Longer lasting Ming Dynasty?

[Hero-King Marth]

Is it possible to have the Empire of the Great Ming last longer and, if so, how? How long could it rule China, until the Industrial Revolution? Or perhaps even up to the modern day? How would the world be affected by it?

I'm curious and want to know what you guys think.

 

[zeppelinair]

No Japanese invasion of Korea may help. The Ming really made a wholehearted effort to save Korea and that in the end made them very weak. And if they don't intervene after the Japanese do invade Korea, they should start fearing major attacks against Beijing and other parts of northern China.
Another option is having a few Ming dynasty generals establishing post-dynasties after dismantling governments in Burma, the Philippines, Formosa, etc. I'd think this is more interesting but possibly less plausible than the former.

 

[kasumigenx]

For the Philippines why not have the Majapahit flee to the Philippines and topple the Bruneians in that way the Spanish would have no way to give the gold that inflated the currency in China at that time.

 

[dandan_noodles]

A big part of the problem was that global temperatures had been falling for years before the fall of the dynasty; lacking sufficient grains, soldiers went unpaid and mutinied. Warfare inside China devastated the economic infrastructure, which exacerbated problems of food shortages and disease. Weather conditions got worse, with the Grand Canal drying up in 1641, and the rebels took the capital in 1644. You can't get rid of global cooling without walking into ASB territory, so you'd have to figure out a way for the empire to survive in ideal state-breaking conditions.

 

[darthfanta]

A big part of the problem was that global temperatures had been falling for years before the fall of the dynasty; lacking sufficient grains, soldiers went unpaid and mutinied. Warfare inside China devastated the economic infrastructure, which exacerbated problems of food shortages and disease. Weather conditions got worse, with the Grand Canal drying up in 1641, and the rebels took the capital in 1644. You can't get rid of global cooling without walking into ASB territory, so you'd have to figure out a way for the empire to survive in ideal state-breaking conditions.

What about getting corn and potatoes introduced more widespread than otl?

 

[Emperor RyRy]

A big part of the problem was that global temperatures had been falling for years before the fall of the dynasty; lacking sufficient grains, soldiers went unpaid and mutinied. Warfare inside China devastated the economic infrastructure, which exacerbated problems of food shortages and disease. Weather conditions got worse, with the Grand Canal drying up in 1641, and the rebels took the capital in 1644. You can't get rid of global cooling without walking into ASB territory, so you'd have to figure out a way for the empire to survive in ideal state-breaking conditions.

Yes you can.


No discovery of the New World until 1600, therefore North and South America's massive woodlands are kept nice and sparse by the natives, as IRL the mass dying of tens of millions of natives made the forests grow unchecked, pumping absolute shitloads of oxygen into the atmosphere and taking away CO2.

 

[dandan_noodles]

It's hard to justify away the discovery of the Americas, since that development was the result of long term development of better shipmaking and navigational techniques that allow more ambitious voyages west.

Moreover, though, the universe itself was conspiring to destroy empires across the world; during the 17th century, you have dramatically less sunspot activity. Some years, we can get a hundred sunspots; between 1640 and 1710, there are fewer than a hundred. There's also increased volcanic activity, which means less sunlight reaches earth, and these temperature shifts lead to increases in El Niño activity; OTL, there was more than twice as much during the 17th century than today. It's not impossible for the dynasty to survive, but they'd need someone like Zeng Guofan to rise to the challenge, and their servants were found wanting in comparison.