We have read two first-person accounts of educated men on the margins of officialdom, Wu Yubi’s early Ming Journal and Shen Fu’s late Qing Six Records of a Life Adrift. Situate both authors in their respective places in the social and political order of the times, and then analyze the various ways that late imperial intellectual currents and social practices—Neo-Confucianism (School of Principle, School of the Mind, Taizhou School), Buddhism, three-teachings syncretism, the cult of qing, the cult of chastity, companionate marriage, etc.—shaped their writings and lives. If we take these primary sources as representative of their respective times, what can the differences in their worldviews, careers, and family relations tell us about the transformation of Chinese thought and society from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries?
The essay should have a clear thesis. You should draw upon the primary and secondary readings for this course to complete this assignment. No outside sources will be allowed for this paper, including online sources. If you quote or paraphrase from a primary or secondary source, you must give proper attribution.
sources
-file:///C:/Users/jazzm/Downloads/ane-7818-lin.pdf
-The Journal of Wu Yubi, pp 1‐77, 88‐91, 150-166.
– Vignettes: pp. 11-28, pp. 41-61, pp. 86-103;
-Selected letters: pp. 27-34 & 58-70.
Just a few sources to help
