| Summary: | 碩士 === 臺北市立教育大學 === 中國語文學系碩士班 === 95 === “Three Books of Assorted Tales” is a collection of scripts dating from Song until Yuan Dynasties. Subsequently, it was rewritten to become a series of short stories in dialogue format. Amongst one of the most important features of these books is that there were significant appearances of merchant within the context of the plots. It is granted that Chinese history has a strong bias towards agricultural sector while paying scant attention to merchants as a whole. Even in few instances where merchants did materialize in the stories, their images were often projected in generally negative limelight. As a whole, traditional Chinese scholars and literati often ignored the roles of merchants throughout Chinese history. Nonetheless, in Feng’s “Three Books of Assorted Tales,” he defied conventional topical unawareness on merchants and did replete his book with merchant… not just ordinary projection of merchants in conventional roles, but with manifestation of sense and sensibility as well as often overlooked emotionalism. With such features in the given contextual content, “Three Books of Assorted Tales” had reflected the contemporary society during those epochs, so much so that it had revealed historical value worthy of further expounding.
This thesis is focused strictly on the perception and image of merchants within the confine of “Three Books of Assorted Tales.” There are six sections with main focuses as follow:
I. Prologue: The intent, objective, focus, and results of this thesis being defined, with the research perimeter being laid down as well.
II. Explore Feng Meng-Long’s Life and historical background: This thesis is written with the given context of Ming Dynasty as the historical backdrop, with the prevailing political environment, socio-economic situation, philosophy, and literature as the primary supporting attributes. Under such framework, Feng’s experiences in life, travel, and governance were highlighted with such given contemporary circumstance. This inquiry is crucial to explain the intent of composing this literary work, as well as to underscore its substance and contributory merits to the literary world.
III. Assessing the perception of merchants: To explore the roles and acuity of merchants within the political policy of the time, and such consequential impact towards merchants. This process is crucial to establish the traditional view on merchant in literary works so as to distinct “Three Books of Assorted Tales’” peculiarity from other masterpieces of similar epoch.
IV. The roles and classification of merchants in “Three Books of Assorted Tales”: Based on the frequency of appearance of merchants in these books, they are classified as primary, secondary, and tertiary in their importance. This analytical procedure is necessary to understand merchants’ parts and influence in this literary work. Consequently, these merchants were further subdivided based on their types, industries, and specific mercantile traits in order to further understand their roles.
V. The meaning of merchants’ role in “Three Books of Assorted Tales”: An overall assessment of merchants based on their business conducts, lifestyle, moral values, and attitudes toward love are examined. By delving into these subjects, the innate connotation of how these qualities are being envisaged in these books can be expounded.
VI. Conclusion: To recollect and finalize this thesis’s research result, and evaluate the rationale of investigating the role of merchants based on “Three Books of Assorted Tales.” By doing so, the value and objective of this thesis can thusly be delineated.
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