On Businessmen In The Late Ming Popular Fiction Image

As a type of literature, popular fiction made considerable progress and flourished in the Ming Dynasty. As the subjects of fiction became diversified, all kinds of characters were created in popular fiction. This thesis mainly elaborates on the character of merchants in the popular fiction written in the mid and late Ming Dynasty. It is divided into two sections. Section One dwells upon the background under which popular fiction was created. Section two focuses on the character of merchants in popular fiction in the Ming Dynasty. In Section One the trend of thought, the social atmosphere and social stratum are analyzed and a clear ? picture of the social background at that time is drawn. In the meantime we will have a better understanding of the rise of the townspeople class represented chiefly by merchants in the society of Ming Dynasty. In Section Two the character of merchants in a number of popular fictions such as Jingpingmei, Sanyan and Erpai is generalized in an attempt to understand the living conditions of merchants in the Ming Dynasty through these characters. Finally the significance and value of the appearance of the character of merchants are briefly summarized.