The "2024 University Science Annual Academic Publishing Forum" hosted by Guangxi Normal University Press Group was held in Guilin, Guangxi on November 2. With the theme of "Cities, Red Dust and Mountains and Waters: Society, Culture and Life in the Ming and Qing Dynasties", the forum invited famous historians of the Ming and Qing Dynasties to discuss the society, culture and life of the Ming and Qing Dynasties with more than 600 readers from all over the country, and chatted about the study and writing of the history of the Ming and Qing Dynasties from multiple perspectives. This article is a keynote speech by Feng Xianliang, a professor at the Department of History at Fudan University. It is entitled "Urban Prosperity and Scholar Life in the Late Ming Dynasty" and was published by The Paper News with authorization.

Keynote speech by Feng Xianliang, Professor of the Department of History at Fudan University: Urban Prosperity and Scholars 'Life in the Late Ming Dynasty

Good morning, teachers and friends! Thanks for the invitation of the "University Science" Forum, I am honored to have the opportunity to come to Guilin to share with you. The topics I reported are also within the framework of the themes of this forum-cities, red dust, mountains and rivers-and have the flavor of a proposition composition. The first two teachers spoke very well. Teacher Wu Qi talked about water transport, particularly highlighting the economic status of southern and southeastern China and even the political significance it contains. Teacher Chen Baoliang talked about the aesthetic taste of the urban landscapes and cultural landscapes in the Suzhou and Hangzhou area during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Since the Ming Dynasty, especially in the historical process of the late Ming Dynasty, the city-centered living space has been very charming and has given birth to very rich aspects of China people's daily life.

My title is "Urban Prosperity and Scholars 'Life in the Late Ming Dynasty". This topic is very big. Due to the time constraints, I only simply communicate with you on four small points: First, the so-called living space. Cities, towns, and villages were all prosperous during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Especially with the rapid growth of the commodity economy, the rural living world also had attractive places. Of course, cities are still important stages, so many literati, scholar-officials, landlords, businessmen, including ordinary rural people, yearn for cities and go to cities to expand their lives. Second, the ancients taught scholars, agriculture, industry, and commerce. Scholars were the first class and a group on which the entire society focused its attention. What is their daily life and so-called pursuits? The third is to talk about the market picture of our market. Last but not least, there are many directions, life pursuits, material and spiritual ones, and some of them are more interesting. I will make a brief introduction here.

In the late Ming Dynasty, the commodity economy flourished and had a great impact. Especially since the 15th and 16th centuries, they often talked about the era of the Great Navigation in the Western world. For us today, the era of globalization has arrived. This momentum is actually quite turbulent and also affects the traditional dynasties of China. What we understand best is the flow of silver. Silver from the West, the Americas, and Japan flowed into China in large quantities, promoting the prosperity of the market, mainly commodity trade. The most prominent area is cities, and municipal governments are booming.

It is generally believed that the most important function of a city is a platform for the gathering or exchange of people, things and information. Traditional China cities are political centers for ordinary people. In fact, ordinary people are reluctant to come to the cities. This is amazing. Isn't the city very good? They have a concept that towns are like hell. Official exhortations, which are a summary of local administrative experience, often contain statements that people regard towns as hell, which is shocking. The city is the political center. If people have too much dealings or disputes with the city, they have to deal with the yamen, which is very troublesome and may even go bankrupt. Therefore, people will regard the city as hell. Of course, cities are still generally believed to be economic centers, cultural consumption centers, and very important living areas.

1. Living space

Professor Chen Baoliang mentioned Yuan Zhongdao earlier, and let me talk about Yuan Hongdao here. The three brothers of Hubei Public Security-Public Security Sanyuan had a great influence on the late Ming Dynasty, especially in the literary world. Yuan Hongdao passed the Jinshi exam in the 20th year of Wanli and was sent to Suzhou to serve as the magistrate of Wu County. Teacher Chen just said that Suzhou and Hangzhou are the promised land on earth that everyone yearns for, and that coming to Suzhou to be an official is a lucrative position. He was very excited and wrote a letter to his good friend, writing five aspects. He said that life in Suzhou should achieve five great joys:

The first kind of happiness is that the eyes are full of the colors of the world, the ears are full of the sounds of the world, the body is full of the newness of the world, and the mouth is full of the conversation of the world;

The second kind of happiness is that the tripod is in front of the hall, the music is played behind the hall, the banquet is full of guests, the men and women are sitting together, the candlelight smell fills the sky, and the ground is covered with green pearls. There is insufficient money, so soil fields are followed;

The third kind of happiness is that there are thousands of volumes of books in the box, all of which are rare and different editions. A separate museum is set up by the house, and more than ten people are truly united in the museum. One of them is neutral and has extremely high knowledge, such as Sima Qian, Luo Guanzhong and Guan Hanqing. As the owner, they are divided into different departments, each forming a book, which is far from the rudimentary Confucian classics of the Tang and Song Dynasties, and has completed an unfinished chapter in a generation;

The fourth kind of happiness is to buy a boat with thousands of gold, and put a drum in the boat. There are several prostitutes and concubines, and a few leisure people. The family is floating around, unaware that old age is coming;

The fifth kind of happiness is that life can be enjoyed here. In less than ten years, my family assets and fields have been ruined, and then my whole life is miserable. Every day and night, I visit the brothel in the song house, share meals with the lonely old, and travel to and from the villagers without any shame.

