4. The shaping and psychological influence of education on social values during the Ming and Qing dynasties

Sanqi is first recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica(Ben Cao Gang Mu) in the Ming Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Sanqi, as a precious Dao-di herb, was successively spread and introduced for cultivation. This study verified the germplasm resources, production areas, and spread of Sanqi in the Ming and Qing Dynasties by systematically reviewing the historical materials, such as materia medica works and local chronicles, and the modern distribution of production areas. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the original plants of Sanqi included Panax notoginseng, P. japonicus, P. bipinnatifidus, P. zingiberensis, P. stipuleanatus, and Gynura japonica. Among them, the production area of P. notoginseng has changed. From 1578 to 1593, the main production areas of P. notoginseng were Nandan county, Hechi city in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Guangnan county and Funing county, Wenshan prefecture in Yunnan province. From 1683 to 1755, the production areas of P. notoginseng additionally included Yizhou district, Tian'e county, and Huanjiang county in Hechi city, and Tianyang district and Tiandong county in Baise city, Xincheng county and Gongcheng county in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. From 1765 to 1892, the production areas additionally included Youjiang district, Debao county, Napo county, and Jingxi city in Baise city, and Tiandeng county in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and Wenshan city, Malipo county, Yanshan county, Xichou county, and Maguan county in Wenshan prefecture, and Baoshan city, Dali prefecture, Lincang city, Honghe prefecture, Mangshi city, and Lushui city in Yunnan province. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Sanqi was introduced to Zhejiang province. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, it was introduced to Fujian province. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, it was introduced to Hunan province. By comprehensively reviewing the materia medica works, local chronicles, and novel historical materials, this study restores the development history of the Sanqi industry in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Historical data show that the introduction of Dao-di herbs should consider the biological characteristics of medicinal plants and avoid blind introduction.

The Xu's Medical Family, from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, was called an official family with medical background by Fan Xingzhun. Its genealogy was traced back to the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty. Based on the local chronicles, epitaphs, history books and relevant medical historical artifacts, this paper explores the development of the Xu's Medical Family in the Yuan and the Ming Dynasties. Most of the Xu's family members were appointed as medical officials locally after Xue Yueweng in the Yuan Dynasty. Xu Shu, Xu Biao, Xu Wei and Xu Wenyuan were appointed as Medical Ambassadors and the judges of Tai Yi Hospital in the Ming Dynasty. Xu Wei was appointed as the Right Tong Zheng in charge of the Tai Yi Hospital affairs in the period of Jia Jing, and promoted to the Chief of Taipu Department in the period of Wan Li in the Ming Dynasty. He was the highest-ranking official in the Xu's Medical Family in the Yuan and Ming dynasties. The Xu's Medical Family were a family of both officials and doctors, to some extent, related to the Yi-Hu System in both the Yuan and the Ming Dynasties. Some of the Xu's family members still took a career as a doctor, but did not serve as medical officers from the Qing Dynasty. Some of the Xu's decendants went into official careers via the Imperial Examination, such as Xu Shifen, as Deputy Minister of Hubu in the Qing Dynasty.

In this paper, we first determine the coupled linkage analysis model of the Ming dynasty imperial examination system and novel literary prosperity, extract the links between potential themes from a large-scale corpus, and mine the probability distribution of lexical items. Then the method of calculating the similarity of thematic coupling is investigated, using the co-occurrence information of lexical items to calculate the association weights, inline, outline and coupling relationships among lexical items, semantic information and relevance of lexical items. Then the historical evolution of the imperial examination system and its position in history are explored. Finally, based on the model mining algorithm, the relationship between the imperial examination system and the prosperity of literary novels is analyzed in terms of the drawbacks of the imperial examination system in the Ming Dynasty, the impact of the imperial examination on the richness of novels and the number of novels. Regarding the influence of novel richness, the criticism of the imperial examination system reached 44% in the early Ming Dynasty, 52% in the middle, and 60% in the late Ming Dynasty. Novels on themes such as magic, immortality, and the grotesque reached 50% in the early Ming Dynasty, 55% in the middle, and 59% in the late. In terms of the number of literary novels, the number of novels written during the Jianwen period was 504, and the number of novels written by those who failed the imperial examinations was 322, with a large number of literati who failed the imperial examinations devoting themselves to literary creation. The system of taking scholars from the eight examinations in the Ming Dynasty promoted the prosperity of literary novel creation.

