Author Description

This book is a study of social and cultural change in the lower Yangzi delta. This region, Ming China's economic heartland, flourished commercially and culturally during the sixteenth century, and its elites maintained strong political ties with the central government at Beijing. Drawing upon a large body of contemporary writings, the author discusses important socio-economic and cultural trends wherein scholars and scholar-officials entered the marketplace while the merchant class improved its status and importance.For all the benefits they brought about, these developments sowed the seeds of trouble. The author explains how unconstrained profit-seeking eroded the social and moral fabric of society and widened the gap between rich and poor. Toward the end of the sixteenth century, economic conditions worsened. Bitter resentments gave rise to popular riots against predatory great families. Eventually, mass revolts across the empire and Manchu's invasion dealt a crushing blow to the region's economy. In the 1630s and 1640s, the region plunged into depression and despair.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This book is an in-depth study of social and cultural changes in sixteenth-century China. The author focuses on the lower Yangzi delta, then, as now, a thriving commercial and cultural region. She has mined an enormous and diverse body of regional literati writings. Making ingenious use of these primary sources and of modern scholarship, the author renders the late Ming changes completely intelligible by identifying the background forces at work. Brush, Seal and Abacus makes a significant contribution to our understanding of late Imperial China.—Yu Yingshi, Professor Emeritus, Princeton UniversityThis book is an outstanding descriptive profile of late Ming society in a key region of southeast China that was noted for its wealth and cultural sophistication. It is based upon a very wide reading both of the plentiful Ming sources, many of them rare, and of