The Merchant Elite and Vernacular Writing

Woodblock printed books from the Ming Dynasty, cc licence via Wikimedia. Click here for original source.

Vernacular Writing in the Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty saw the pinnacle of urbanization that had begun in the Tang, Song, and Yuan Dynasties. During this time, printed literature rose in quantity to unprecedented levels.

At the forefront of changes to class and literature during the Ming were the merchant class. A class of merchant elite, moving between gentry and civil service examination culture, and business culture, grew out of the new wealth of city life and foreign trade.

Writing began to reflect the blurring of social class. Vernacular writing, which is writing done in the spoken language, was not only becoming extremely common, but also began to receive canonical status by the scholarly elite.

Historical Background

The Four Occupations

There were four distinct social classes, known as the Four Occupations.

The idea of the Four Occupations came from either Legalist or Confucian principles, dating back as far as the Zhou Dynasty.

These four different occupations were organized in a hierarchy of importance, starting with the Shi, followed by the Nong, the Gong, and finally the Shang. The Shi were the cultural elite. Originally a warrior class, over time the group shifted into the scholarly elite seen in the Ming and other dynasties. During the Ming, they were the gentry elite.

The Nong were the peasant farmers. They were considered second to the gentry because they grew the food necessary to maintain the empire.

The Gong were craftsmen and workers. They were considered second to the peasants; they did not create products quite as essential as food, but still made goods necessary for the people in the country. Some of the more successful members of this class formed guilds to sell goods.

The Shang were merchants. They were considered lower than the other classes because they profited off the work of others without producing their own work. While they were necessary to the country, the other classes were seen as more valuable.

The Four Occupations were seen more as an ideal rather than a realistic hierarchy. While the peasants and craftsmen were considered more valuable than the merchant class, merchants could not only gain wealth from within the country, but through outside trade, as well. With Europeans finding silver in the Americas, merchants were able to facilitate trade between foreign entities. Because of the desire for silver in China, merchants gained unprecedented wealth. (*)

The Shang

By the Ming Dynasty, the social distinctions between classes became blurred. It culminated with the formation of a group referred to as the Shishang.The name is clearly a combination of the gentry class and merchant class, shi and shang. The group was "a combination of the old examination-based elite with a new wealthy merchant class." The class was associated with fiction writing written predominately in vernacular Chinese (Cambridge 99).

It's probable that most of the merchant class, especially the merchant elite, were literate. Due to increased wealth, this class now had more time to spend on cultural pursuits. While some men of merchant families, such as Li Mengyang, pursued official careers, many did not. The market, controlled by the gentry and merchant elite, now focused on more than just the examination process. Careers outside of an official career were more than possible in the Ming.

The estimation of literate men in the Ming dynasty figures as high as 40% of the population (Nesta 266) , which is vastly different when compared to European literate culture.

Print culture

The End of Manuscript Culture, Movement into Print Culture

Calligraphy by Wang Wen, cc licence via Wikimedia. Click here for original source.

A woodblock for printing from the Yangzhou Museum, cc licence via Wikimedia. Click here for original source.

From as early as 200 A.D, woodblock printing has existed in China. Woodblock printing was not replaced by movable type printing that was developed in the Song dynasty, in about 1040 A.D, by Bi Sheng. This form of movable type was a technological innovation, but woodblock printing was cheaper. Most significant to China's literary culture is the development of paper, which by the Ming, was produced cheaply and abundantly out of various fibers, while in Europe, comparatively, paper was mostly made from animal skins. The cloth and plant fiber paper in China allowed for a much greater development of writing, and particularly printing.

Despite the existence of printing, scholars through the Tang and Song Dynasties valued handwritten manuscripts, lending to the name 'manuscript culture.' Texts were written by hand and distributed in literate circles, usually of the gentry class. Calligraphy was a highly prized skill throughout China's literary history. It is still considered one of the highest forms of art in China, "serving the purpose of conveying thoughts while also showcasing abstract beauty of lines" ("History of Chinese Calligraphy" 1). It was also around the time of the invention of the woodblock print that calligraphy began to be considered an art form.

