The Ming maritime expeditions stop rather suddenly…

The Ming maritime expeditions stop 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 leads to a revival of strict agrarian-centered society.

The stability of the Ming dynasty, which is without major disruptions of the population (at this time around one hundred million), economy, arts, society, or politics, promotes a belief among the Chinese that they have achieved the most satisfactory civilization on earth and that nothing foreign is needed or welcome.