Travel, leisure, amusement, and play: Social mobility and cultural shifts in the late Ming

Abstract

Social mobility intensified during the late Ming, and officials, scholars, peasants, merchants, monks, and women were all influenced by the trend of engaging in travel and leisure. This, in turn, brought about an interest in amusement and play. During the late Ming, most actions of reading, writing, and practicing Buddhism included an attitude of “play” (玩 wan). Many cultural shifts correspondingly arose, such as cultural “diversity” that combined the novel and commonplace. These also included the popularization of culture as symbolized by the vulgarization of Confucianism, popularization of education, colloquial-style writing, and even the beginning of a partnership between culture and the commercial world that led to increasing commercialization. All this sufficiently proves that the late Ming was a society characterized by “anomie” (失範 shifan).