At a casual glance, every kind of happiness costs countless dollars, and the material consumption is very huge, which is beyond what a magistrate like him can afford. This is a pursuit, so you might as well take a look. The first kind of happiness is the five senses. The eyes are the color of the world, the ears are the sound of the world, and the body is the newness of the world. The newness is the well-dressed, beautiful and fashionable clothes. The mouth is the talk of the world, and the mouth should also be happy.

The second kind of happiness is the home environment. The people in front of the hall and the music behind the hall. The literati like it very much. The family has the money to raise a theater troupe, and it seems to be drunk every day. You should also have many women to accompany you, which is very tactful. Men and women meet each other, and the smell of candlelight smokes the sky. The pearls are not piled up in the house with a lot of gold, silver and jewelry, but refer to the decorations on women's bodies. Because the entertainment is too carnival, they all fall to the ground. What if I don't have enough money? Sell the real estate.

The third kind of happiness is what literati like to pursue. They like to hide good books. It is best to have rare versions. The friends they communicate with are all literati of the first type. People like Sima Qian, Luo Guanzhong, and Guan Hanqing host them. This kind of happiness is more elegant and elegant, and of course it costs a lot of money. Rare versions cannot be easily purchased.

The fourth is to go out for entertainment. Luxury yachts, and people from the entertainment industry will accompany you on the yachts, which costs a lot of money.

Fifth, he said that his life was so useful that it took less than ten years to achieve that, his family assets and land were ruined, and he lived in a miserable state. Where do I need to be used like this? It won't take long for any kind of happiness to go bankrupt. Of course, I am in a sorry state to go bankrupt. Can you achieve the fifth happiness? Go to the brothel of Tuboge Tower to beg for food and be beggars. You have known the people you came and went to eat, drink and have fun with you. At this time, if you want to be shameless, you will reach the fifth realm of life. These are the five great joys.

This is a kind of pursuit. This kind of pursuit has material and spiritual aspects. Yuan Hongdao would not be able to achieve it even until his death. It was impossible, because he had been sighing and suffering every day after arriving in Suzhou. He wrote to his friends that he said that being a magistrate in his life was the hardest and most poisonous. This kind of profession was miserable. He never had a day to enjoy the mountains and rivers of Suzhou, so he complained there.

The life of scholars in the late Ming Dynasty was very rich and varied. Here is an example. This person is a decent official, but of course not too big. He is a memorial wine of the Imperial College, equivalent to the principal of the highest academic institution. This person is called Feng Mengzhen, a layman who believes in Buddhism. He is from Jiaxing, and Xiushui is a county under Jiaxing. He wanted to find a place to live in seclusion and discuss with his children about going to Hangzhou. He was very happy, and his children cheered for joy. He found a place in Gushan. Now, it is unlikely that a billionaire will land Gushan and let you build a villa. It is unlikely. At that time, including the West Lake, it was outside the city. Today, it is rural and suburban places. Of course, Gushan is outside Hangzhou after all.

What's more interesting is that he named this villa Kuaixue Hall because he collected a post "Fast Snow and Clear Time Post". Everyone must be shocked to see this and think he must be very rich. But when I read his diary, he often said that he was very nervous. He had to see a doctor, eat and drink, and receive a salary. There was not much money. Even if he was a memorial to the Imperial College, his salary was not high. In Gushan, there is a material here. His good friend Li Rihua is also from Jiaxing. His diary is "Diary of Weishui Xuan". This name is also very elegant. Weishui Xuan is located in today's Nanhu Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall. It turned out to be a waterfront area on the edge of the South Lake.

What does it say inside? How did the living space constructed by Feng Mengzhen, an old friend of Gushan, decorate it? Very elegant and interesting. He said that he had a study, a living room, several floors, and also planted bamboo, pine trees, and plum blossoms, which were what literati liked, showing his elegance and spiritual taste. What else? To grow moss, moss is very interesting and seems to have a very aesthetic taste. We should also put some Taoist and Buddhist books, including Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, as well as Buddhist titles and classic calligraphy and painting works. Eating white rice fish soup, known as alcoholic tea in the morning, seems to be very refined in terms of diet all day long. One person guards the pass. Rejecting exchanges between secular people, and there is a certain sense of separation between literati and secular people who pursue this aspect between refined people and secular society. This is what Wen Zhenheng, a descendant of Wen Zhengming, said in "Chang Wu Zhi". What is elegance? What is vulgar? People in the late Ming Dynasty had a certain awareness of differences in this regard.

How much did it cost? I originally planned to spend 180 taels of silver, but in the end, I settled 90 taels of silver. Ninety taels feels very rare today. It is only ninety taels. In movies and television dramas, there are often thousands or tens of thousands of taels. That is an astronomical figure. What is the concept of ninety taels? Earlier, Teacher Wu Qi talked about water transportation, how much silver would be consumed per ounce, and how much silver would be consumed at five points. You must know that this is a large number. In the late Ming Dynasty, many poor scholars had to make a living. One of the biggest channels was to become tutors. We called them museum teachers. Some families are rich, and if you hire him, the salary will be higher. Some are in rural society or town society. Urban society is slightly better. Most of them work as tutors in rural areas and cities and towns. Generally, there are three to five students, and at least two months of rest are removed from twelve months a year, which is about ten months. If one person can collect a tael of silver, it will be very satisfied.

A Jinshi in the 44th year of Wanli of the Ming Dynasty was named Wei Dazhong. His teacher was Gao Panlong. In the fifth year of Tianqi, he was killed by Wei Zhongxian and his group in Beijing. One year he was very happy because he earned ten taels of silver. He was particularly excited this year. He said that he could hand over three to four taels of silver to his old mother for family expenses, and the remaining six to seven taels of silver could buy books to prepare for scientific research. This was such a concept. So if you think about it, he used 90 taels, which is not low. This is a little rich, but not too rich.