This text is intended to analyze the theme of the understanding and discussion of the life and death of the adherents during the transition period of Ming and Qing Dynasties. For the adherents remained by the former Dynasty, the most realistic concerns might be their identity, which was the reason to understand and make decision on living style. Questioning about survival as ‘Who am I ?’ was just authentication for the identity of the adherents and also was being testified with their social and moral role in the atmosphere being ruled by an alien race. Therefore, discussion on the identity of private and adherents, survival style and the view of life and death in the period of dynastic transformation between Chinese and alien race, i.e., the change between Ming and Qing Dynasty, become an important issue. The dominant view of the life and death of the adherents in the period of change of Ming and Qing dynasty was the Righteousness of Kings and Ministers which attaches importance to monarch-subject relationship. The central idea is dying for the sake of honor as ‘downfall of the ruler and the downfall of the ministers.’ On the other hand, the phenomenon of adherents fleeing to Zen Buddhism is prevalent in the period of change of Qing and Ming Dynasty, which became one of major survival ways. With reference to ‘downfall of the ruler and the downfall of the ministers’, the adherents who selected to flee to Zen Buddhism became those ‘should die but not died’. Their survival was difficult to receive legal recognition socially. Then, such issues as that, is the Righteousness of Kings and Ministers could be the moral standards and absolute value which could determine the life and death and the living issues with the adherents, how the privates and adherents at the end of Ming dynasty understood the life and death, and how the value of death and living could be assessed, with what standards, and so on, would be subjected. With such understanding, this text will make an analysis on the view of life and death of the adherents in the period of change of Ming and Qing dynasty. The analysis will be made on the development of discussion of life and death, recognition whereof, and the meaning of the view of life and death, with the proposition as ‘Must die’, ‘Not must die and Confucian orthodoxy which were major arguments on life and death at the end of Ming dynasty, and with two axes as Death and Flee to Zen Buddhism set up. Through such analysis, that is to analyze the recognition and meaning on the life and death of the adherents facing the crisis of death, this text is desired to present a balanced understanding on the view of life and death in the period of change of Ming and Qing dynasty.

Originated from the Han dynasties, local Chronicles writing experienced a long process of development from geography books and maps to fang local Chronicles in Song and Yuan dynasties. The classic of the Ming and Qing dynasties has become a place that covers many aspects of regional politics, economy and culture. When studying local Chronicles of Fuxian County in Ming and Qing dynasties, the customs and historical materials in local Chronicles of Ming and Qing dynasties are quite remarkable. From the perspective of folkloric literature, the folkloric data in local Chronicles are complicated and complicated, and on the whole, there are different versions of local Chronicles in the same region, which are unable to reconstruct the origin of folk customs. From the perspective of the view of customs, the historical documents of customs in the local records of Ming and Qing dynasties should not only be limited to the local records of customs, but also should be studied on the records of art and literature, characters, etc., so as to comprehensively grasp the customs of the local records of Ming and Qing dynasties.

Maidong products are categorized into "Hang Maidong" and "Chuan Maidong". Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, "Hang Maidong" has been regarded as having superior quality, but currently, it remains in name only in the market. This article reviewed historical materia medica and local chronicles from the Ming and Qing Dynasties and analyzed the historical evolution of Maidong production areas. The history of Maidong production in Zhejiang can be traced back to the Song Dynasty, and cultivation had already developed by at least the Ming Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was consistently used as a tribute. Ming Dynasty chronicles record "Chuan Maidong", which had already been cultivated on a large scale by the Qing Dynasty. "Hang Maidong" and "Chuan Maidong" share the same origin, with the former identifiable by the "gourd waist" shape of its tuberous root. Based on this, it can be inferred that the "Maimendong" herb illustrated in the Origins of Materia Medica(Ben Cao Yuan Shi) and the Maidong stored in the Qing Palace Imperial Pharmacy were both "Hang Maidong". The protection and development of the authentic "Hang Maidong" medicinal herb are urgently needed.

