An Inquiry Upon The Dissemination And Ban Situation Of The Golden Lotus In Ming And Qing Dynasties

The inquiry into Ming-Qing Novels from the perspective of dissemination, has become central issue and innovative topic in recent years. Many scholars not only have come to a systematic summarization, but also have conducted detailed case studies on the specific dissemination of some works, such as All Men Are Brothers , Romance of the Three Kingdoms, A Dream of Red Mansions etc. , on which academic papers have focused in terms of systematic analysis and comments on the communication in Ming and Qing Dynasties. However, it's not the case of The Golden Lotus. Thus, under the theories of dissemination, documentation and sociology, the present study ,based on other novels'study experience ,takes The Golden Lotus in Ming and Qing Dynasties as the research object and scholars'comments in the dynasties. We attempt to make a comprehensive analysis and comments on the spread of The Golden Lotus in Ming and Qing Dynasties, so that the unsmooth spread under the banned situation will be highlighted.This thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter concerns the two diametrically different attitudes on people's comments on The Golden Lotus in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Many scholars regarded it as a"peculiar book", praising it for its role of reflect social trends and human sympathy, doctrine of anger-venting, sarcasm, emphasis of admonition. Thus the promotion of the spread at that time. But a considerable number of scholars decried it as an"obscene book", which should be totally forbidden. Chapter two mainly elaborates the spread of The Golden Lotus in Ming and Qing Dynasties, which can be classified into interpersonal dissemination, business dissemination, comment dissemination and entertainment dissemination according to the different disseminators, recipients and media. By means of the four modes of dissemination, the number of audience was promoted increased and the influences were broadly exerted. The third chapter mainly deals with the ban of The Golden Lotus in Ming and Qing periods, which can be divided into two parts. The first part introduces the ban of The Golden Lotus based on the historical data from the central act, local law and public opinions.The second part mainly analyses the reasons why The Golden Lotus was forbidden but spread still all the same time.The paper conducts the research on the dissemination and forbidden situation of The Golden Lotus in Ming and Qing Dynasties using the method of dissemination and Documentation ,etc. The main findings of this paper are below: First , The Golden Lotus has received main concerns of scholars and gained a mixed reputation after it came into being. Scholars'comments directly or indirectly influenced the spread of the book. Second ,the spread of The Golden Lotus in Ming and Qing Dynasties not only demonstrates the common characteristics of the spread of ancient novels, but also shows its own features. Third, The Golden Lotus received special concerns because of its complex contents and the controversial artistic expression. The word"ban"runs through all the course of its spread, not only from the government, but also from the public.Under the contradictions and conflicts of its spread and forbidden situation, the banned situation, on the contrary, promoted its spread in some sense, which therefore became an unique mode of the spread.Though The Golden Lotus was banned repeatedly in Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was not destroyed and not disappeared, but gradually established its status as one of the classic works. The reasons can be explained for the controversial acts of the government, the compromise of law to human feelings, the unconducted duties of the local government and the book sellers'indirect preservation.