| There are two dimensions in scholars' daily lives.One is the vulgar life that includes clothing,eating,housing,transportation and using,and the other one is the pursuit of elegant life which transcends the vulgar life,which leads to the elegant and vulgar expansions of scholars' daily lives.Wen Zhenheng,a scholar in late Ming Dynasty,has written On Superfluous Things which involves the clothing,eating,housing,transportation and using in daily life and dose not write about the common functions of doors,windows,rooms and tools but pursues the elegant life and the artistic life style from the scholar perspective.This thesis mainly investigates how the scholars in late Ming Dynasty,having Wen Zhenheng as an example,transferred the vulgar life into elegant one and leveled up it to the spiritual and aesthetic level and then explores the meanings of this transferring.This thesis consists of four chapters.Chapter One discusses the background of Wen Zhenheng's “transfer vulgarity into elegance” according to the specific historical background in late Ming Dynasty and personal experience of Wen Zhenheng.Economically,the prosperity in the south of Yangtze River made the scholars get closer to the vulgar life style;spiritually,the deterioration of political situation in late Ming Dynasty and the appearance of Yangming's philosophy of mind begun to turn the scholars' attentions from the outside evaluation to the inward world and from the disappointments in politics to the daily lives;On Superfluous Things can be regarded as a summary of Wen Zhenheng's elegant life and his pursuit of elegant spiritual life.Chapter Two investigates how the scholars in late Ming Dynasty,especially Wen Zhenheng,transferred the vulgar life into elegant one by analyzing the text of On Superfluous Things mainly from four parts,i.e.the construction of gardens and rooms,the appreciation of utensils,the tasting of delicious food and the appreciation of decorations.As for the construction of gardens and rooms,on the one hand,the quiet and natural living environment was built with the arrangement of space;on the other hand,the elegant interest of scholars was manifested with the elegant activities,such as drinking tea and playing instruments;as for the appreciation of utensils,on the one hand,the harmoniousness between function and aesthetic value was stressed,on the other hand,the pure and elegant spiritual pursuit of scholars was reflected by collecting and appreciating paintings and calligraphy and other antiques;as for the tasting of delicious food,the skills of food and drink were promoted to the philosophy of food and drink when the sensory beauty of food and drink was stressed,thus the interest of food and drink was stressed;the elegance of scholars was manifested through the placing of flowers,the hanging of paintings and the clothing.Chapter Three explores the aesthetic interest of the scholars in late Ming Dynasty by studying the transferring process in Wen Zhenheng's daily life.They pursued the natural,ancient and pure aesthetic concept and projected this concept to daily life so as to reflect the specific scholar aesthetic interest that promotes elegance and refuse vulgarity.Chapter Four discusses the meanings of this transferring process in daily life by the scholars in late Ming Dynasty.Firstly,two kinds of aesthetic interest are sorted out to reflect their identification of their scholar status.The first aesthetic interest is the pursuit of luxurious life by the authoritative people and the rich;the other one is the pursuit of spiritual beauty by the scholars in late Ming Dynasty,having Wen Zhenheng as representative.They did not lack money,but they paid more attention to the leisure of spiritual life.Secondly,the pursuit of ideal spiritual life by the scholars in the late Ming Dynasty is reflected.Thirdly,it inspires us that the spiritual pursuit of the scholars in the late Ming Dynasty should be paid more attention when we criticize and inherit the life aesthetics in late Ming Dynasty. |
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