明朝统治中国276年，被人们描绘成人类历史上治理有序、社会稳定的最伟大的时代之一。这一时期，手工业的发展促进了市场经济和城市化。大量商品，包括酒和丝绸，都在市场销售。同时，还进口许多外国商品，如时钟和烟草。北京、南京、扬州、苏州这样的大商业中心相继形成。也是在明代，由郑和率领的船队曾到印度洋进行了七次大规模探险航行。还值得一提的是，中国文学的四大经典名著中有三部写于明代。
Ruling China for 276 years, the Ming Dynasty was described a regulation better, society stable and the most great era in people's history. The development of manufacturing contribute to the market economy and urbanization in this period. A mounting number of goods including wines and silks were sold in market. Meantime, there are many importing googs from foreign like clock tobacco. The large commercial center to emergy like BeiJing, NanJing, YangZhou and SuZhou. Also in the Ming Dynasty, the Zheng He's fleet had explored in Indian Ocean for seven times. In addition, the three works of the four famous Chinese literatures were writen in the Ming Dynasty.