An analysis of the reasons why scholars abandoned school and did business in the middle and late Ming Dynasty
Chen Weibing
Abstract: Scholars refer to intellectuals who are familiar with Confucian classics such as poetry and books but have not entered the official career. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, that is, from Jiajing and Qin Long to the Apocalypse and Chongzhen, great changes have taken place in Ming society, the seeds of capitalism have begun to appear, and commerce has developed greatly. Even the intellectuals who have always turned a deaf ear to things outside the window and concentrated on reading sage books have abandoned lofty and increasingly secularized, and began to join the ranks of businessmen and embarked on the road of abandoning school and doing business. This paper analyzes the causes of this phenomenon.
Keywords:: the social ideological trend and ethos of scholars abandoning school and doing business in the middle and late Ming Dynasty
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, a very special phenomenon appeared in our society. "An Ping Le Dao" no longer became the personality concept of scholars, and a large number of intellectuals abandoned Confucianism and became the new force of commercial development at that time. However, there are many reasons, and under the comprehensive effect of many reasons, literati's business has become a common phenomenon. This paper will look for a series of reasons from the history of the middle and late Ming Dynasty, so that scholars can realize this great change and make a brief analysis.
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The social trend of thought in a particular society will inevitably have a great influence on the social atmosphere and the behavior dominated by the thinking of the world. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, great changes have taken place in the ideological trend of the whole society, which is conducive to the development of commerce, which undoubtedly has an important impact on the conservative psychology of scholars.
It can be said that the influence of social thoughts after the middle and late Ming Dynasty fundamentally destroyed the psychological defense of scholars' contempt for business. Throughout the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Taizhou School, as a school of Wang Shouren's mind, occupied an important position in the social ideological trend at that time and had a great social impact. The most prominent feature of this school is its strong civilian color and crazy gender. However, one of the most valuable parts of Taizhou school's thought is its high concern for self and full affirmation of human desire, which is consistent with the trend of social concept change caused by the rapid development of commodity economy in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and has played a positive role in promoting this concept change in depth and universality. As the founder of Taizhou School, Wang Gen's theory is one of the important contents of Taizhou School, which is called "Huainan Wu Ge". The theory of "protecting oneself and loving others" emphasizes the individual's right to exist and the value of personality independence, which is the most distinctive content of Huainan Wu Ge. Wang Gen thinks that the individual is as important as the country. His explanation of the sentence "From the emperor to Shu Ren, everything is based on self-cultivation" in The University shows his views in this respect. He believes that self-cultivation is the foundation and the foundation is also for self-cultivation. Being an official sometimes leads to the result of "damaging health", so Wang Gen is skeptical and negative about being an official. On the basis of "keeping in good health", Wang Gen further put forward the idea of "love", and regarded "love" as a link between individuals, society and the country. Therefore, he believes that the emperor was born in the people and is no different from the people. [1] (p.543-544) That is to say, all men are created equal. This is very different from the traditional love of Confucianism, which should be graded and hierarchical. It can be said that it is a betrayal of this tradition, and it is also conducive to causing intellectuals to reflect on traditional Confucianism.
Wang Gen's thoughts of "keeping in good health" and "settling down" emphasized the necessity of people's material life satisfaction. Give "human desire" its due position. Since then, scholars have made greater progress in "human desire". For example, Dong Wang opposed the suppression of people's desires. He believed that no holy gate had any teaching method to suppress people's desires since ancient times. In this regard, he Yin Xin is highly effective. He believes that "sex is delicious, sex is color, sex is sound, sex is comfortable, and so is sex" [2] (page 40) "Sound, smell and comfort are multiplied through eyes, ears, nose, mouth and limbs ... depending on the nature of life." [2] (.p. 19) It can be seen that he actually equates human desires with nature, giving people a high status and value in material desires. Li Zhi, a late scholar of Taizhou School, who was called a traitor of Confucianism, also profoundly expounded the value of "human desire". He pointed out that "dressing and eating is the physics of interpersonal relationships. There is no human relationship except dressing and eating. " [3] (p.4) He also believes that "the husband is private, and the human heart is also private, and then the heart will see. If you are selfless, you have no intention. If those who work in the fields have private gains in autumn, they will rule the sky. " Those who stay at home will accumulate their income privately and then try their best to run their own businesses. [4] (page 544) Among them, "private" is the principle of nature and the internal driving force to promote people's diligence and progress. Is the so-called "saint". Without the support of "private" in your heart, you won't make a difference. Therefore, he believes that people who govern the country can only be peaceful if they conform to the natural principle that everyone has private interests. Although their purpose was still to serve the ruling class at that time, they objectively expanded the thinking space of the world and were conducive to the renewal of old and new thinking.
