与蒙古人的长期战争，日本人入侵朝鲜，倭寇长期骚扰中国沿海城市，至16世纪，明朝的统治衰弱了，和以往的中国朝代一样，会出现一个新的势力来取代它。1644年， 满洲人从北方攻占北京，统治了中国北部，确立了最后一个封建王朝，清朝(1644-1911)。
Rivalry among the Mongol imperial heirs, natural disasters, and numerous peasant uprisings led to the collapse of the Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) was founded by a Han Chinese peasant and former Buddhist monk turned rebel army leader (朱元璋). Having its capital first at Nanjing (南京which means Southern Capital) and later at Beijing (北京or Northern Capital), the Ming reached the zenith of power during the first quarter of the fifteenth century. The Chinese armies reconquered Annam (安南), as orthern Vietnam was then known, in Southeast Asia and kept back the Mongols, while the Chinese fleet sailed the China seas and the Indian Ocean, cruising as far as the east coast of Africa. The maritime Asian nations sent envoys with tribute for the Chinese emperor. Internally, the Grand Canal was expanded to its farthest limits and proved to be a stimulus to domestic trade.
蒙古贵族内部的争权夺势，天灾和大量的农民起义导致了元朝的瓦解。明朝是由一个叫朱元璋的判军首领建立的，他是个汉族的农民，以前还当过和尚。明朝先建都在南京，而后在北京，它的权利在15世纪前25年达到顶峰。汉族军队又一次征服了安南（就是现在的越南南部地区，在亚洲东南部），击退了蒙古军队，与此同时，中国舰队驶向中国海和印度洋，最远到达了非洲东海岸。亚洲的半岛国家，派出使节带着供品来朝拜明朝庭。国内，大运河延伸到尽可能的远，促进了国内贸易的发展。
The Ming maritime expeditions stopped rather suddenly after 1433, the date of the last voyage. Historians have given as one of the reasons the great expense of large-scale expeditions at a time of preoccupation with northern defenses against the Mongols. Opposition at court also may have been a contributing factor, as conservative officials found the concept of expansion and commercial ventures alien to Chinese ideas of government. Pressure from the powerful Neo-Confucian bureaucracy led to a revival of strict agrarian-centered society. The stability of the Ming dynasty, which was without major disruptions of the population (then around 100 million), economy, arts, society, or politics, promoted a belief among the Chinese that they had achieved the most satisfactory civilization on earth and that nothing foreign was needed or welcome.
明朝的海上探险于1433年某天的最后一次航程后突然停止。历史学家给出的理由就是，海上探险需要大量的开支，而当时的当务之急就是抵御蒙古人的入侵。朝廷上有人反对也可能是个客观原因，因为一些保守的中国官员认为，扩张和经济入侵与政府的传统观念背道而驰。新儒家掌权派对政府施加压力，使得社会恢复到以前的土地集中制模式。明朝的稳定，是和它人口（大约有1亿），经济，艺术或者政治都是分不开的,从而形成了中国人这样一种观点，他们的文明是世界上最发达的，不需要也不欢迎任何外国人。
Long wars with the Mongols, incursions by the Japanese into Korea, and harassment of Chinese coastal cities by the Japanese in the sixteenth century weakened Ming rule, which became, as earlier Chinese dynasties had, ripe for an alien takeover. In 1644 the Manchus (满洲人) took Beijing from the north and became masters of north China, establishing the last imperial dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911).
