Culture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties with Both 01d and New Forces
10 min readThe Ming and Qing dynasties saw drastic changes in the Chinese society and were a turning point of great historical significance. Extraordinarily sharp contradictions and conflicts between the old and new forces resulted in a pattern inthe scientific and ideological fields that was characterized by intertwining new and o1d elements.
The development of a commodity economy since the middle Ming Dynasty triggered the demand for renovated techniques，promoted scientific and technological growth and gave rise to a number of scientists who made certain breakthroughs in some traditional scientific fields.
An Outline Treatise of Medical Herbs，written by Li Shizhen of the late Ming Dynasty，covered an extensive range of areas including medicine，pharmacy，biology，chemistry，mineralogy，geology and phenology.He initiated the classification methods for Chinese medicines，breaking down the medicines in the inorganic sphere，plant sphere and animal sphere based on the principle of“from small to big”and “from humble to noble，”which obviously incorporates the ideas of biological evolution.Li also pointed out the similarities between apes and human beings.The parts of the book that dwelt on the seven species of chicks and the domestication of goldfish were once cited by Darwin in his argument for“the differentiation occurring in the domestication of animals and plants.”Li was the first to bring forward the idea of”brain being the house of original spirit，”saying human thoughts were the function and product of brains，which is of great significance.
The Exploitation of the Work of Nature，the representative of Song Yingxing at the end of the Ming Dynasty，was an encyclopedia about Chinese science in the 17th century.With a scientific attitude，he offered lots of precise data.Song’s descriptions about the proportions of gold，silver and copper，and statistics about the oil yields ratio both employed specific quantitative and proportional concepts. The Exploitation of the Work of Nature was successively translated into Japanese，English，Germany，French，Italian，Russian and other languages and had a far-reaching influence in the world.
Zhu Zaiyu，a descendant of the royal family of the late Ming Dynasty，once submitted written statements to resign his office on seven occasions，with a view to committing himself to scientific research.He proposed the thought of“principles reflected by numbers and numbers from principles”and created the Twelve-tone Equa. Temperament and the musical theory Xinfamili，solving the theoretic problem of achieving tone changing in musical instruments that puzzled people for more than 2，000 years.Joseph Needham（1900-1995），therefore，called him“a man from the times of Renaissance although he is far away from Europe.”
An Agricultural Encyclopedia，written by Xu Guangqi in the Ming Dynasty，not only summarized the previous and latest achievements，but also absorbed ideas and methods in western agricultural science and technologies based on long-term experiments，thus ensuring the agricultural book to be a scientific，pioneering and advanced one.As“the first to introduce the western science，”Xu has been reputed as an epoch-making Chinese scientific pioneer in modern history because of his spotlight on mathematical research and persistence in investigation，experiment，observation and summary as trends for modern scientific research.
Xu Xiake’s Travel Diaries，finished by Xu Hongzu at the end of the reign of Emperor Congzhen of the Ming Dynasty，is distinctive from common travel notes or those describing sporadic segments on superficies.In many aspects，like the descriptions about igneous rock，terrestrial heat and springs，the erosion of flowing water on rocks and the dependency of plants on climate，the book boasted the highest level of the time. His scientific investigation paved the way for research of natural science featuring precise description, in-depth analysis and revealing laws. In 1953, the Chinese Academy of Science re-investigated the 15 water-eroded caves that he once explored and drew roughly similar data. Joseph Needham appraised his traveling dairies as “having amazing capability in analyzing various sorts of landforms and employing a wide range of jargons in a very systematic way,”and added that the book “reads more like investigation records finished by a field explorer in the 2oth century than something written by a scholar in the 17th century.”
Swarms of scientists who emerged in the late Ming Dynasty paid greater attention to experiments and mathematic methods, showing features typical of modern scientific research. But generally speaking, the science and technology in the Ming and Qingdynasties lagged far behind those of the western world. In particular, the periodsince the Qing Dynasty no longer saw the short-term brilliance of the late Ming Dynasty due to the suppression from the cultural autocracy and stereotyped writing system, as well as the consistent implementation of some significant achievements made previously. That led to increasingly bigger gap between China and the western world in the scientific and technological fields.
