Regrettably, however, the renewal of this concept was clearly extremely limited at the time. When Li Zhuowu, a leftist of Wang Xue, further developed humanitarianism and personality theory, he suddenly became an isolated philosopher. This is really a strange thing, Li Zhuowu's advocacy of human desire rationality and anti-Taoist spirit, which did not contradict the social indulgence trend of thought at that time, including scholars, was regarded as a flood beast. The reason for his tragedy is that his ideas are beyond that era, but at the same time, they also expose the limited nature of the renewal of social concepts in the late Ming Dynasty. All changes can only be made without harming the old system. As a result, the social concept renewal of the late Ming Dynasty eventually returned to the insatiable material pursuit and limited personality pursuit. The late Ming masters who could not see a way out survived in drunken dreams and death, thus promoting the prevalence of extravagance in the late Ming society.
▲ Li Zhuowu (Li Zhen)
We can see the characteristics of the late Ming Dynasty, and its most fundamental problem is the contradiction between people's new ideas and pursuits and the old system that is difficult to change.
From the beginning of this kind of problem in Zhengde, people have been constantly seeking a solution. After Zhengde, in order to adapt to these changes, many people consciously or unconsciously tried to reform. From Liu Jin to Ming Shizong, from Yan Song to Zhang Juzheng, whether they appear in the image of positive characters or as negative figures in history, they are constantly doing the same thing: trying to solve the entangled social problems. But they are simply tinkering with the old system, trying to adapt to irreversible social changes, rather than trying to promote them. Because the results of these changes are likely to hurt the old system itself.
It was precisely in this contradiction that the scholars and doctors of the late Ming Dynasty lived in such contradictions. They were initially uncomfortable with the transformation of society. The decades from Chenghua to Zhengde were the most comfortable time for the Ming dynasty scholars, who had recovered to a considerable extent economically and were in a superior position politically. One of the consequences of the development of the commodity economy is that money has replaced power to a certain extent, so there has been the encroachment of the people that the scholars and masters have intolerable, and the traditional hierarchical symbols have lost their old value.
But this unbalanced psychological fluctuation of the scholars was soon diluted, and they gradually adapted to this unchangeable reality, and used their privileged advantages to join the hedonists. Thus came two unprecedented prominences: the commodification of power and the commodification of culture. The two well-known examples are Yan Song's henchmen Yan Maoqing, "to the point where Wen Jin was drowned in a toilet bed and platinum ornaments." When he was old, he gave the Yan clan and the magnates to the unrivaled. He often traveled with his wife, made colorful public opinions, and made twelve women scoop them up, and the road was frightening" (Ming Shi Yan MaoQing Biography). Yan Maoqing is famous for his greed for ink, and Zhang Juzheng, as a famous reformer, is also more than that. The footsteps he took, "The front is heavy, and the back bedroom is used to rest, and the wings are two wings, and each boy stands, and the left and right attendants are waving incense, and each one uses thirty-two spoons." From the beginning of the state Yi post, tooth plate food, water and land over a hundred products, Ju Zheng still thinks that there is no place to go. And the (Qian) Pu Wuxi people, who can only serve Wu Feng, Ju Zheng Ganzhi, said: "I have only a full ear so far." When this was heard, Wu Zhong's good deeds were recruited and exhausted, and all of them were rewarded with good prices. (Jiao Gang: "Yutang Congyu", vol. 8, "Ji Luxury") This is of course the most luxurious model, but since "Wu Zhong's goodness is the one who is good, the recruitment is exhausted", it shows that it is not an isolated phenomenon.
▲Zhang Juzheng
Another scenario is the commodification of culture. In the traditional Chinese concept, the literati doctor should be proud of the festival, but the literati doctor of the late Ming Dynasty is quite famous for loving money. In fact, the scholars and masters of the Ming Dynasty also had a time of xiao shuang and arrogance, a famous example is that when The King of Yonglejian Meng Duan lived in Beijing, he was neighboring with a merchant, and he heard that his family had a flute under the moon, and he was very happy, and the next day they visited each other, painted bamboo as a gift, and said: "I came for the sound of the pipe, and I should repay it with the sound of the pipe." "The merchant did not understand the matter, and gave it back with a red felt, please write another branch as a match." Wang Mengduan despised it, took the painting he had given before and destroyed it and returned it to his gift. (Zhao Jishi: "Sending to the Garden", Volume 10, "Sleeping Sending") However, after Zhengde, this situation can only be a legendary story. Under the impact of social atmosphere, people could not overcome the temptation of material things, and the culture that scholars and doctors originally regarded as elegant began to become a commodity for their material enjoyment. This situation began with Li Dongyang, a member of the Zhengdejian Cabinet University. The "History of Ming" records that Li Dongyang "not only resigned from the government and stayed at home, but also asked the poets to fill in the household limits, and had a lot of money to give the day and night." One day, Mrs. Fang entered the paper and ink, and Dongyang had a tired color. Madame laughed and said, "If you set up a guest today, can you make the case fish-free?" 'But he gladly ordered the pen, and moved the time away.". As for celebrities like Tang Yin, Sang Yue, Zhu Yunming, and Du Mu, they are almost professional calligraphers and painters.
Source: Cultural History of the Ming Dynasty Author: Shang Chuan
Image source: Network
We respect originality and protect originality. Some of the articles on this platform have images, reproduced, or adapted from other public platforms or Internet platforms. The main purpose is to exchange and share information, so that more tourists can get scenic spot consultation. The copyright belongs to the original author, the content is for the reader's reference only, if it infringes your rights or copyright, please let us know in time, we will delete it as soon as possible.