By the late Ming, manuscript culture had been replaced by print culture as the dominant means of distributing works. The amount of literacy and written work produced during the Ming was explosive in scale. While manuscript culture remained important, with works such as Jin Ping Mei, Flower in the Golden Vase, being written and shared in manuscript form, by the sixteenth century, printing became the primary mode of textual circulation (Cambridge 63).

Li Mengyang

Li Mengyang was a Ming Dynasty scholar. He came from a merchant family, making him a good example of the Shishang class.

He was a member of the Revivalist School of writers, who were focused on the expression of emotion over refined form. They saw the focus on form that was appearing in palace poetry of the time as vain. Particularly important to note about the Revivalist School is their fascination with colloquial songs. They felt that true poetry would be found among the people, where the writings were emotional and connected to real life.

Li's main interest was in the play The Western Wing, and he was the first to give it scholarly credence. His interest in the play and other forms of writing, such as his interest in popular songs, might be explained by his origins from a merchant family.

Li had a troubled career as an official; he was imprisoned four times, and ultimately left his career as a scholar. Even after the end of his career, he remained an active, vocal writer, dedicated to the Revivalist School.

The Western Wing; Plays and Colloquial Songs

Plays like The Western Wing (sometimes called Romance of the West Chamber)began to see attention from the cultural elite during the Ming. Not only were plays of interest to members of the elite, but colloquial songs were also gaining prominence.

The Western Wing was first published in 1498, about two hundred years after its first appearance as a performance. It was a cultural phenomenon in the Ming, gaining wide popularity among all classes of people. The songs featured in the drama were extremely popular, in particular. The play had the notorious status as "a lover's bible," and it was considered controversial. It featured a couple that consummated their romance without their parents' approval, set in the Tang Dynasty. It appeared as a story that was adapted into a drama, prints of the play appearing in the mid-Ming.

The Western Wing gained canonical importance from Li Mengyang, but the popularity of the play no doubt reached scholars before Li gave it important status. Scholarly interest extended to songs outside of drama, as well. The focus of songs and drama was to express human emotion. Because of groups like the Revivalist School, interested in precisely that, the culture of songs and lyricism in the Ming is an intermingling of the popular and the elite, and class distinction, while intact, was not as focused.

Fiction

Something comparable to fiction has existed in China for centuries before the Ming. Collections of prose tales of stories, most particularly collections of strange or supernatural tales, gained some degree of prominence in the Tang Dynasty.

In the Ming, due to editors such as Feng Menglong, and novels written in vernacular Chinese, the genre of fiction gained new importance. Vernacular writing and fiction are inseparable in China's literary history. Readers showed a preference for material that was quick to read and many of the people now reading were not a part of the examination culture that had previously been the dominant market for printing in other dynasties.

With the increase of printed material in general, whether it was a travel guide, a newspaper, or numerous other common genres, in addition to writing done for entertainment or learning, the focus of writing and reading changed in the Ming. Vernacular writing had more expressive power than previous forms, partly because the primary audience wasn't necessarily the elite class. It was able to say and do different things that classical writing was unable to do.

The popular genres of fiction writing include short and long writings, novels and collections of stories. Vernacular writing, one of the most important aspects of Chinese fiction, included songs, drama, novels, and so on.

Feng Menglong

Feng Menglong was a writer and poet, but he was known for his work as an editor, compiling editions of vernacular stories, as well as rewriting older works into presentable printed works. His most important work was "The Three Words," which was a collection of three volumes, the Jingshi Tonyan, Yushi Mingyan, and Gujin Xiaoshuo. These were collections of vernacular writing written with a moralist interest. Feng Menglong was a follower of Li Zhi's principles and his works are informed by his philosophical standing.

Menglong wrote within almost every genre he could, but his most important works remain his editing and compiling work, which retained the history of the genre of vernacular stories and allowed the works to flourish due to the market potential inherent in the collections.

The Novel

Panel depicting a scene from The Water Margin, cc licence via Wikimedia. Click here for original source.

