In The Late Ming Dynasty Novel Studies

Intellectuals, famers, craftsmen and merchants are four different kinds of people, and the differences among them have been existed in ancient times long ago. While even the differences during them were obvious and not allowed to be broken down by low at first, they reduced fewer and fewer gradually with the development of Feudal society and the prosperity of the economy. Then in the middle period of Ming Dynasty, with of the trend of business and the changement of the popular social ideology, the merchants’s social status have been higher than farmers and craftsmen, even being equal with intellectuals’sometimes, and merchants became one significant power, especially in later Ming Dynasty. All aspects of the social life can be reflected in the literature written in the same period, so that, all kinds of relationships of intellectuals and merchants in later Ming Dynasty, were discribed in the novels that time comprehensively.So I selected novels written in later Ming Dynasty were as the objects for study, and my master’s degree thesis was written on the basis of extensive reading these texts, and then analyses the pattern of relationship of intellectuals and merchants invloved in the novels further. The thesis devides that relationship of intelectural and merchant into three different kinds, which are antagonistic relationship, united relationship and the combined relationship. Every kind of relationship forms one part, so that the thesis was composed of three chapters. I want to discuss the complex relationships between intellectuals and merchants, and try to find the deep reasons like social and econimic elements why did the relationship was formed.The first chapter mainly discusses the antagonistic relationship in the novels written in later Ming Dynasty, and this chapter is divided into three sections. The first section discusses the performences of the relationship, which are conflict and competetion. The second section discusses the historical roots of the relationship, policy of Yishang. And the third section tryes to explore the cocial and historical reasons, which was mainly illustrated in three aspects, the first one is the application and development of paper and printing, then, the implementation and reforms of imperial examination system in Ming Dynasty, and the last one is commodity of economy policy in Ming Dynasty.The second chapter discusses the united relationship between intelecturals and merchants, and it is devides into two sections. The first section is about the performences of the relationship, which included the two classes depend on each other, collussion with each other and associated by marriage. The second section illustrated the reason why can the united relationship be found, it mainly due to the development of economy and the improvement of social status of businessmen in Ming Dynasty, the paradox between economic distress caused by the unreasonable minimun salary system and the material desires caused by the more and more prosperous commodity economy, and the importance of marriage to the foundation of the united relationship.The third chapter, that is devided into three sections to discusse the combined relationship. First section illustrates the performences of the relationship. The second section is trying to prove that the combination is the common phenomenon in later Ming Dynasty, the contents of the novels were just a mirror of the society. The third section analyzes the reason deeply in three aspects. The first one is the impact of the theory of Zhisheng(治生). Secondly, the privileges and rights the intelectural possessed attract the merchant class to get into the privileged stratum. Lastly, the implementation of Juanna policy broadens the ways to get into intelectual class for the merchant.