士大夫的逸樂－王士禎在揚州(1660-1665)

Abstract

Wang Shizhen was leader of the literati during the early Qing period. Wang's follower, and author of his biography, describes Wang as the most celebrated poet of the age-a literary role that he retained for several decades; this description is representative of the views commonly held by Wang's contemporaries. In recent studies, Wang's leading role in the literary world of the early Qing period, as well as his influence on the development of the ts'u in the Yangzhou school, continues to be the focus of scholarly research in China. As Wang was such a renowned writer, it is but natural for scholars to discuss Wang's achievements primarily from a literary perspective. For historians, however, Wang's voluminous publications of poetry and miscellaneous works offer a rich source for the study of cultural history. Tobie Meyer-Fong's work demonstrates this point very well. She analyzes in detail how Wang Shizhen acquired prestige through various cultural activities as well as his travels in the Jiangnan area. Meanwhile, Yangzhou owed Wang its rise in reputation as a city of cultural significance. In this article, I attempt to study the lives of gentry/literati in the Jiangnan area during the early Qing on the basis of the events of Wang’s five-year career as an official in Yangzhou. The topics to be explored include Wang's religious beliefs, his diligent efforts and frustrating setbacks as a junior official, his alternating role as official and poet, as well as his wide social networks with Ming loyalists, poets without title or degree, and his fellow Qing bureaucrats. I will also discuss Wang's daily life, cultural activities and his reminiscences of the Yangzhou and Jiangnan landscapes. With details of his everyday life in hand, I aim to provide a fresh perspective on elite culture in late imperial China. Moreover, it is my belief that the rich experiences of everyday life of traditional gentry/literati like Wang will enable us to reconstruct cultural features and life styles that are different from that which we see in the modern world today.