Let's take a look at Zhang Luxiang in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. A very poor man lives in the countryside of Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province, but is not yet in the city. This place is called Yangyuan Village. I have visited it several times. It is quite remote and quite in line with the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River. There are many mulberry trees and sericulture farmers in this place. He was an outstanding Neo-Confucianism. In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, he was known as the first person after Zhu Zi. This evaluation was a bit high and he did not have much fame. He also liked to live better, but he was too poor. There were many poor scholars like him in the historical process from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, but he was very famous in Neo-Confucianism, and it was hard to imagine that he was so poor.

He also wanted to build a villa. Because it was an engraved version, there was no way to restore the villa design he originally drew. He told his friends that I wanted to find a good location myself. On the edge of Taihu Lake, I went to Huzhou to build a villa and drew a picture. How much would it cost?

This is a carved edition from the Qing Dynasty. It's a space like this. A small pond and ditch are dug at home. There is a flower bed. Bamboo and mulberry trees are planted next to it. There is a gardener who can manage the housekeeper. It's such a small space. How much will it cost? He wrote here as follows: "Build five rooms, and the seven frames enter two rooms and pass two rooms, pass two rooms each, the front garden, the next bamboo is planted, and the next mulberry trees are planted. To the north of the pool are the three small rooms of the Mu family, where Pu Ding lives. To the east of the ditch, there is a well next to the house." Generally speaking, at that time, it cost about 100 taels of silver in such a period of time in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. He said that I saved 1.60 taels of silver. This concept is equivalent to Feng Mengzhen building a villa in Gushan. How is it possible? So he did not realize his ideal until his death. This was his ideal. You can imagine the yearning of scholars for the living world at that time.

Let's take another example of wealth, Qian Qianyi. Qian Qianyi was rich, although he suffered many disasters during the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, especially during the early Qing Dynasties, he also suffered from political involvement and always said that he had no money. But you have to know that he has more than 10,000 calligraphy and painting antiques, and he can easily sell any one of them with a lot of money. The concubine he later took was named Liu Ru. Everyone was familiar with Qian and Liu's marriage. Because it was so famous, he wanted to build a villa called Jiangyun Tower for Liu Ru. He had no money. He sold a set of books, which were two Han books from the Song Dynasty. It turned out that he got it from a good friend for 1,200 taels. He thought 1,200 taels was not bad. Now he needs to use money and cut the price by 200 taels to build Jiangyun Tower. Unfortunately, a fire broke out later and all of them were burned, including more than 10,000 calligraphy and paintings antiques, all burned in Jiangyun Building. After they died, the two people could not be buried together. They were both a mound of earth, at the foot of Yushan Mountain in Changshu, Jiangsu today, and not yet on the mountain. The feng shui on the mountain is relatively good, but unfortunately, after he died, at the foot of the mountain, they were separated by golden spring rapeseed flowers.

This is Jiangyun Tower. Later, people restored it to this according to their description. It is no longer there and burned down. Unfortunately, it was made in 1,000 yuan.

This kind of space is concrete and visible, and there are many living worlds and living spaces that are managed and created, sometimes you can only touch, and sometimes you can only stay in your imagination.

2. The life of scholars

Wang Hongtai, a scholar in Taiwan, wrote an article called "The Development of the Sensory World and the Commodification of Desire in the Ming and Qing Dynasties". It was very well and wonderfully written. He specifically mentioned restaurants and teahouses in urban life, daily entertainment and consumption space. Of course, the most professionally written ones are brothels. Brothels are such a spatial form in cities, towns, and villages occasionally. They are also a consumption space. Beauty can become a commercial thing, can be bought, sold, and consumed, and has also become a consumption space that literati and bureaucrats yearned for in the late Ming Dynasty. We will not carry out specific activities. The theme is love for the world of mortals, talented people and beautiful women.

Teacher Wu just talked about the garden houses of the aristocratic families of bureaucrats, landlords, and wealthy businessmen. We call them Yuanzhai. Whether it is a city, a town or a village, there are more or less. Cities are the most concentrated and are easy for everyone to understand.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the literati class formed a trend of building gardens. For example, Gu Qiyuan (1565-1628) mentioned the style of building gardens during the Jiajing period in his "Visiting Xu Yu":"In the late years of Jiajing, there was no need to talk about the homes of literati officials. As for the common people, they had three living rooms that cost a lot of money. They were splendid and magnificent, and they were twice as tall. They often had double eaves and animal ridges like official yamen, and the gardens pretended to be lords. Down to the column, there are also many houses painted."

So how about Liang Jun (1506-1576?) It is also mentioned in "Collection of He Hanlin":"If a family costs a lot of money and a small house is repaired, you must want to build a garden. If the family of scholar-bureaucrats is a little stronger than the family, it will win against each other. In roughly Sanwu City, gardens and gardens were built, and most of the houses in the city were invaded."

When you go to Shanghai, you may go to the City God Temple. The garden of the City God Temple is Yu Garden. Yu Garden was built according to the vision of its masters Pan brothers Pan Yunduan and Pan Yunzhe. All their profits over the past few decades, whether from officialdom or land management, have gone into the construction of Yu Garden. Think about the cost of Yu Garden? Hard to imagine. Later, archaeological excavations unearthed a diary from their tombs. There was a study in Yuyuan called Yuhuatang, so this diary was called "Yuhuatang Diary". However, this diary has not been made public until now."Yuhuatang Diary" is not only of economic value, but also of cultural value. You can see the daily life of high-end elite scholars like this in the late Ming Dynasty.

