Historical Significance of Peasant Uprising at the End of Yuan Dynasty

The peasant uprising at the end of Yuan Dynasty lasted 17 years, which was another nationwide large-scale peasant uprising in the history of China after the Huang Chao uprising at the end of Tang Dynasty. It dealt a heavy blow to the feudal rule of Mongolian nobles, and at the same time made the feudal landlord class realize the terrible and great power of the peasant class, which made the landlord class dare not exploit the peasants excessively for a long time. After this uprising, the problems of land annexation and land concentration accumulated for a long time since the Northern Song Dynasty were greatly adjusted and alleviated, which promoted the development of social productive forces and paved the way for a new round of productive forces development. Due to years of war, the population decreased and the wasteland increased, which led to the "immigration and reclamation" movement in the early Ming Dynasty, and the class contradictions in the early Ming Dynasty were alleviated to some extent. However, it is worth noting that due to the lack of a new leadership, the achievements of the peasant uprising were quickly stolen by a group of Han new feudal landlords transformed from peasant uprising leaders. Therefore, the uprising did not lead to the change of social nature, and China was still moving slowly in the long night of feudal society.

Secondly, in this great uprising, a large number of handmaiden were liberated. The fact that handmaiden was liberated in the struggle is of universal significance. "Daming Law" stipulates: "In the house of Shu Ren, those who keep their handmaids will be given a hundred sticks, which means kindness." This shows that the liberation of handmaiden in the uprising has been affirmed by law.