A Historical Investigation Of The Consumption Pattern Of Shanxi Merchants In The Ming And Qing Dynasties

With Kaizhong Law put into practice in the early years of the Ming dynasty,shanxi merchants had made great progress in terms of merchandise trade and accumulated rich capital with their geographical advantages,which had become the first of the ten major business.The consumption patterns of shanxi merchants appeared a series of changes from frugality to luxury along with the groups of shanxi merchants from small to large and the social status from low to high.They began to change the tradition of thrifty from predecessors and paid attention to luxury enjoyment,which had brought great influence to their own,the society,the country and so on.So this paper is written about the consumption of shanxi merchants in order to acquire a comprehensive understanding about the consumption patterns of shanxi merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties.The main body of this paper is divided into five chapters.The first chapter gives an introduction,which mainly introduces the reasons and the results about selected topic and the basic framework of this paper.The second chapter is the background about the consumption patterns of shanxi merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties,which elaborates not only two aspects about the politics and economy but also some other aspects.The third chapter is the full view about the consumption patterns of shanxi merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties,which mainly elaborates three aspects about the commercial consumption,life consumption and developmental consumption.The fourth chapter is a historical reflection of the consumption patterns of shanxi merchants in Ming and Qing Dynasties,namely,which brings to the society.The last chapter is the postscript part,which summarizes the content of the paper and points out the tragedy caused by the consumption patterns.