For example, when it comes to cultural consumption, I like to buy some servant boys from Suzhou. Some servant boys can play, play, and sing. The price of those who can play, play, and sing is higher. Ordinary servants and servants who cannot do it are cheaper and buy them frequently. Some prices are often written in the middle, 2 taels and 8 taels, and the more expensive one in the middle is 20 taels, which is the selling price. There are also real estate transactions, which are very important. There is also book consumption. The most exciting thing about the flow of books is from the Wanli period. There is a "Shizong Record" in it. The Record of Emperor Jiajing can be bought and sold, and it only cost 4 taels of silver. The other books are more expensive because they are from the Song Dynasty edition. Just like the one just mentioned, the five joys of life are rare and unique. The "Zizhi Tongjian" engraved in the Song Dynasty is 80 taels. It is very expensive. Others can build villas for 80 taels, which shows that the Pan family is very rich. Such an elite lifestyle is beyond the reach of many ordinary scholars and is relatively high-end.

"Jin Ping Mei" provides a lot of social and economic information in the late Ming Dynasty, allowing you to have some material feelings about some life in the late Ming Dynasty, mainly during the Longqing and Wanli periods. There are some famous "civil affairs science" on the Internet who have done some work, and some of these "civil affairs science" are also of high standards. How much RMB is the equivalent of one tael of silver in the Ming Dynasty? The basic work is very simple. At that time, how much rice could be bought by one or two silver, and we will convert it to how much RMB it is now. He said that using the market situation in 2010, at the average price of 4 yuan per kilogram, 1 tael of silver could buy 130 kilograms of rice. If this is the case, it will be equivalent to RMB 520. This figure is of course inaccurate and just provides a concept. In other words, 1 tael of silver is equivalent to 500 pieces, which makes it easy to perceive. How much did Ming Dynasty people talk about 1 tael of silver? One liang, 500 yuan, one coin, 50 yuan, and one penny of silver, 5 yuan. If you look at "Dream of the Red Chamber" and then look at the collected works and notes of other literati, some of the concepts mentioned in the novel are very consistent, while some are completely inconsistent.

To give an example casually, the most famous version devoted the first time to Ximen Qingre's marriage to ten brothers. This time it was said that he spent 4 taels of silver to treat ten brothers to dinner and how many things did he buy? A pig, a sheep, five or six jars of Jinhua wine and some other things, two large tables. If you multiply it by 500 and get 2000 yuan, how is it possible according to today's concept? Adding a 0 is not enough. Jinhua wine is equivalent to today's Maotai wine. Jinhua wine in the late Ming Dynasty was a first-class good wine. Now it has no reputation at all. This is such a concept.

Then Grandma Wang, Grandma Wang did one thing, which was to match Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian, and she received a benefit fee of ten taels. Ten taels multiplied by 500 is 5000 yuan. It's like a blind date, and a matchmaker can get 5000 yuan. It's about this concept. For example, hiring a secretary or scholar will earn a monthly salary of 3 taels. I just said that it would be nice to get 1 taels a month as a household steward. He gets 3 taels. This feeling is okay. If you multiply it by 500, it will be 1500 yuan. Of course, I don't feel much. But when I first started working, in 2000, one of my teachers was named Mr. Wang Jiafan. He had passed away. His salary was more than 1500 yuan. He was a university professor. It probably feels the same.

There are also rewards. This is too powerful. It is just a reward. It costs two coins of silver every time, and two coins of silver is 100 yuan. Today, when it comes to tipping, you sometimes have to tip when traveling abroad. Giving 100 yuan at once makes you feel very painful and a lot. There is also a taxi fee. For riding in a sedan chair, a taxi for three or four kilometers in the city is 6 cents silver. That 30 yuan is about the same. This concept is quite consistent. It is very interesting to have such a living level and living state in daily life, such a feeling immediately.

For example, there is a person named Zhan Jingfeng, who is very powerful and a first-class calligraphy and painting collector in the late Ming Dynasty. This is beyond the reach of ordinary scholars. He lists many things in it, such as the 50 taels of "Huaxi Fish Hidden Picture", which Zhang Luxiang mentioned above will never be possible in his life. There is also Gao Shiqi. He said that Wuzhen's "Pine Spring Painting" is worth 30 taels of silver. If 30 taels are multiplied by 500, it will not be much money. However, if you think that Wuzhen's paintings on the auction market are all calculated in 100 million yuan, so multiplying it by 500 is completely wrong.

There is also Li Gonglin's "Luo Shen Fu", which is a divine product, 100 taels. There is also Mi Youren and Xia Gui both cost 160 taels, and such pictures are auctioned for hundreds of millions. If you multiply it by 500 yuan, you won't feel anything, and it's wrong.

Xiang Yuanbian was a first-class collector of calligraphy and painting during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. Because after Wen Zhengming and his family declined in Suzhou, the calligraphy and painting collection center slowly moved to Jiaxing, the most important one being the Xiang family. Xiang Yuanbian said that Wang Xizhi's "Zhan Jin Tie" is equivalent to 2000 taels of silver, which is simply impossible for ordinary people to match. Huai Su's "Self-Preface" cost 1000 taels, Feng Chengsu's "Preface to Lanting" cost 550 taels, and Song Tuo Dingwu's "Lanting Ben" cost 420 taels. He was looking for antiques at the stall, and an ancient edition poster cost 250 taels. Such very high-end, elite pursuits are beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

Let's look at the novel "The Legend of Marriage Awakening the World", a novel from the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Generally, people don't pay much attention to this novel. This kind of crappy story of talented scholars and beautiful women has no meaning. However, the price information inside is very credible, reflecting the living standards of that era is very credible, and there are many data to support it. There is a list we copied down, a very credible price.

