Literary And Cultural Interpretations Of Sexual-love Novels Written In Ming And Qing Dynasties

The novel on sexual love written in the Ming and the Qing Dynasties is an important element of the Chinese novel family. It has a peculiar characteristic in terms of content, themes and artistic expressions. By making a through research and reasonable explanation, from ironic point of view, on its achievements and drawbacks, it might be better for us to grasp the creation and development trend of ancient novels. Moreover, the research might have some significance in grasping the inner features and widen research scope of the then novels. Through the touching of the subject matters of the common people, we have an opportunity to know the viewpoints on sex, interest, behavior, level of knowledge, folk customs and moral regulations of the people living in the Ming and the Qing dynasties. The excavation of these subject matters could not only broaden our visions in mastering the features and expression methods of the Chinese culture, but also offer us a train of thought and visual angles in treating the traditional Chinese culture.The dissertation is composed of six parts: Part I mainly introduces the basic concept and functions of the sex, sex love and novels relating to sexual love. It also put forward some ideas on research status of the sexual-love novel in the Ming and the Qing dynasties. Part II mainly explains the development history of sexual love novels before the Ming and the Qing dynasties by sorting out the features, achievements, status and influence of the then novels. Part III mainly describes the heritage of sexual love novels, including political, thought, economic and social factors exerted on the emergence, development and prosperity of the novels in the Ming and the Qing dynasties. Part IV mainly gives explanations on literature values as well as its drawbacks in terms of aesthetics. In Part V the author mainly focuses on some special topics. For instance, the technique in making loves in wedding chamber, the advantage of virgins, the love of the wrapped small-foot-woman and homosexuals, etc., fromwhich the author vividly exposes the sexual culture of the common people in the Ming and the Qing dynasties. In the last Part, the author mainly criticizes the moral drawbacks and its negative social impacts exerted by sexual love novels in the Ming and the Qing dynasties although he holds an affirmative attitude in treating their positive values on the sexual love novels of the Ming and the Qing dynasties.