing the types, intensity, and spatiotemporal changes of various human/economic geographic elements in China. The Resource Development & Land Management group contains 10 units: Land Resources and Development, Water Resources and Development, Energy Resources and Development, Biological Resources and Development, Land Degradation and Ecological Construction, Natural Disasters and Mitigation, Environmental Pollution and Control, Endemic Diseases and Environment, Biodiversity and Nature Reserves, and Comprehensive Geographic Regionalization. Guided by the "human-land relationship" theme, it reflects the characteristics and spatiotemporal patterns of China's natural resources, environmental issues arising from resource development and utilization, and land management measures.

Note: The brown lines and annotations on the map represent modern content.

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