“Mr. Liaozhai”, Pu Songling' s lifelong career was as a rural private teacher. He integrated relevant life experiences into his creations, and his works have become a true portrayal of the imperial examination and livelihood situation of lower class students. . Pu Songling’s career as a rural private teacher was characterized by three attributes: livelihood, exam preparation, and educational practice. The narrative of "crying for poverty" and educational writing in his works not only reflect the helplessness of poor scholars who were forced to teach in private schools due to the ups and downs of the imperial examination system, but also imply a satire on the lack of dignity in teaching. Under the pressures of the imperial examination system, the group of village schoolteachers during the Ming and Qing dynasties generally faced declining professional status and economic hardship. Nevertheless, through moral guidance, cultural dissemination, and social education, they became an important force in local governance. Examining Pu Songling’s individual experience helps unveil the complexity of the village schoolteacher profession under the imperial examination system and the profound tension between the professional aspirations of lower-class scholars and their harsh realities within traditional educational frameworks.

This research explores the spatial distribution patterns of water engineering facilities along the Grand Canal during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It employs the entropy method to assess the social development status of prefectures during these periods and uses the Tobit model to examine the primary indicators influencing the distribution of water engineering facilities. The results show that the spatial distribution pattern of water engineering facilities was characterized by aggregation during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In contrast, the Qing dynasty’s distribution was more dispersed, with a shift in the construction focus of water engineering facilities towards the south. The spatial distribution pattern of water engineering facilities in the Ming Dynasty centered around the hotspot areas of Shuntian Prefecture, Yanzhou Prefecture, and Yangzhou Prefecture. During continuous improvements, these facilities exhibited a multi-point-regional aggregation phenomenon.The influence of commercial development indicator on the spatial distribution of water engineering facilities is positively correlated in both the Ming and Qing dynasties. However, the impacts of the indicator on different types of water engineering facilities vary between the two dynasties. During the Ming Dynasty, the indicators of transportation accessibility and cultural prosperity facilitated the construction of regional water engineering facilities, whereas in the Qing Dynasty, they significantly influenced several types of water engineering facilities. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, neither the agricultural development indicator nor the population size indicator significantly affected the distribution of water engineering facilities. However, there was a negative correlation between the population size indicator and the distribution of water distribution facilities in the Ming Dynasty. This study enhances the importance of environmental protection in historical societies and provides a valuable reference for other international studies of linear cultural and material heritage.

The Qing Dynasty was the last period of Chinese feudal society, during which the imperial examination system played an important role. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the fate of literati who failed to pass the imperial examination in Qing Dynasty, focusing on the analysis of their life difficulties and the spiritual realm they pursued. Firstly, it introduces the historical background and structure of the imperial examination system in Qing Dynasty, and its influence on social mobility and literati status. It then discusses the economic challenges, career opportunities limitations and psychological difficulties faced by literati who failed to pass the exam. At the same time, it analyzes how these literati seek spiritual satisfaction and contribution by cultivating personal interest, engaging in literary and artistic creation, and participating in knowledge exchange and cultural activities. Through case studies of well-known literati who failed the exam, their life paths, dilemmas, and achievements are explored, as well as their philosophical and spiritual legacies. Finally, compare with the literati who passed the examination, reflect on the diversity of literati life in Qing Dynasty. The purpose of this study is to provide a new perspective for understanding the fate of literati in Qing Dynasty, and to provide inspiration and suggestions for future research.

