Ming Literature I

Literature of the Late Ming (1573-1644) Pg. 63-82

The Late Ming dynasty is known for its vast amounts of circulated Literature. In face this is one of the first times where there is a division of written material that is literature and is no considered literature. before the Ming any possible manuscript found is considered literature but since so much of the Ming dynasty literature is still extant experts can chose what is literature and what is not. The time was split into three eras the Jialing and Longqing (1521-1572), and the Wanli (1573-1620).

The Major factor effecting literature at this time was Book production. books were being produced at a Rate that had never been witnessed in Human history. The same time in Europe Printing was also functioning yet China Could make Paper much easier. Because of this literally everyone had access to books. Even the poor could afford books. This lead to vast library’s of 10,000 chapters. In Europe at the time a Library of 20 books would seem enormous though not in China. some men such as Hu yinglin and Mao Jing had over 84,000 chapters in their library. Most of the printed material where Classics, histories, philosophy, belles-letteres (assorted works). Also religious groups were distributing literature in high volumes among the most popular works at the time were Precious scrolls (baojuan), and Morality books (shanshu). The Centers of publishing during the Ming were, Nanjing and Jian Yang. Also because of the vast Amount of Literature being distributed large amounts of Women where becoming literate and Literature was being written by Women.

Because books became extremely Common place Authors began adding elaborate Picture and began signing their names in the books, also color printing became quite popular. Also during this time Authors were publishing books during their lives and could become famous during their life time. A near first for most of Chinese literary history.

The cultural center of the Ming During this time was an area know as Jiangnan. When most of us think of the fantastical China we think of Jiannan. It was a place of mass commerce, home of Xue Susu one of the eight famous courtesans of the Ming, filled with Courtesans, artist, and writers. The Fashion trends of the time was not dictated by Beijing but by Jiangnan.

Also during the late Ming you had Literary societies arising. Theses were formed mainly for the common love off literary and ideologies yet being part of a society had advantages. Societies were compiling Essays from the imperial exams and could help those who had not yet taken them. The exams had become increasingly hard and had a passing rate of around 3%. yet members of the Revival literary Society could receive help from other members and had an average rate of 18% passing.

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Lastly during this time came the extremely Radical Author Li Zhi, he was known for his forward thinking and was against many of the views of Confucius. While Confucius Believed in self cultivation Li Zhi believed in the inherent good already in people and the Way we should be Innocent like Children with instinctive morals. he was very anachronistic for his time, and was very controversial. He was Arrested for heredoxy and while in prison he Slit his throat.