The Research Of The Confucian Craftsmen Group In Jiangnan In The Late Ming Dynasty

Through the object creation activities in different periods,the ancient Chinese traditional craftsmen reflected the changes of their status in the development of ancient society,among which were particularly prominent in Ming and Qing dynasties.Since the middle of Ming dynasty,the personal attachment relationship of craftsmen had been loosened,and the identity of traditional craftsmen had been freed,which greatly increased the initiative of creative activities and broke the existing order of "gentry,peasant,worker,businessman".Their identity began to find recognition among gentries of the upper class.In the late Ming dynasty,many technical literatures appeared in Jiangnan region,whose authors included government officials,scholars and craftsmen,which fully shows that traditional skills had changed from experience to theory.Thus,from the perspective of technological economy,this paper takes the Confucian craftsmen group in Jiangnan area in the late Ming dynasty as the research object to try to discuss the composition and formation of this group,as well as how to interact with other groups such as the government,gentries and businessmen in the process of technological development In Jiangnan region of the late Ming dynasty,the Confucian craftsmen came from a wide range of origin,and its composition was slightly complicated,not only gentries whose family fortunes declined with poor life,but also businessmen and craftsmen who loved reading,meanwhile,some officials of the ministry of works and scholars who loved object creation activities were also willing to become the image of Confucian craftsmen and participate in the writing of technical documents.Their appearance drove-the wide spread of scientific knowledge in Jiangnan in the late Ming dynasty,and showed a series of tendencies of technology scientization which were mainly reflected in three aspects of standardization,natural sciences and theorization.At the same time,with the family group of ink production in the region of Xin'an during the late Ming Dynasty as an example,the paper discusses the construction of the social resource network of Confucian craftsmen group in Jiangnan area in the late Ming dynasty,and how they shape the spirit of craftsman and the spirit of science.Thus it thinks that they played an indispensable role in local social stability to some extent and drove the benign interaction between technological economy and local society as well.The identity recognition and social positioning are finally found which provides a new angle for us to investigate the transformation of society during the late Ming Dynasty.The society during the late Ming Dynasty is in the state of mobility which,to some extent,reflects the tendency of reform for the whole society and conceives the new elements of modern times.In the status of greater social mobility,as a knowledge group,the group of Confucianism also faces the transformation,no matter if it is the transformation of social roles,or the construction of scientific theory,they are all the competition for the discursive power on a certain level by which the scholars of Confucianism hope that they can find their position in the transformation of the society,its nature is still the penetration of Confucian ideology on society to the traditional craftsmen in ancient China.It can be seen that,combining technology with craftsman,this paper investigates and focuses on the subjectivity of Confucian craftsman group in Jiangnan in the late Ming Dynasty,and opens a new way for the interactive development of technology and economy in a specific historical period.Meanwhile,investigating Confucian craftsmen in a specific field to examine the path of the group's participation in social affairs will undoubtedly make up for the neglect of this problem in the current social history research,and provide a new perspective for us to discuss the transformation of the late Ming society.The discussion on the spirit of craftsmen in ancient China is highly in line with our current concern for craftsmen,which helps to build the belief of "craftsman·craftsmanship·originality".