The Little Ice Age (LIA) during the Ming and Qing dynasties was the most abnormal climate event in China for nearly 2,000 years. During this period, the climate was relatively cold and various natural disasters frequently took place. By locating and compiling related historical documents, we aimed to quantitatively and systematically analyze the spatial–temporal variations in the natural disasters in the ancient Huizhou region (hereinafter referred to as Huizhou region or Huizhou) during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911; all dates are in AD, unless otherwise mentioned). The results show that (1) flood and drought disasters, the major types of disasters in this area during the Ming and Qing dynasties, occurred 422 times, accounting for 79.6% of the natural disasters, (2) there was a significant correlation of occurrence frequency of flood plus drought disasters and the total natural disasters on a certain time scale. In addition to flood and drought disasters, other disasters (hailstorms, windstorms, frosts, and earthquakes) occurred more frequently in the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) than in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). The occurrence frequency of natural disasters had a fluctuant variation pattern over time, with peaks emerging about once a century. The peaks of natural disasters were mainly concentrated at 1471–1490, 1571–1590, 1671–1690, 1751–1770, and 1851–1870, which is supported by the wavelet analysis, (3) the most frequent natural disasters took place in Wuyuan, followed by Jixi, Shexian, Xiuning, Qimen, and Yixian. More droughts occurred in Jixi and Yixian, while more floods occurred in Wuyuan, Shexian, and Qimen, more hailstorms occurred in Wuyuan and Jixi, more frost disasters occurred in Wuyuan, Jixi, and Qimen, and more earthquakes occurred in Wuyuan and Jixi. The occurrence frequency of wind disasters was not high in any of the counties, (4) flood and drought disasters in the Huizhou region exhibited obvious stage characteristics during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and they changed gradually from droughts to floods, among which the transition from slight drought to slight flooding was the most obvious during 1811–1911, and (5) overall, slight flooding and slight drought situations accounted for the largest percentage of drought and flood disasters in this area during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Among these, slight flooding mainly occurred in Shexian and Qimen; severe flooding mainly occurred in Wuyuan; slight drought mainly occurred in Yixian; and severe drought mainly occurred in Jixi.

In the field of the pictorial decoration of Chinese architecture, the decor of the period of the Ming and Qing dynasties is considered the most outstanding since, at that time, the technique was perfect, and the methods of decoration were rich in their diversity, which was not possible in previous eras. The polychrome painting of official buildings during the Ming and Qing dynasties’ reign is quite different from the Song dynasty’s polychrome painting. The transition from the Song dynasty’s polychrome painting to the Ming and Qing dynasties’ polychrome painting was completed during the Yuan dynasty’s reign. Due to the decrease of dougong in size in the Ming dynasty, polychrome painting began to be placed on beams. Xuanzi polychrome painting, which originated from painting beams under the Yuan dynasty, became the primary type. By the Qing dynasty, Hexi polychrome painting and Suzhou polychrome painting, which evolved from the folk polychrome painting of the Jiangnan region of the Ming dynasty, appeared. The Xuanzi type was one of the three main polychrome painting types in the Qing dynasty. It was fully developed compared to the Hexi type as it was used more widely. The article explains the development of the artistic features of the various decorative parts of Xuanzi polychrome painting during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the characteristics of each gradation, and the method of distinguishing it, as well as its place of application.

