A Glimpse Into Jiangnan Civil Culture In Late Ming Dynasty

Tao An Meng Yi is a collection of essays written by Zhang Dai，a renowned writerand historian in late Ming and early Qing dynasty during the days when he lived inseclusion in his later years. Zhang Dai’s thoughts, knowledge and talents highlight thiswork of recollecting past glory with unique ideological value, prominent historicalvalue and vivid literary value, which give rise to numerous versions and far-reachinginfluence. Nevertheless, the studies on Tao An Meng Yi mostly concentrate on itsessayistic art, dramatic art, and aesthetic implication, rather than on the civil cultures itreflects.The diversified civil cultures depicted in Tao An Meng Yi cover detaileddescriptions about the extensive scenes of civil life such as lakes, mountains, gardens,pavilions, ziggurats, courts, mountain houses and in-depth characterization of celebrities,fine folks and legends. Meanwhile, the gentry’s entertainments, the festival activitiesand the amusements of civil cultures as well as tea drinking and varied deliciouscuisines are recorded lively in the book. Based on the systematic analysis of Tao AnMeng Yi, it could be concluded that the civil cultures in Jiang Nan in late Ming dynastyis highly featured by its extravagant and prosperous civil life, free and lively culturalatmosphere and eternal class differences.Overall, Tao An Meng Yi contributes much to the record and reveal of the civilcharacteristics in Jiang Nan in the late Ming dynasty. The study on Jiang Nan civilcultures centered around Tao An Meng Yi has the following meanings: Firstly, it canenrich our perceptions of Jiang Nan civil cultures in late Ming dynasty and then form aspecific and profound impression on the society, in particular, on its civil culturalcharacteristics; Secondly, it can deepen our understanding on the literature value ofother similar essay collections so as to realize the importance of taking full advantage ofthe social, cultural and historical records in this kind of literatures when we dohistorical research.