The Confusion of Indulgence: Business and Culture in the Ming Dynasty

Author: [Canada] Bo Zhengmin
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not available
Features: Bo Zhengmin skillfully combines woodcuts, local chronicles, quantitative data, and the complaints of literati about commerce to create a memorable social portrait of the empire's growth. The book vividly depicts the potters, merchants, officials, courtesans, weavers, booksellers, and bandits busy engaging in various trades to adapt to the increasingly dominant monetary relationships. It also outlines the fundamental problems and realities they encountered: bricks, bridges, markets, temples, mail, famine, fashion, printing, passion, and omens. It is an English work that provides a panoramic view of the boiling and complex life during the Ming Dynasty. Confucian Envy is a gem of historical artistry. Using a series of rich and little-known materials—notably anecdotes, observations, and complaints about social dissatisfaction—Bo Zhengmin reconstructs the vibrant commercial society of Ming Dynasty China, demonstrating the power of commerce in shaping both public and private cultural life. As Bo Zhengmin vividly embarks on a lively journey through the Ming Dynasty, he shows that China remained the center of the global economy, as he aptly puts it: "The tides of the Atlantic are drawn by the moon of China." Skillfully combining woodcuts, local chronicles, quantitative data, and the complaints of literati about commerce, he creates a memorable social portrait of the empire's growth. After reading this book, no one will ignore the Ming Dynasty's enthusiasm for commercial profits and its massive consumption, as it vividly depicts the potters, merchants, officials, courtesans, weavers, booksellers, and bandits busy engaging in their respective trades to adapt to the growing monetary relationships. It is a delightful and lively of blending narrative, anecdotes, and rigorous analysis to portray the socioeconomic changes of early modern Chinese society.