Study On Variated Ethos Of Intellectuals In Strange Tales From Liaozhai

"Intellectuals" are more prominent and important artistic images in Strange Talesfrom Liaozhai, and variated ethos of intellectuals is an important content of this workand remarkable cultural phenomenon of the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty. Thispaper regards intellectuals in Strange Tales from Liaozhai as the main object, itsVariated ethos as the breakthrough point, to reveal this work how reflects the variationfeatures of its intellectuals of the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty, in order to show theliving condition and mental state of intellectuals during this period and which howinteract society each other."Intellectuals" in this paper refer to upper officials (also covers the village gentrywho had held official positions) and the ordinary intellectuals who weren’tofficials.Variated ethos of intellectuals in Strange Tales from Liaozhai is mainlymanifested in "being fond of property","having special liking for sex" and "beingfond of good names" etc.Embarrassed living conditions of lower intellectuals in Strange Tales from Liaozhai,influence of the economic and philosophical trend and other factors of the time,changedtheir values. They began to pay attention to making the living. Not only that, ethos ofintellectuals in this work changed from "valuing justice above material gains" to"valuing material gains above justice".Most intellectuals in Strange Tales from Liaozhai indulged in sensual pleasures.They not only were fond of women, but also indulged in love potion, obscene articles,pornographic pictures and so on.Moreover, some were erotic metamorphosis, becausethey not only were fond of good women, but good men, especially worshiped boundfeet and embroidered shoes of women.Because of the imperial examination system limitations exposed and heavyimperial competitive pressure, mentality of the lower intellectuals in Strange Tales fromLiaozhai was evolved from "moderate"of the early Ming to "manic race": theypassionately and even morbidly pursuit of scholarly honour or official rank, addicted tofigure out "Cheng Mo","Fang Gao" and examination questions; at the same time,associated with the imperial examination, they blindly worshiped Feng Shui, divination,fortune-telling, comeuppance etc.Due to win scholarly honour or official rank throughnormal channels too difficult,some intellectuals rushed into danger in the division offraud during the examination and bribery.In order to describe these variated ethos to realize exposing and criticizing thereality purpose of creation, the author uses various artistic means, such as deformation,fantasy, contrast, fable,etc. These variated ethos are mostly negative, should be critical,but some still have their positive meaning.