The Taizhou School has dealt a heavy blow to traditional Confucianism by preaching "human desire". Its appearance adapted to the trend of social and economic development in the middle and late Ming Dynasty and provided a strong theoretical basis for the new social ideological trend of pursuing wealth and self-interest. This also provided a theoretical reference for the scholars in the middle and late Ming Dynasty to finally get rid of the shackles of Confucianism and choose to do business, which became their powerful spiritual pillar.
On the other hand, judging from the traditional view of business in history, the rulers and Confucianists in the past always attached importance to agriculture and suppressed business, placing businessmen in the position of "the last stream" and "the common people" and disdaining to associate with them. Confucianism in Song Dynasty divided the "four people" into scholar, agriculture, industry and business, with scholar as the head and business as the tail. However, since the Ming Dynasty, with the development of commerce, the views of intellectuals on commerce and businessmen in the Ming Dynasty have changed completely. Wang Shouren, a great scholar in the Ming Dynasty, said that as long as he was not tired physically and mentally, he did business every day, which did not affect his becoming a saint. He also believes that although the four people have different industries, they are all the same. Compared with Zaifuzhang in Wanli period, Zaifuzhang had a different understanding of businessmen. He believes that normal agricultural production can only be achieved through commercial exchange of needed commodities. If commerce cannot be exchanged, which is unfavorable to agriculture, agriculture will fail. On the other hand, if agriculture is not good, it can't support business, and business is greatly restricted. Therefore, he believes that agriculture and commerce are mutually restrictive, and both cannot be neglected. Li Zhi, an enlightenment thinker, also sympathized with businessmen. He thinks there is nothing contemptible about businessmen. They have to spend tens of thousands of capital, take great risks, be insulted by officials and endure insults in the market. It can be said that they have gone through hardships, but the final return is pitiful. All these reflect the vacillation of the traditional concept of "four people" and the establishment of the new concept of "four people". Thus, it provides a theoretical basis for ordinary Confucianism to abandon Confucianism and be good.
It is precisely because of the above factors that the Ming scholars first consciously strengthened the concept of doing business and encouraged the action of abandoning Confucianism for Jia, which was conducive to the upsurge of scholars abandoning their studies and doing business in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.
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Social atmosphere will inevitably have a great influence on the literary style of scholars, and the social atmosphere in the middle and late Ming Dynasty also has a great temptation for scholars to do business. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the feudal ruling institutions were paralyzed. In the past, the rule of judging a person by his clothes and his rank and status can be seen from the articles he uses. This rule has been broken by the secular world more and more. At that time, there were many people in Jiangnan, but few people wore clothes and shoes. Most of the things they use have to go to the market to buy. Hangzhou people like to play; Cantonese banquet; Shandong people are different from the old customs even in tableware and weddings and funerals. Rich people compete for money, honest and thrifty people are embarrassed to laugh, and extravagant people are above them. As "Boping County Records" said, "vendors and servants also wear hats and shoes, tulle skirts, wine and tea shops, with different tones and new voices, and they are on the scene." Even jiaosheng is full of rural songs, and the nickname is extended to beggars, and finally eating is very common. [5] (p. 103) It can be seen that throughout the country, the pursuit of luxury was repeated several times in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and the whole society almost set off a blind stream of money worship, which was reflected in every corner of society at that time.
For example, during Jiajing period, Cai Yu, a Suzhou native, introduced Huizhou's commercial customs in The Legend of Liaoyang Poseidon. According to local customs, people who go out to do business can only come back once every few years. When they come back, their wives, children, relatives, friends and villagers will first see how much they have gained. People who earn more money are naturally praised and respected, while people who earn less or don't earn money are given a cold shoulder or disliked. [6] (page 87)
This ethos not only corrodes people's thoughts, but also changes people's living habits and human feelings. According to the Records of Shexian County, the ethos of Shexian County during Jiajing and Wanli years was "haggle over every ounce, rob each other of money and compete with each other." [6] (p.88) This is the result of the influence of the value standard of judging virtue and disdain by how much money you earn. Under the control of money, people do not hesitate to be related by blood, even at the expense of patriarchal clan system, and do greedy and useless things.
This "profit-seeking" ethos has also had a great impact on the development of culture. For example, Lin Ting, a small town in Baodi, Hebei Province, used to recite poems at home. There are more than a dozen special libraries, which extend from teachers to readers, that is, nearby villages, and know more about Confucianism. Therefore, there are many people who enter the glue, eat well and make contributions. For more than 70 years, it has gradually declined. [7] (p.37) The world's dilution of culture is nothing more than a blow to scholars who depend on it for survival. Influenced by the social atmosphere, the scholars in the middle and late Ming Dynasty were gentle and swept the floor. They realize that they can't be admired without economic status, so "valuing money over profit" has become an important reason for literati to do business.