A Study Of The Merchant Family In The Song Dynasty

The study of the merchant family in the Song Dynasty is an intersection in the field of family history and commerce history. The merchant family life in the Song Dynasty is recorded in different kinds of history data, through which we can find out the real life of their families.The first chapter centers on the residential environment of the mechant falimy in the Song Dynasty. Comparing with the Tang Dynasty, the merchant family in the Song Dynasty have more freedom. They can decide the dwelling places by themselves. Residential environment has a connection with the economic strength of the family. Wealthy merchants can live a comfatable life, while the ordinary merchants have to dwell in shabby houses.The second chapter centers on the flexible livelihoods of merchant family. They take flexible measures in the division of family labor and the style of business. The merchant economic family ideas are incarnated during the process of family arrangement.The third chaper centers on the marriage of the merchants in the Song Dynasty. It is an obvious change that the merchants and the bureaucracy are related by marriage. The merchant family members are separated to different places due to the the family economic strength. And also the changes of the economic strength influence the conjugal relationships. The association between the merchants and the prostitutes is related to the commercial style of the merchants.The fourth chapter centers on the merchant wives. They bring fame and wealth to their husbands and families. Some merchant wives support family by themselves, some merchant wives live in solitude, and sometimes they excite themselves from different positions.The fifth chaper centers on the changes of family memberships. Elder generation has an important influence on the family, and many affairs in the family will be prosperous when the parents are strict with their childen. Great changes take place between different generations when family properties is divided, so elder generation appears especially important in the changes of family memberships.The sixth chapter centers on the merchants’social intercommunication. The scope of their social association is widly expanded. The merchant family have intimate associations with their relatives and neighbors, and meanwhile they hope that they could have more intimate associations with bureaucrats at the times.The seventh chaper centers on the beliefs in ghosts and gods. Not only the merchant family in the Song Dynasty believe in religion, but also they suffer from ghosts’reprisals. These phenomenon reflects the real family life of the merchants in the Song Dynasty. The sense of the merchant family in the Song Dynasty penetrated in their daily life.Comparing with the peasant family in the Song Dynasty and the merchant family in the Ming and Qing Dynasty, the merchant family in the Song Dynasty has its distinct features—they advocate bureaucracy, attach more importance to their families, and yearn for stable lifestyles.