Although Chinese foreign trade under the Ming Dynasty in the 16th cent

1. With which of the following generalization regarding the Ming Dynasty would the author most probably agree?

(A) It was the dynasty most open to foreign trade in Chinese history.
Ming Dynasty was open to trade compared to previous dynasties. Chinese history is both before and after the Ming dynasty. While the author would agree with this statement for the period of Chinese history during and before the Ming dynasty, he would not necessarily say so for the Manchus dynasty and beyond.

(B) The trade with European powers that it ultimately accepted had an unexpected e¤ect on its fate.
What started off as trade with Portuguese and then with the Spanish colonies in silver ‘ultimately … contributed to the demise of the Ming dynasty’. So, the author would agree with this one.
(C) It could not survive without some form of interaction with Japan.
The Chinese were vary of Japan after the coastal attacks and did not trade with Japan. They survived without Japan and begun trade with the Portuguese. So, the author would not agree with this,
(D) Protestant nations did more good for the long-term security of the Ming than did Catholic powers.
The skirmishes between the Protestants and Catholics affected the sources of silver. If anything, the Protestants were worse as their raids halted the supply of Japanese brokered silver.
(E) Its treatment of foreign visitors was frequently harsh and often excessive in severity.
While the first paragraph does say that the first Portuguese expedition did die in a Chinese jail and that the Chinese were wary of foreigners, that one incident in the passage cannot justify the choice of ‘frequently’ in this answer choice. How do we know that the Portuguese were not lying or

2. The passage suggests that Ming-Japanese interaction different from Ming-Portuguese interaction in that

(A) The initial welcome the Ming granted the Japanese was warmer than the welcome extended to the Portuguese.
There is no mention of Ming greeting the Japanese in the passage. So, this cannot be compared with the welcome extended to the Portuguese.
(B) The Portuguese traded goods harvested and manufactured in its colonies while the Japanese brokered goods from other sources.
We are not told the source of where the Portuguese manufactured their goods. We are told that the Europeans brokered Japanese silver to China. That is not the same as the Japanese brokering goods from other sources.
(C) Japanese traders were often jailed, while Portuguese visitors were accepted as visitors of the court.
No evidence in the passage to support that the Japanese traders were jailed often.
(D) The Portuguese traded in child slaves, while the Japanese mainly limited themselves to luxury goods.
Pure fantasy. Nothing in the passage states this.
(E) Japanese traders were considered illegal and unwelcome, while the Portuguese were eventually accepted as part of China’s economy.
This can probably be inferred from the fact that trade with Japan was halted which probably meant it was illegal to trade with the country. Since the Chinese were sceptical of foreigners such as the Portuguese based on their experience with the Japanese, we can conclude reasonably that the Japanese would be unwelcome. This choice is not obvious but seems to be the best of the bunch. The second part of this choice is true as we know that Portuguese persisted and eventually started trading with China.