The Research Of Beyond The Ritual Custom In Late Ming Dynasty In Songjiang Prefecture

In late Ming Dynasty, Songjiang County acquired great achievements in economy and culture around the whole country. At the same time, there were dramatic changes in the society just like other developed areas in South China, which are reflected in many aspects. Based on these changes, this paper tries to give a thorough introduction to the whole society of late Ming Dynasty. It is divided into three parts as introduction, body of the text, and conclusion.The introduction part shows that the general mood of the society changed from simplicity at the beginning of Ming Dynasty to extravagance during late Ming Dynasty, with no exception of Songjiang County. Besides, the significance of the research, the research status and methods are also demonstrated in the introduction part.There are three parts in the body of the text. The first part mainly talks about the history of Songjiang County, as well as its economical development. The history part focuses on the location and name changing of Songjiang County. As for the economic development, this paper summarizes the economical status of Songjiang County before Ming Dynasty at the first part, then demonstrates the status in Ming Dynasty. Because of the limited length of the paper, the priority is given to grain production and textile industry. The second part focuses on people’s basic necessities of life:food, clothing, shelter and means of traveling. By illustrating the changes in these fields during late Ming Dynasty, this paper tries to explain that extravagance has been a trend of fashion then. It has penetrated into every level in Songjiang County. The third part discusses the reasons of customs change in Songjiang County, and appraisals about them. The main reasons are summed up into five parts as economy, politics, culture, influences from surrounded area, merchants and examples of local gentry. In speaking of the relative appraisal, the author thinks that the negative appraisals outweigh the positive ones. On the one hand, the changes leaded to the disorder of social morality, which caused a great many problems. On the other hand, they obviously broke the ordinary bound of people, as a result of which, the society became more energetic and lively, and the commodity economy got development in Songjiang County.The conclusion gives a summary to the whole article. In late Ming Dynasty, there were too many challenges and breaches of traditional set of etiquette. The ethical standards met dramatic change. To some extent, as one of the most developed areas in late Ming Dynasty, Songjiang County witnessed the earliest modern civilization.