Jiangnan Gentry And Jiangnan Community :1368-1911

Gentry and Society in the South of Yangtze Rivec 1368?911By applying both theories and approaches of political sociology and social culturology, this thesis is to study the relation between gently of the south of Yangtze river in Ming and Qing dynasties and social political structure , the culture function of gentry of the south of Yangtze river, the mental changes of modern gentry of the south of Yangtze river ,and the decay of gentry of the south of Yangtze river. Different from all the previous research on gentry , this thesis, for the first time, link long-time span, intermediate-time span and short -time span in its investigation of the gentry stratum. In accordance with the traditional integration of Chinese politics and culture, this paper put forward a new concept-----culture power, which is explained in two aspects:first the basic conforming feature,which is shared by every culture; second is the compelling power acquried by the union of Confucianism and feudal system,which is a characteristic of Chinese culture. Seen from the point of view of culture power, though there are some conflicts between gentry stratum and feudal system, they depended on each other for common interest. As a result, in 1905, the Qing dynasty government abolished the imperial examination system which consequently deprived gentry of culture power, and led to the decay of gentry as well as the culture foundation of feudal political system.Author: Xu Maoming (Modem Chinese History) Supervisor: professor Tang Lixing...