The rise of the novel was indicated by the four classical novels. Novels were written in vernacular but also featured classical writing, as well, such as small poems added either as ornament or to expand on the story. Most of the common writing, that is to say non-canonized vernacular writing, often featured classical Chinese as ornament. It wasn't until Feng Menglong's compilations that classical Chinese was written to actually assist the story.

Novels often retold stories, sometimes historical and sometimes more fantastic. Three of the four classic novels from the Ming were based, at least to a degree, on historical events.

The Four Classic Novels

"The Four Great Classical Novels" were comprised of the Ming works of The Water Margin, Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the Qing Dynasty work, Dream of the Red Chamber. These novels were written in vernacular Chinese with the addition of classical Chinese where the authors found it appropriate to add to the text. The reason they are considered a novel is because vernacular Chinese, while containing more characters, requires less deciphering to understand compared to classical Chinese. In the way Dante's Inferno was written in vernacular Italian, the Chinese novel was written in a similar way.

The three Ming classical novels were based on popular stories, folklore, historical, or otherwise. Numerous editions of the novels have been printed and published, making changes to the texts.

The "fifth" great novel was Jin Ping Mei, Plum in the Golden Vase. Jin Ping Mei was pivotal in the expansion of renown and scholarly credence to the vernacular novel.

Jin Ping Mei

Scene from Jin Ping Mei, cc licence via Wikimedia. Click here for original source.

Jin Ping Mei, or Plum in the Golden Vase, represents a unique piece of vernacular writing in Chinese literary history.

It was the first piece of such a length to be entirely original; it was not based on an earlier story or folklore like the other three classic novels from the Ming. Instead it was based upon an earlier text, the Water Margin. Aside from its allusions to Water Margin, the novel remains a relatively original composition.

The work was first printed in 1610 but was distributed in manuscript form for many years before that. The author was a pseudonym of Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng, or "the Scoffing Scholar of Lanling." Aside from the indication of Lanling, a location, the author is unknown. Due to its graphic depiction of sex, it has been banned for most of its existence. Despite its controversial nature (or due to it) the novel was very popular.

The novel follows Ximen Qing, an urban merchant, who despite no connections, manages to collect money and sex. It follows the rise and fall of him and his family clan, a group of merchants, set at the end of the Song Dynasty. The novel recorded the frustrations, resentment, and ambivalence of distance to the civil service system and the formation of a new urban culture (Ding XI-XIV).

Jin Ping Mei was largely referential to the literary culture of the Ming Dynasty, as well, borrowing from genres including vernacular stories, pornography, histories, dramas, songs, jokes and so on. It was also the most renowned novel to focus entirely on the domestic aspects of life, where the other classic novels were stories about fighting and battle. The novel, while set at the end of the Song Dynasty, does little to contextualize itself in that time, rather, it describes life in the Ming Dynasty.

Unlike The Western Wing, which almost encouraged the behavior the characters' unauthorized romance, Jin Ping Mei seems to have a moralist edge. By the end of the novels, the characters are killed off and the household ultimately falls.

Unlike the other classical novels, Jin Ping Mei was largely unchanged through its circulation, while many editions and changes were made upon the others. The novel helped to bring vernacular writing to canonical importance. It was likely written by a member of the elite, whether merchant or gentry elite is difficult to tell. It was circulated in manuscript form which implies authorship by a member of the elite.

Excerpts

Excerpts from Feng Menglong's "Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger" from Common Words to Warn the World

The Last barbarians swept away, the imperial seat is established;

soaring dragons and dancing phoenixes--a majestic scene!

To the left, encircled in a sash of east-sea sky;

to the right, hugged by Tai-Hang's ten-thousand-mountain walls.

Halberd and spear: the nine frontiers held in sway to the utmost passes;

gown and cap: the myriad fiefdoms look up in reverence to the serene robes of state.

In a peaceful age, the people rejoice in the realm of Hua-xu;

for ever and ever, a golden jar gleaming in the sun.