The horizontal line here shows that several students teaching private schools are paid 1 taels per month. Can you see it? The other people I mentioned just now wrote about themselves how to be tutors, and at most, they could get 1 taels a month, which is quite interesting.

The land, of course, is from the north and Shandong, and he said 2 taels per mu. Of course, land in the north is not as expensive as in the south, but in the south, it can be doubled. For example, 4 taels or 6 taels will be no problem for the top gentry and landlords mentioned just now. Therefore, in historical materials, we can always see that the landlords in Jiangnan are very powerful, often thousands of acres or tens of thousands of acres. If he has money, he can buy whatever he wants, and there is no need to plunder them. One acre only costs 2 taels, 3 taels, and 6 taels, which is very simple. The last one is that pine coffins cost 3.2 taels each. It sounds cheaper, right? Pine coffins, many now use pine wood to make furniture. This information is also quite credible. Later, I read "The 15th Year of Wanli", which said that Hai Rui was very honest and asked his good friend Wang Yongji to help him arrange the funeral when he died. Then there was a judgment. When Hai Rui died, his family was very poor and still had more than 20 taels of silver. He made a judgment and couldn't even afford a coffin. This was a bit nonsense. He could still afford it, unless he couldn't afford a nanmu coffin, but he could still afford a few mouthfuls of pine wood.

Wan Wanqi, a follower of the Ming Dynasty, writer, and painter, sold paintings in his later years to support his family. He lamented all day long and said that my life was very difficult. If I wanted to be a follower, I could only make ends meet. How to make a living? This is a bit pretentious. We are now called Versailles. What did he say? I write for others, writing 3 taels of small letters and silver. Think about it when people work as a tutor, and they only earn 1 taels after working hard in a month. If you write calligraphy in small Kai, you can easily get 3 taels of silver. The medium size cursive script is slightly more than 5 taels, and the cheapest one is 3 taels, which is okay. Calligraphy in large fonts costs 5 to 5 taels, and paintings are also more expensive. Others include small mountains and rivers and seals. Engraving seals can also make money. Stone is relatively easy to carve, usually 5 taels of silver, copper is harder, 1 taels of silver, and 5 taels of silver. Jade is the most difficult to carve. Jade is really difficult to carve. Nowadays, it is usually carved by machines, and it costs 2 taels of silver per side. I think the ancients still had ways to live their lives well. This is a more interesting aspect of the life of scholars.

3. Prosperity of the market

In the late Ming Dynasty, the commodity economy was active and the urban market was very prosperous. The most interesting thing was the images. Nowadays, many scholars study images, which reflect history very vividly. Some require further interpretation, and some are realistic.

This is a picture of the Ming Dynasty, painted in the Qing Dynasty, and this one came from overseas. The "Commercial Atlas of Suzhou City Scenery" is a long volume, which is very exciting. It is a bit like the "Prosperity of Suzhou" during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. It goes from outside the city to inside the city, and then from inside to outside the city. It is very similar to the "Riverside Picture during the Qingming Festival" and is a long volume. Each shop inside is marked with its name, and some places may be marked with the shop opened by a businessman. Look at a small street market with all kinds of shops from all over the country. The cocoon hair customers in Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province, are a small trading institution like tooth stores. There are also summer cloths woven by this machine, many, many, very vivid. This was something everyone liked to talk about later. In the late Ming Dynasty, the sprouts of capitalism were very clearly reflected, and many of them were like this.

There are many such expressions in the inscriptions, and even textbooks have been copied into them. A business relationship in which large households contribute, small households take advantage of weaving, machine households contribute, and mechanics contribute, and the boss hires workers. For example, a new product that became popular after the late Ming and Wanli Dynasties was summer socks that did not exist before. In the past, people in the middle and early Ming Dynasty, including people before the Ming Dynasty, wore socks regardless of winter or summer. Summer was also very thick. Wasn't it very hot? Therefore, after careful work, the cotton spinning industry produced a very light socks made of a kind of cloth called Umop, which was very light and light. After this cloth was released, it sold well in the market, and many people used this industry as a means of making a living. Songjiang was the entire cotton spinning center at that time. Songjiang City walked down a street from the West Gate. Hundreds of people opened stores, all of them doing this, which was equivalent to bringing huge business opportunities to the people.

Fan Lian was a small gentry during the Wanli period, and his fame was not too high. His notebook was called "Yunjian Juimu Copy", which clearly stated that in the western suburbs of the county city, Ximen Street in Songjiang (now that tourism has been developed, if you have the opportunity to go to Songjiang City, that Ximen Street has a very historical sense). He said that there are more than 100 summer sock shops opened on this street, many of whom are ordinary people, bringing huge opportunities to the people in the city to make a living.