The Ming and Qing dynasties imposed tight control over the ideological and cultural fields, and the literary inquisitions, in particular, were frequently implemented in the early Qing Dynasty to crack down on any opponents and keepthoughts under control. Once careless, people would be questioned, condemned and sent to jail for reasons of boldly discussing political affairs and encroaching upon the dignity of emperors. For instance, Wang Xihou, an official candidate in the imperial examination from Jiangxi, was beheaded for his book, which was regarded as not literarily dodging the names and posthumous titles of the three emperorsincluding Kangxi.A1l of his seven descendants were beheaded. Hai Chengyin, the provincial governor of Jiangxi, was sentenced to death on a probation for weak supervision, and another two officials were also suspended from duty for not pointing out the “false”parts. The cruel literary inquisitions forced the intellectuals to be divorced from real life and they engaged in obsolete books to protect themselves from misfortunes.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Neo-Confucianism had occupied a dominant position in official ruling thoughts. The examinations focused on the Four Books and Five Classics. The Four Books refer to The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Confucian Analects, and The Works of Mencius. The Five Classics include The Book of Odes, The Book of History, The Book of Changes, The book of Rites, and The Spring and Autumn annals. All are classic books of Confucians. The answers had to be based on the notes and commentaries of Zhu Xi and personal views couldn’t be aired. The style of writing was rigidly provided to be composed of eight parts and was called “Eight-part Essay”or “Stereotyped Writing.”The imperial examinations, to a great extent, evolved into a tool of the court to bring the people’s thoughts under strict control. Xie Jishi,a censor during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, was condemned as “unscrupulous”and exiled to bordering areas because he made notes to the books of Neo-Confucianism in a way different from that of Cheng and Zhu. Such cultural despotic ruling led to a depressing situation among intellectuals and seriously hindered scientific and cultural growth.The Ming and Qing dynasties was a period that witnessed intertwining contradictions of all sorts and huge changes and renovations.On one hand，the despotism swelled and ritual norms became increasingly rigid.On the other hand，the ruling class grew extremely corrupt.Both political and religious situations went beyond control and position of the dominant ritualism was seriously threatened.The peasants’war at the end of the Ming Dynasty increased public suspicion of and criticism against the despotism and established rules.The early emergence of new economy and introduction of modern science of the west since the middle Ming Dynasty also offered a fresh impetus to the cultural renovation.Some enlightened intellectuals at the turn of the Ming and Qing dynasties，catering for the trend ofcommodity economy，initiated a wave of early enlightenment in the ideological field that called for personal liberation，equality and democracy.
Li Zhi of the Ming Dynasty was famous for his heterodoxy.He lashed out with his criticism of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism，which was greatly promoted by the ruling class，and denied the claim that the doctrines of Confucianism and Mencius were the best.In his philosophy，Confucius was not a saint，but”a common person”and theFour Books and Five Classics should not be the only thinking standards.Li saidevery person had selfish motives and“individual habits in dressing and eating reflect the relations among people.”It is a natural gift to seek material pleasure and every one can follow one’s nature to emancipate one’s personality.
During the turn of the Ming and Qing dynasties，great thinkers included Wang Fuzhi，Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu.Wang Fuzhi emphasized that laws of things are embodied in the material world and these laws could be correctly understood with observation.His philosophy toppled the theoretic foundation of apriorism of Cheng Zhu Neo-Confucianism.He also confirmed the rationality of emotional desire and selfish desire as natural instincts of human beings.Huang Zongxi alleged in public that,”the emperor is the biggest bane of the world.”In his philosophy, the ruler and the subject were not master and servant, but equal teacher and friend, denying obsolete ethical norms completely. He also advocated replacing “the laws of the world enabling every person to get their own share”with “the single law of a family”to constrain the rule of the emperor. With reference to the fact that scholars addicted to reading the annotations of Cheng (Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi) anc Zhu(Zhu Xi) were seriously removed from reality, Gu Yanwu exclaimed that “every person is responsible for the rise and fall of the world.”He insisted on being pragmatic and caring about the national economy and people’s livelihoods, and being dedicated to social reform.
