Between Scholar And Businessman:Zhang Fengyi’s Artistic Life And Management Of Fame And Fortune

This thesis focuses on the artistic life of Zhang Fengyi,a famous scholar in Suzhou,and investigates how scholars accumulated cultural capital,built social prestige,and managed cultural products,so as to realize life value different from political ideal,under the situation that the commodity economy was prosperous and the road of imperial examination was blocked during the period from Jiajing to Wanli.Since Mid-Ming Dynasty,Suzhou became one of the most economically progressive cities.Scholars took Suzhou as the center to carry out extensive social activities,which motivated them to seek fame and fortune beyond studying and visiting landscapes.Social capital increased in the continuous social relations and became actual or potential resource.Scholars built social prestige and status with the help of such resource,thus accumulating rich cultural capital.Based on cultural capital,finding wealth opportunities in an elegant way is a unique survival strategy for scholar bureaucrats.This way of managing fame and fortune is not only benefited from the prosperous business,but also the driving force to promote the diversification of literati art in the Ming Dynasty.Zhang Fengyi was born in a businessman family and his ancestors served as businessmen for generations.After becoming rich,they actively engaged in cultural undertakings.In his youth,Zhang Fengyi entered the literary world of Suzhou by relying on his family wealth and social network,and became an important member of Wen Zhengming’s social circle.After passing the provincial examination,Zhang Fengyi treated Qiuzhi Garden as a social platform to expand his social network.He made friends with almost all the important figures in the art history of the same period.His reputation grew day by day and he became a central figure in Suzhou literary world.After giving up official career,Zhang Fengyi carefully managed cultural products and earned economic income from his knowledge and talent.Poetry,calligraphy and opera are all important sources of income.This thesis introduces the theoretical perspective of "economic capital,cultural capital and social capital" to explore Zhang Fengyi’s way of managing fame and fortune,and observes his various social roles between scholar and businessman from the perspective of art history and sociology,as well as the rich and complex social functions of artworks in this process.