This poem is devoted to the praise of our dynasty's founding of the capital at Yan. As for the situation of the Yan capital, it is guarded to the north by towering passes, and commands the region of central China to the south. It is truly a golden citadel, a heavenly mansion, a foundation not to be toppled in ten thousand years! In the beginning, Granddad Hong-wu swept away the barbarian dust and established his reign at Jin-ling.... Our story picks up during the twentieth year of the Wan-li period, when the Japanese Prime Minister created discord by invading Korea. The King of Korea submitted a missive requesting assistance, and our celestial court dispatched troops to traverse the sea and go to the rescue. Around this time, a proposal by a Bureau of Households official was granted approval, to this effects:

In view of the present armed strife, our logistical supplies are insufficient. Let us provisionally adopt the precedent of accepting payment in exchange for positions in the imperial academy....

Now it turns out that there were several types of advantage for those who bought academy scholar status in this way: it made it easier to study, easier to participate in the civil exams, and easier to pass. All in all, it added up to a nice little prospect for career advancement. For this reason, the young masters of official families and the scions of wealthy houses became unwilling to take the ordinary licentiates' exam, preferring to take advantage of the quota and become academy scholars...

Among this number there was a young man surnamed Li, named Jia.... When he had been enrolled as an academy scholar, he would pass the time in the compound of the Ministry of Music along with his townsman the academy scholar Liu Yu-chun. There he encountered a famous courtesan. She was surnamed Du, named Mei, and was the tenth-born of her generation, so in the quarters everyone called her Du Tenth.

She was

High-toned allure from head to toe;

every inch coy scent.

Two arcs of eyebrows traced with green of distant hills;

a pair of eyes bright with welling autumn floods.

Face like a lotus bud--just like Wen-jun of the Zhuo clan,

lips like cherries--not a jot inferior to Fan-su of the Bai household.

Pity this slip of flawless jade

that fell by mistake amid whoredom's flowers and willows!

(Anthology of Chinese Literature 835-837).

Analysis

Painting of a Ming Dynasty woman, cc licence via Wikimedia. Click here for the original.

This short story features both vernacular and classic Chinese writing. The two poems displayed in this short passage are both presumably classic, while the longer sections are vernacular. The effect of this is comparable to reading a poem in English compared to a piece of prose; prose reads faster because, while it has more words, many of them are words understood immediately upon looking at them without reading them, while in a poem, each word is given greater emphasis.

In this piece, the prose writing reads quickly. It also explains a historical situation, while the first poem does the same but in a more elevated way. A poem appearing in the middle of a prose piece immediately draws attention to itself.

The second poem is most interesting; the first two words, explaining the purpose of the poem, the "she was," are written in prose, not included in the poem. The poem is used to elaborate on her appearance and her situation in life, but unlike Li Jia, the scholar in the piece, her appearance is apparently worthy of the elevated language of classical Chinese. This intersection of poetry to describe her not only indicates her importance, but also idealizes her to a great degree. It also forces the reader to slow down and read more carefully when it's describing her.

The mixture of classic and vernacular Chinese in this story is a later development during the Ming of the writing style. Previously, mixtures of the two styles were not used to elaborate or illuminate parts of the story like the two poems do in this story. They were used more as ornament and were not so intricately related to the story, nor as necessary. Feng Menglong's affiliations with the Revivalist School, which desired emotion, particularly over ornamented language, might explain why this story features clever use of classical and vernacular Chinese.

References

An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911. Ed. Stephen Owen. Trans. Stephen Owen. New York: Norton, 1996. Print.

Ding, Naifei. Obscene Things: Sexual Politics in Jin Ping Mei. North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2002. Print.

"Four Occupations." Wikipedia. 24 March 2013. Web. 13 April 2013.

"History of Chinese Calligraphy." ChinaCulture.org. 2003. Web. 13 April 2013.

Nesta, Frederick. "Publishing, Culture, and Power in Early Modern China (review)." Libraries & Culture, 41.2 (2006): 266-267. Print.

The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature Vol. 2. Ed. Kang-i Sun Chang and Stephen Owen. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print.

Presentation

The Merchant Class in the Ming Dynasty: Vernacular Novels and Fiction in China

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