Golden Dust World: Ming Style Suzhou

Author: Jiang Hui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Living in a place like Suzhou, there are certain standards to uphold. The poor have their own standards, while the wealthy must be even more particular. They "believe in ghosts and deities, and favor lavish rituals," "spend extravagantly and save little, indulge in fine dining, wear fine clothes, and build magnificent houses." Weddings, funerals, and other life events are all done with great extravagance, and they place great importance on festivals. They eat all year round: spring pancakes for the Spring Festival, (Tusu wine) and vegetable spring cakes for the New Year's Day, fried rice dumplings for the Lantern Festival, zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival, camel hooves and chongyang cakes for the Double Ninth Festival, sugar cakes for the Kitchen God Festival on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and red bean and glutinous rice porridge the next day. During the Ming Dynasty, Suzhou citizens were fond of spending money, and they were willing to pay. The area around Tiger Hill had many bonsai artists, and business flourished during festivals. Strangely enough, six hundred years ago, Suzhou already had the aura of a major city. There were night markets, bustling with activity, often staying open until midnight, and vendors selling lotus roots and water chestnuts. So the saying goes, "A family never saves money overnight," and indeed, Suzhou people didn’t save—they spent their money stylishly. The local annals say, "Selling flowers on the Dragon Boat Festival is better than selling water in the dog days," depicting the city's vibrant scene. As capitalism began to flourish in the Ming Dynasty, Suzhou gradually became a nationally influential city. Merchants gathered here, the region was rich in produce, culture was at its peak, and it was the best in the land. Especially in this tiny area, a continuous stream of historically renowned figures emerged, from political to economic to cultural spheres, leaving people marveling at their presence. This book, with concise prose and exquisite, well-researched images, delves deeply into and showcases the former prosperity of this once-glorious place.