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English. 楊文儷是明代女詩人，身歷嘉靖、隆慶、萬曆三朝，皆有子登第，聲名貫穿明、清兩代，爲科舉世界的傳奇女性。本文考察其生平，證明享年七十歲，世所謂“享壽百齡”，實爲誤傳。楊文儷謹守内職，不炫才，不居功，符合儒家傳統爲女、爲妻、爲母之道。其學識甚豐，通舉業之文，以之相夫教子，襄助得第。其詩歌多爲勸勉業舉，要求致身通顯，雖爲俗見，卻表出科舉世界的核心價值。楊文儷能詩善教，是具有原型意義的明代女德範例，其聲名的展露，來自科舉家族婚姻血緣的連結、科名與仕宦的榮顯，亦有盡責守分的道德自覺與家族承擔，樹立出鮮明的女德標竿，證明女性維持家庭及社會的穩固，襄助科舉制度的源遠流長。 Yang Wenli (ca. 1551) was a female poet of the Ming dynasty. She lived during the Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli eras (16th century) and won her legendary renown throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties. This article examines her life and proves that she died at the age of 70. She observed the female morality of not showing off her talent, not taking credit, and conforming to being a Confucian moral woman, wife, and mother. She was proficient at writing eight-legged essays and was capable of caring for her family as well as being a mentor and fame-enabler to them. Most of her poems exhorted people to sit for the imperial examination and to get ahead. She was an archetype of female morality for those imperial families and was conscientious in moral education and family commitment. She set up a distinctive mother’s banner, proved that women maintained the stability of the family and society, and helped the imperial examination system last for a long time.

The Imperial Examination System was the main means of selecting officials in ancient China, and was therefore seen as the main means of upward social mobility between classes. The main objective of this study is to examine the extent of social mobility among classes in the Qing dynasty through the imperial examination, based on Bourdieu’s theory, and through indirect research methods such as comparative literature analysis, and to analyse the social and cultural outcomes of the imperial examination system, as well as its impact on the cohesion, values, and traditional norms of these classes and societies. The study concludes that despite the various reforms that the imperial examination system underwent during its existence, it failed to promote social mobility. This was due to the fact that the ruling class used the imperial examination system to consolidate their rule by strictly controlling the selection of talents and opportunities for class mobility. As a result, the imperial examination system led to institutional and social ideological rigidity.

In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Qian Qianyi was a master in literature. During the Ming Dynasty, because of the partisan wrangling and the bribery in the imperial examinations, he was convicted several times. After surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, he was sent to prison a couple of times due to getting involved in the rebellion. In his later years, his soul suffered a lot because of the surrender to the Qing dynasty. To heal it，he took an active part in the struggle to rebel the Qing dynasty and rebuild the Ming dynasty. In his literature, he annotated Du Fu’s poetry at a high level and imitated Du Fu’s Qiu Xing Ba Shou in a large number. Qian Qianyi made every effort to establish a transcendent connection with Du Fu in the hope that later generations could evaluate him like how they evaluate Du fu so as to heal the wounds in his old age and to redeem myself.

Ever since the appearance of woodblock printing in Yangzhou during the Tang Dynasty, the development of Yangzhou woodcut prints has been rapid in Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, which flourished in the Qing Dynasty. Compared with the previous dynasties, the printing industry of Yangzhou woodcut prints in the Qing Dynasty has more variety a larger scale. As people begin to attach more attention to the artistic value of Yangzhou woodcut prints, therefore this paper carried out an analysis and research on Yangzhou woodcut prints in the Qing Dynasty. Yangzhou has been an important cultural and economic town in Ming and Qing dynasties due to its location at the junction of canal and the Yangtze River. With continuous development of Yangzhou woodcut prints printing technology in the Qing Dynasty, Yangzhou woodcut prints also made a very outstanding achievement, forming a very important part of the history of ancient woodcut prints in China. Yangzhou woodblock printing was renowned throughout the country at that time, the current offset printing in Yangzhou has quite a lot of workshop printing, family printing and official printing copies, on account of its high artistic achievement, it also ranks top in the famous engraving books in our country. Yangzhou is one of the center cities of woodblock printing in Ming and Qing dynasties, also the only city reserving the full range of ancient China's woodblock printing technology. Currently, Yangzhou roughly has a collection of three hundred thousand ancient book copies of Ming and Qing dynasties, in which there are many exquisite woodcut prints. The earliest Yangzhou woodcut prints had a comparatively unique style and remaining quantity, with a relatively distinct artistic style and characteristics, which are possible to well reflect indigenous aesthetic taste.