| This study examines the cultural characteristics of the rural commoners in northern China during the 17th century. It argues that the rural commoners formed a non-Confucian society in which the state ideology, Confucianism, was not followed as a standard. The major religious character of such a non-Confucian society is pluralism, which was receptive to various religious influences. Confucianism family morality and institutions were largely ignored by the rural commoners, especially in the North. The Ming government actually applied a double standard in dealing with the family regulation of the gentry and the commoners. Without an ethical restriction from Confucianism, the rural commoners played a dynamic role in the commercialization of the late Ming and early Qing period. When Confucianism was in decline, there was an obvious departure of the scholar-commoners from Confucian values and lifestyle. As a part of the social changes since the mid-Ming, various marginal groups among the commoners became very active in society, including male and female religious clergy, women business people, and rascals. This further deepened the crisis in the Confucian order of society. The rise of such a non-confucian society in late imperial China indicates a growth of the early Chinese civil society, which meant profound crisis of Confucian and gentry domination and a destructive ending of the imperial age of China. Methodologically, this study argues that Confucian-centered approach of Chinese study is not sound. Original sources, such as local gazetteers, private work collections, governmental documentation, as well as modern Chinese and English works in this issue are examined. |