There is also "The Romance of the History of Qiao Qiao" which is also very exciting. It is mainly written in the late Ming Dynasty, and more of it was written during the Chongzhen period. There is a wonderful passage in it that is very suitable for the daily lives of ordinary people. Including the Qing Dynasty, there were many author archives who talked about the lives of ordinary people. How much money should they earn every day? There is also something in this novel, which is very consistent with historical truth. At the beginning, they were of course attracted to it. How good was the Ming Dynasty? Since the founding of Hongwu, the emperors have been good people. The people lived a happy life and it was a paradise. Then he began to talk about it and spread it to Wanli. During the Wanli period, everyone was familiar with the emperor's greed for money, the eunuchs were fierce, the local area was plundered to an appearance, and there was also party strife. But you have to know that after Chongzhen, both ordinary people and literati actually yearned for life during the Wanli period, including the poems written by Wu Mingchun. He has always missed the Wanli period. In the Wanli period, let alone other benefits, the most important thing for the common people was the following sentence: Food, rice, oil, salt, chicken, goose, fish and other kinds of food are what they need in daily life. Which one is not cheap? It's just that prices are very cheap, and earning 1 tael of silver is very strong. This is a good thing. Nowadays, prices are so expensive. If wages do not increase, they will be very tight.

Then he talked about a family of several members later. He talked about ordinary people. There were three or five people in a family of several members. How much does it cost to spend every day for big fish and meat? Two-three coins. Two-three coins are just drizzling rain for high-ranking officials and noble people. It is a very rich day for the common people. To small families, it is just a coolie. They can earn twenty to thirty pennies a day. He is very happy on this day. This information is very credible. I later read a lot of archives saying that they hired workers to do coolies, low-end coolies, rather than skilled workers like textile workers, and low-end coolies, usually for twenty to thirty thousand yuan. In twenty or thirty quarters, he felt that life was very easy, which could ensure his relatively stable life for a day. You can drink some wine, even listen to plays and storytelling, warm the fire in winter and enjoy the shade in summer. This day will be very comfortable. This is a very beautiful living situation for ordinary people in the city. If you encounter natural and man-made disasters, then this good life will be over. He said: "Everyone's small families are very happy, and the two northern and thirteen provinces of Beijing are all happy." Novels always have to be described in this way, plus specific stories.

The problem lies behind. Of course, these are false and do not conform to the truth of history. No matter how the emperor is, no matter how the virtuous prime minister is, no matter how they are, no matter where they are not, they will do it. The key is the latter sentence. He said: To this day, when people talk about that day, they don't sigh and miss it. When we think about it now, we also sigh and miss it. Life at that time was exciting. Although we didn't make much money, our purchasing power was extremely strong. Many people have made comparisons, including buying and selling prices and books. During the Wanli period, how many books could be bought in China during the same period, but only how many books could be bought in Europe. A large number of books could be bought in China at the same price. Therefore, some people pointed out that at that time, since Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli, a large number of Japanese people came to China to frantically purchase China's calligraphy, paintings, antiques, including books. They were very cheap. They bought them in large quantities without having to rob them. They were very cheap and could buy a lot of them. If the salary you earn a month in Europe may only buy one book, which is very expensive, we later argued that it may involve the medium of the book. Maybe ancient Rome in Europe was a sheepskin scroll, which of course was expensive, unlike ours, which is a relatively cheap and popular rice paper. There was also such a problem. Generally speaking, life for people in the late Ming Dynasty in the world was relatively easy, as long as no other major crisis occurred.

The livelihood of the people. I just mentioned that this image is very vivid. Recently, people who study agricultural history also like to study the farming life in the image.

Farming life is most suitable for the daily life of the people. The images may be a little beautified, and the lives of the people can be reflected more or less, giving people a sense of yearning. This is the scene of sericulture and sericulture in rural areas. You can still see such scenes when you go to Jiaxing and Huzhou. There are also small businesses, including sellers, shops, and small pawnshops.

The picture below shows the calligraphy and painting boat in the Jiangnan Water Town.

Painting and calligraphy boats are the favorite of literati. They regularly wander in Jiangnan water towns and have some obvious target customer groups. Just like Li Rihua, Li Rihua lives on the edge of South Lake. He often recruits calligraphy and painting boats by the lake. The owner of the calligraphy and painting boat also knows that this is a big customer. He often ships some good books to him. Some people's families also need them and educate their children. This is a painting and calligraphy ship, very active, seems to be very busy, and very mobile. There are also the shops mentioned just now. The more interesting picture is the following:

Two people are exercising with bare arms. Are they exercising? The reason why he shows his strength is that he used the medicine in this store. It looks like this, very vivid.

There is also the following picture:

I didn't understand at first. Why did rural farmers take a bunch of yellow things when they were preparing to enter the city? I thought it was an ear of rice, but later I thought wrong. It was a money chain. They had strings of yellow on their hands, and some of them were on their backs. They were money strings. When I was a child, I also watched a little of old dramas. There was a collar with a bag in front and a bag in the back on my shoulders. There were copper coins on both sides. They were very heavy, very heavy. The same is true for preparing to go to the city to do some small business and business. The overall image seems to be full of many tempting flavors.

Let's take a look at Lu Shen, a Jinshi in the 18th year of Hongzhi. Perhaps you don't have a deep impression. He was Yan Song's fellow student and founded Lujiazui in Pudong, Shanghai. Lujiazui belonged to the Lu family. After Lu Shen was admitted, he hoped that his son Lu Ji would also be admitted. Every time he said that he would go to Nanjing to take the provincial examination and select candidates, he would not save me money. After the elders of the family succeed, the children are cultivated as elites. Although some families value frugality, he said that you must spare no effort and not be reluctant to part with the money. You must be willing to spend money and not lose our family's dignity. You have to hire a wide boat to go to Nanjing, and you have to change a small boat to go to the city. If you have a good friend riding on your boat, you will help him pay for all the food expenses. In the end, I failed to pass the exam. The old father was very depressed that he didn't get in. He said it didn't matter. Life would always suffer some setbacks. There would still be a chance to get in next time, but as a result, he still didn't get in next time.

