A Study On Supernatural Notes In The Jiajing Period Of Ming Dynasty

The Jiajing period was an important turning point for the creation of supernatural notes in the Ming Dynasty.By sorting out the details of the text,characters of supernatural notes in this period can be found out.This dissertation is divided into four parts.The first chapter divides the creators of supernatural tales into three categories:senior officials,middle-or lower-level officials and ordinary literati.The activities of the latter two creators have not changed much from the Hongzhi and Zhengde periods.Political factors and the change in understanding of supernatural notes made senior officials were no longer afraid to talk about miraculous story.The number of senior officials participating in the creation at this time has greatly increased.The second chapter divides supernatural notes in the Jiajing period into three types: fictional type,recorded type,and miscellaneous type.The fictional type has a strong preaching atmosphere due to the addition of too many philosophical views.The recorded type form three main narrative periods during the Song Dynasty,the end of the Yuan Dynasty to the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty,and after the Chenghua period,which is a breakthrough to the predecessors.Miscellaneous notes still base on natural history.The third chapter classifies and organizes the main contents of the supernatural notes in the Jiajing period.Story types such as divination,dreaming,death,and others mature at this time.From the end of the Zhengde period to the beginning of the Jiajing period,the society experienced a series of major political events,and the people attached various astronomical phenomena to political events.Through the theory of celestial and human induction,these stories entered to the supernatural notes.The fourth chapter talks about the new changes of supernatural notes during the Jiajing period.The broad vision of the creators made the old stories become new material,and a method which mix old stories appeared.At the same time,there was a climax in the compilation of local chronicles during the Jiajing period.Previously,the local chronicles were transcribed from supernatural notes.After the Jiajing period,supernatural notes also learned from local chronicles.