The thinkers during the Ming and Qing dynasties also put forward diverse theories and assumptions about restricting the imperial power. The most prominent concept was to advocate freedom of speech, establish bottom-to-top supervision mechanisms to ensure clean politics, proper decisions and social stability.
The progressive thinkers passed criticism on the Neo-Confucianism with an unprecedented incisive style of writing, initiating a wave of progressive thoughts characterized by profound and novel philosophical concepts, political insight and a practical, critical spirit, and launching fierce attacks to the despotic ruling. Their thoughts had a tremendous enlightening influence that have lasted for centuries and gave great inspiration to the later generations.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, industrial and commercial towns and citizen class emerged and promoted literature development. Chapter-style novels, developed from play scripts in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, focused on narration and were close to people’s lives and social reality, so novels became the mainstream of literature.
Among the “four great books”that gained nationwide popularity during the Ming Dynasty, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, written by Luo Guanzhong, was the firstlong historical novel in Chinese history. The Water Margin, written by Shi Nai’ an, was the first heroic and martial art novel. The Journey to the West written by Wu Cheng’ en, was a representative of immortal being novels. The Golden Lotus writtenby Xiaoxiaosheng from Lanling, was an exemplary novel that described the ways of life and the changes in social customs. The popular short stories that featured ordinary citizens during the late Ming Dynasty vividly described the life experiences and pursuit of common people and reflected the social reality of the time.
The Qing Dynasty saw the emergence of a number of literature works that put forward criticism on reality.A Dream of Red Mansions, written by Cao Xueqin, was the most of all. It focused on the tragic love story of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, and presented the general condition of society through the rise and fall of a noble family. The plots in the novel are complicated, but the narrative line is explicit. The language is concise and vivid, and the figures are lively and full of personality. The book is recognized by all as the pinnacle of classic novels. In addition, The Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, written by Pu Songling, is “a book of indignation”aimed to express the author’s dissatisfaction with the social darkness. The Scholars, written by Wu Jingzi, reveals and satirizes the ugly side of society and was the first long ironic novel in China.
The novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties were taken to a higher peak either ideologically or artistically, being the brilliant treasures in classic Chinese literature.
Some painters of unique styles emerged in the Ming and Qing dynasties, too. Bold and unconstrained, their artworks were a sharp contrast to the paintings of traditional style. Among the representative painters, the eight famous reclusive artists and Shi Tao were clansmen of the Ming Emperor, and became monks after the Ming Dynasty was destroyed. Through calligraphy and painting, they expressed thei experience of life and their sorrow at the destruction of the country. In the mid-
Qing Dynasty, eight artists, known as the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, broke conventional rules in painting and manifested sharply defined personalities. Most of their works focused on flowers and birds and were in the impressionistic manner. Zheng Xie, one of the eight eccentrics, was good at painting orchids and bamboo, singing praises of lofty and unyielding character based on poetry and painting.
In the middle and late period of the Ming Dynasty, Kunqu Opera that combines poetry, music, singing, dance and drama prevailed on both sides of the Yangtze River and further developed into an opera performed nationwide. It is thus called “the origin of all kinds of opera.”Kunqu Opera had elegant lyrics and dulcet aria accompanied by pauses. Performers sang and danced, and soft dance and gentle arias were combined to amuse the ears and eyes of the audience.
Anhui Opera took a dominant role during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty by absorbing arias and performing manners from Hubei Han Tune, Kunqu Opera, Qinqiang melody and Bangzi melody. On such a basis,a new form of opera- Peking Opera-came into shape in Beijing. Peking Opera is integrated with essences of ancient opera art and presents an almost perfect artistic pattern. By comprehensively using artistic means of singing, speaking, performing and beating, performers are able to represent everything in the big world on the limited stage. Peking Opera took the distinctive Chinese opera to a new level and is always shining in the hall of human culture.
