Chenzilong's Social Activities And Personal Networks A Case Study On Jiangnan Intellectuals' Life During Late Ming Dynasty

This article is a case study of JiangNan intellectuals' life during late Ming Dynasty by investigating the social activities and personal networks of poet and writer Chenzilong.This dissertation is organized into seven sections. In preclude, I pose the origin of my research and the study object. Section one summarize the academic achievements of past research on this subject and the academic value.Section two explores the late Ming Dynasty period. The development commercial economy was very remarkable in JiangNan area. At the same time the there is also a striking cultural campaign impacting the minds of intellectuals, especially the Works of Wang Yangming oppoesed a important challenge to Sung Confucianism. With the growth of a class of citizen, the tranditonal value with distinction between morality and benefit was denied by some intellectuals who were paying more attention to society's daily life. A lot of entertainment books were published during this period, and intellectuals' social networks began to extend to the class of merchant.Under such new circumstance, the intellectuals also behaved defferent characteriscs compared to early time. The household phenomenon acted actively again in social life, social organizations and schools sprang up. But we can not ignore the negative side of this social movement, viz.many intellectuals addicted themselves to dolcevita.Section three examines the life track of sucessful poet and writer Chengzilong, his childhood, his attending to imperial examinations and being an Empire officer and his academic achievement. I try to use this to exhibit the intellectuals' ordinary life at that time.Section four reviews Chengzilong's social activities and his personal network, espically his intercourse with friends, reveals the pre-civil-society state of traditional Chinese social life.Section five continue to discuss the personal impact of Chenzilong's social intercourse on himself, which improved his reputation, strengthened his ability to gain higher social status, proliferated his personal and social capital, and provided protection...