A Study Of Songjiang Chinshihs In Ming And Qing Dynasties

The writer aims to outline the solid cultural and intellectual background in Shanghai during the Ming and Qing dynasties, through a detailed study of the chinshihs (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) who were native of Songjiang Prefecture.The whole article consists of seven chapters. Chapter I as the introduction, covers why this subject is selected for the article, who is the target group, recollecting the intellectual history of Shanghai, and explaining the research methods and viewpoint applied in this study. Chapter II covers the intellectual heritage in the Song and Yuan dynasties in Songjiang Prefecture, which justifies later on people of talents sprang up in multitudes in this region. Chapter III presents a panorama of Songjiang chinshihs during the Ming and Qing dynasties, by introducing the characteristics of the chinshihs phenomenon, recounting up the number of chinshihs and analyzing the time and spatial distribution, family names, ages and career promotion of these chinshihs. Chapter IV devotes to case study. Cases used in this chapter cover four large families renowned in Songjiang Prefecture --- Xu Jie's family in Huating, Dong Qichang and Xu Guangqi's families in Shanghai, and Wang Guangxin's family in Jinshan. Chapter V explores the interactive relationship between these chinshihs and the local governing body. It is their being involved in local government that had exerted a great impact upon the forming and changing of the local mood. Chapter VI targets chinshihs'life state through studying their societies, book-collecting activities, and recently-revealed epitaphs. Chapter VII compares chinshihs in Songjiang Prefecture to those in Suzhou Prefecture, in a more general background, Jiangnan (the southern region of Yangtze River where its lower reaches spread). The writer takes a scholar named Chen Zilong as a typical example to analyze friend circles of Songjiang chinshihs. This chapter is also related to how Songjiang chinshihs evolved to modern times out of the last dynasty.