The Ming Dynasty, inaugurated by first Ming emperor Zhu Yuan zhang of uneducated peasant origins, revives shi scholar-gentry, Confucian classics, colleges/universities, civil service exam system; and reforms court abuses, factionalism, makes laws favorable to peasantry; continues public works projects. Ming emperors also encouraged the growth of agriculture, population, handicraft industries--silk textiles, tea, fine ceramics (see Ming Dynasty vase) and lacquerware--commerce, arts, and innovations in literature (e.g. Chinese novel).
See Guanyin (or Kuan-yin, the Buddhist god/goddess of mercy) of the Water Moon, Northern Song/Tangut, ink and color on silk scroll, dated to CE 968, from the Dunhuang Buddhist complex controlled by the Tangut people, for whom Buddhism is still the dominant religion. After approximately the mid-Tang, institutional Buddhism held much less appeal for the Chinese intelligentsia and upper classes. In Song society and afterwards, Buddhism was increasingly appropriated by native traditions, most obviously Neo-Confucianism, and was progressively weakened. Men of quality now rejected the Buddhist priesthood for themselves or their sons, and once-great temples fell into disrepair. Buddhism among the peasant masses tended to fuse with Daoist and folk-religious elements into an almost undifferentiated popular religion.
The first Song emperor decided to be guided by the principle of wen—emphasizing civil, rather than military, government, cultural values and "literature." He was a strong supporter of scholarly projects, commissioning large compilations and preservations of Tang classical literature and tales that would otherwise have been lost. Song "Neo-Confucianism" (Dao-xue, or "the study of the [Confucian] way") stressed taking the creed to "heart," calling for a more personal commitment to Confucian values, measuring one’s attitudes and behaviors against the values in the Confucian Classics, and developed into an elaborated philosophy and personal religion. These "neo-Confucianist" attitudes encouraged multiple and divergent interpretations of the Classics, rather than single authoritative interpretation of consensus. Buddhism and Daoism waned but their influence can be seen in the ways the Song reshaped Han- and Tang-era Confucianism.