What is Lu Ji's more powerful? There is a passage written in his notes ("Jianjiatang Manuscripts"), which is now quoted by countless scholars:

Every time I observe the situation of the world, I think that if the land is luxurious, the people will have an easy life; if the land is frugal, the people will not be able to make a living. Which? This is why the situation is so.

Today's wealth is in Wu Yue. The luxury of Wu customs is no more abundant than that of Su; the luxury of Yue customs is no more abundant than that of Hangzhou. Luxurious means that the people are poor. Now, there are people in Suzhou and Hangzhou who do not cultivate an inch of land but eat millet with their mouths, and who do not wear a single piece of cloth but wear embroidered clothes...

To do so, get rich first and then be extravagant, be poor first and then frugality... Its people rely on the easy market for a living... My city is located on a remote seaside, and boats and carriages from all directions cannot pass through it. It is called "Little Suzhou" in the proverb. Those who rely on the money in the city have no worries about dozens of people. They think that customs are very extravagant, and their people can easily make a living.

However, the changes in Wu and Yue have become a living person. The major factor lies in the customs and extravagance, and the benefits of market changes can be used to help people.

He observed that society, current affairs, major events, and living atmosphere in the late Ming Dynasty were filled with an extravagant atmosphere. Both extravagance and extravagance were excessive, and excessive meant that they had deviated from the norms of reason and had the taste of overstepping. Teacher Chen talked a lot about how you can live with money, what kind of clothes to wear, and what kind of jewelry to wear were not allowed in the early Ming Dynasty, and it was not allowed until the Jiajing Dynasty. What kind of identity you are is regulated. Even if you have money, you have to restrain yourself, including brothel women, you have to wear black leather vests. People can see that you are a brothel woman. So what if you have money?

But in the late Ming Dynasty, everyone is the same. People walking on the road can't tell that this is a brothel girl or a lady from a big family. There is a saying that is well said during the Jiajing years: You can know the level of power by looking at your obedience. The level of power is the order of the upper and lower levels. At that time, it was no longer visible and there was no more. He was sighing, so many people criticized this atmosphere with a sense of crisis. What did he say? He is a representative, and many people also said the same. He said that the most luxurious places in China are of course in Wu and Yue, Wu is in Jiangsu, and Yue is in Hangzhou. He is talking about Suzhou and Hangzhou, which everyone yearn for. This kind of living atmosphere is that wealth first and luxury later. Because to live such a life, whether it is poor or rich, it will definitely bring more ways to make a living for others, and it will be easy for ordinary people to make a living. If you don't want to walk, I'll carry you. If you give me money, it's fine for you to sit in a sedan chair. Your life is just as good as life. If we want to return to a simple era and a simple social atmosphere, then these people will all lose their jobs and lose their way to make a living. This is a very important issue.

Therefore, he said that Wu and Yue were easy to live, and the main reason was vulgarity. He followed the Western concept of luxury, which can stimulate consumption. This concept is very advanced. Gu Gongxie, a scholar during the Qianlong period, also said the same: Having the luxury of millions of people means having the physiology of millions of people. Physiology is livelihood. If luxury is to be banned, what will happen to these people's lives? There is no solution. This has been a trend since the late Ming Dynasty.

4. Pursuit of meaning

The fourth one briefly talks about the pursuit of meaning, which is very complex and diverse. Let me talk about a few small points, which are relatively simple. The diversity of spiritual beliefs is clear to everyone. There are boundaries. You believe in Taoism and I believe in Buddhism. When the three religions were unified in the late Ming Dynasty, Wang Xijue was still the chief assistant of the cabinet in the 21st year of Wanli. His mother believed in Buddhism, and he certainly represented Confucianism because he was a literati and scholar-official. His daughter practiced Taoism and was said to have become an immortal later. If this father became his daughter as a teacher, their family did not feel disobedient at all. It was amazing.

Yuan Huang belonged to his student generation. Wang Xijue wrote to Yuan Huang for a while, saying that my old mother believed in Buddhism very pious. She was so old that she was half dead and still believed in Buddhism. This was not good. I wanted to dissuade him. Yuan Huang immediately stopped him and said you should not do this. The old lady has a good heart for Buddha and can prolong her life. Wang Xijue was right to listen and let his mother continue to believe in Buddhism. Yuan Huang's most important point is,"I make the destiny, and I ask for the blessing." In this way, everyone will talk about it, what method can I make the destiny? It is to do good and accumulate virtue. Later, people compiled four articles for educating their children, namely "Liao Fan Si Xun". It was not written by Yuan Huang himself, but was compiled by someone later. It is very famous. It seems that many publishing houses are publishing it all over the world now, and this has become a bestseller. Guangxi Normal University should also publish one. This is a bestseller. This involves basic issues. This is a starting point for scholars. What is reading for? For what? Pursue what? Material or spiritual?

Gui Youguang's era was better, but he was already in an era of great transition in dynasty, society, politics, economy, culture, and thought. He said proudly: "Wu is a pool of talents, and his writing is the best in the world." He believes that Suzhou has the highest education level. Of course, it was indeed the highest during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Suzhou is still the hometown of top scorers. He said that if you do other professions here, you will be looked down upon by others. Only reading is the most glorious thing, and you are ashamed to do other professions. At the age of six or seven, you have to prepare for scientific examinations and study for exams. If you study anything else, others will criticize you. It is not appropriate. You must study hard. Reading is the right path. Even if your hair turns white, you will not give up. This is very right. Gui Youguang was admitted to the Jinshi until he was almost 60 years old. How famous do you think he is? The scientific expedition was not going well. The Yuan Huang I just talked about is super smart. He took the provincial examination six times and took the Jinshi six times. It was also very bumpy.

