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| | The Revival of Chinese Culture (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07) |
 | | Zhu Yuanzhang, (Hongwu Emperor of China or Hong-wu) the founder of the dynasty, laid the foundations for a state little interested in commerce and more interested in extracting revenues from the agricultural sector. |
 | | Perhaps because of the Emperor's background as a peasant, the Ming economic system emphasized agriculture, unlike that of Song, which had preceded the Mongolian and relied on traders and merchants for revenues. |
 | | The emperor's role became even more autocratic, although Zhu Yuanzhang necessarily continued to use what he called the Grand Secretaries to assist with the immense paperwork of the bureaucracy, which included memorials (petitions and recommendations to the throne), imperial edicts in reply, reports of various kinds, and tax records. |
| www.chineseculture.info /history/revival.htm (450 words) |
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