초록 열기/닫기 버튼
This paper seeks to review the state of the field of Chinese gentry/local elite rule and then offer an alternative approach. I will begin with an examination of existing works on Chinese gentry rule and local elite, which shall serve as a foundation for the alternative approach I will then develop. The historical reality is never as neat and clear-cut as indicated in such influential views as Oh Keum-sung’s state-centered view of Chinese gentry, Kishimoto Mio’s analysis of local society, and Western scholars’ civil society model. In the hope of contributing to a more nuanced and historically specific understanding of the governing elite in Late Imperial China, I take seriously the methodology of intellectual history. The literary collection of Zhan Ruoshui, among other sources, represents one of the best mediums through which we can explore and discuss the complex features and subtle aspects of the governing elite in Ming China. It is my contention that it is possible to formulate a more historically sensitive notion of the governing elite’s identity than the age-old notion of state-centered gentry or local elite in making sense of the state-society relationship in late imperial China .
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
Neo-Confucianism, Zhan Ruoshui, gentry, local elite, Ming