Xie Zhaoxian is from Fujian. He said,"Nowadays, people teach their children to read, just to learn from their own subjects." What is reading for? The basic goal is to take the imperial examination, and the imperial examination is also to be an official. Of course, what kind of ideal is it to be an official? Is it to govern the country and stabilize the world or something else? I don't know, this is usually the case. Study, enter an official position, and become an official. These six words came out after Jiajing and are very common. Chen Bangyan, one of the three heroes of Lingnan, said in his anthology: "Bokodi is a fat wife." Why do you ask about reading? Bokodi is an imperial examination. The target behind came out, Fat Wife. Make your wife fat, live a better life, make money, and achieve both wealth and wealth. This is a goal pursued by a scholar on the way of advancing in life and a change arising from the pursuit of meaning. Many people oppose it. Is it for the sake of "Bokdi, fat wife"? This is the pursuit of life.

Yuan Huang's father never took the imperial examination. It was only during Yuan Huang's era that he prepared to enter the imperial examination field. His father was a commoner and an encyclopedic figure who understood everything. Yuan Huang and his family did not need to hire external teachers to do tutoring. They were all home-educated and passed down from generation to generation. It was very impressive. He said that nowadays, when people have a child who is slightly smarter, they will ask someone to teach them to pursue wealth. They are not interested in wealth and don't even know what fame is or what morality is. This sentence should be reversed, so he should put morality first in educating his children. When scholars establish their own qualities, the first priority is morality. What is reading for? The first level is morality, and the second level is fame. The worst thing is wealth and wealth. Wealth means making a lot of money, and wealth means having political status. This significance is very important, and many people are emphasizing this. But after Jiajing, the situation was completely reversed. Wealth and wealth came first, which was also in line with the trend of social development at that time.

Gu Dingchen (No. 1 scholar in the 18th year of Hongzhi, native of Kunshan) was an important official in the Jiajing cabinet. Yan Song was in the same category as him. After he went to Beijing and entered the Hanlin Academy, he wrote letters constantly, writing more than a dozen letters to his eldest son and his son-in-law. His son-in-law is called Gui Ben, who is Gui Youguang's great-great-grandfather. He said, why do you read? It is practice. We must understand the truth, be a good person, and seek progress. He did not say what wealth was required. This was the basic principle of being a person. To establish a person's character, and to establish a person's character must start from a young age.

Another example is Hou Dongzeng, whom everyone is familiar with. He was a representative figure of the martyred servant of Hou Dongzeng's family. His ancestor was named Hou Yaofeng, which ushered in their prosperous era. Hou Yaofeng was a Jinshi in the fifth year of Longqing, his grandson was a Jinshi in the thirty-eighth year of Wanli, and Hou Dong was a Jinshi in the fifth year of Tianqi, and he won several Jinshi. After Hou Yaofeng's success, his family moved from the countryside (there is a town called Zhudi Town next to Shanghai Hongqiao Airport today. It used to be a Zizi Village. It was a village where they lived for a long time) to Jiading City and built many houses. He educated his children after the family sacrifice and warned his descendants: "I don't want you to be first-class officials one day, but I hope you will be first-class officials." This is a very famous saying. Later, his younger generation Hou Xuanchuan, was from the late Ming Dynasty to the Kangxi period. He did not serve as an official or take the imperial examination. This was the sentence he taught his children: You must study hard, go deep into books, and be a useful person in heaven and earth. Rather than pursuing wealth, or "Bokoda, fat wives", this was a relatively upward pursuit and a relatively important spiritual trend in the life of scholars in the late Ming Dynasty.

Chen Longzheng, a Jinshi in the seventh year of Chongzhen, was a very representative figure who promoted the charity organization of Tongshan Society in the late Ming Dynasty. He wrote a couplet at home: "Three things in life, one thing, one thing The second sentence in this couplet says that one day has three points, and one day has three sections. The first section is to respond to things, which is to treat people and things and handle daily affairs. The second is meditation, which is cultivation; the third section is reading. This set of practice was taught to him by his teacher. His serious teacher was Gao Panlong. Gao Panlong never stopped in the two directions of meditation and reading throughout his life. Of course, it was a very popular fashion for people in the late Ming Dynasty to practice meditation and cultivate, and it can also be said that.

Chen Jiru, the top literati in the late Ming Dynasty, no longer an official, but was called the prime minister in the mountains. He said these words:

First: To be a scholar, you must be afraid of others. Don't be so arrogant and help others fight lawsuits and become a lawsuit at all times. Film and television dramas are called a lawsuit.

Second: After entering an official position, like a daughter-in-law, you have to support someone. After becoming an official, you must be like a daughter-in-law, serve your people well and be nicer to them.

Third: When you return to the forest, you are like an old woman who wants to teach others. If you don't want to be an official, you have to teach people when you return to the countryside. You have to teach people as hard as an old lady.

In these three sentences, we must be afraid of people, support people, and teach people. These are all requirements or pursuits in terms of moral cultivation.

Social changes have been very drastic since the 15th and 16th centuries. Although I have not talked about the late Ming Dynasty for too long, it was indeed an era of major changes. What I introduced is only a small aspect. All aspects of the economy are connected, life is complex and changing, and culture is indeed quite prosperous. This is the appearance of a specific era. Among these life aspects, whether we talk about urban culture or literati life, they are quite prominent and have a core role.