¹ This painting of the late Ming period, entitled Nandu Fanhui Tu (Roaring Gathering in the Southern Capital), depicts the busy street and market scenery in and outside Nanking city; a proof of its being a thriving commercial and handicraft industrial centre in the late Ming period. This painting bears a spurious signature of Chiu Ying (ca. 1510–1551). Colour on silk, W. 44 cm, L. 350 cm. China Historical Museum, Peking.Google Scholar (See Hongjun, Wang, Liu Ruzhong “Mingdai Houqi Chengshi Jingji de Fanrong he Shehui Shenghuo de Bianhua—Mingren Hui Nandu Fanhui Tujuan de Chubu Yanjiu”Google Scholar (The Prosperity of Urban Economy and the Change of Social Life in Nanjing City During the Late Ming Period—the Preliminary Research on the Ming Painting Nandu Fanhui Tujuan), Chungguo Lishi Bowuguan Guankan (Bulletin of the China Historical Museum), no. 1, 1979.Google Scholar

² Adshead, S. A. M., “The Seventeenth Century General Crisis in China”, Asian Profile 1, 1973,Google Scholar no. 2.

³ Yishan, Xiao, Qingdai Tongshi (General History of the Qing Dynasty). Shanghai, 1931, p. 236.Google Scholar

⁴ Yan, Liu, “Mingmo Chengshi Jingji Fazhanxia de Chuqi Shimin Yundong” (The First Stage of Civilian Movement Under the Conditions of Urban Economic Growth During the Late Ming Period), Mingdai Shehui Jingjishi Lunji (hereinafter cited as Mingdai), vol. 1, pp. 190–220.Google Scholar

⁵ The extravagant and libidinous life style of wealthy merchants of the Tianqi and Chongzhen periods is described in the late Ming novel jingpingmei (Jingpingmei Cihua, 3 vols, Taipei, 1980Google Scholar). A passage in the Gazette of Wujiang County, chapter 38, states that “from Wanli to the Tianqi and Chongzhen periods, common people became poorer, while the aristocratic families became richer. Their life style became more extravagant each day”.

⁶ Ping-ti Ho, , The Ladder of Success in Imperial China, New York, 1962, p. 42.Google ScholarYiling, Fu, “Mingdai Jiangnan Fuhu Zhi Fenxi” (An Analysis of Wealthy Families in Jiangnan Area During the Ming Dynasty), Zhongguo Ziben Zhuyi Mengya Wenti Taolun Ji (hereinafter cited as Zhongguo), Peking, 1957, vol. 1, pp. 540,Google Scholar 547–564. Also, Shuye, Tong, Zhongguo Shougongye Shangye Fazhang Shi (History of the Development of Chinese Commercial Handicraft Industry), Jinan, 1981, p. 255.Google Scholar

⁷ Yiling, Fu, op. cit., pp. 547–564.Google Scholar

⁸ Shou-yi, Chen, Chinese Literature: A Historical Introduction. New York, 1961.Google ScholarDolby, William, A History of Chinese Drama. London, 1976. p. 112.Google ScholarCahill, James, The Compelling Image: Nature and Style in 17th Century Chinese Painting. Cambridge, M. A., 1982.Google Scholar

⁹ Yan, Liu, op. cit., pp. 401–435.Google Scholar Also, Hucker, Charles, “The Tung-Lin Movement of the Late Ming Period”, Chinese Thought and Institutions, Fairbank, ed., Chicago, 1964, pp. 132–162.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Discussions on Chinese economy of the Ming and Qing period can be found in the two volumes of Zhongguo, and Mingqing Ziben Zhuyi Mengya Yanjiu Lunwen Ji, (hereafter cited as Mingqing), Shanghai, 1981.Google Scholar Although the use of the term “embryonic capitalism” in these books is not accepted by some scholars (see Feuerwerker, Albert, “From Feudalism to Capitalism”, Journal of Asian Studies, no. 18, 1958;Google Scholar and Huang Renyu “Cong Sanyan Kan Wanming Shangren” (Merchants of the Late Ming Period as seen from Sanyan), Bulletin of the Cultural Research Institute of the Hong Kong Chinese University, vol. 1, no. 7, 1974, pp. 133–154),Google Scholar the fact that since the mid-Ming period, there was a significant social and economic change in China is not to be denied.

¹¹ Guangbi, Li, “Mingdai Shougongye de Fazhan” (The Development of Handicraft Industry in the Ming Dynasty), in Zhongguo, vol. 1, pp. 31–46.Google Scholar

¹² According to a study by Liang Fangzhong, a leading fiscal economist in China, between 1573 and 1644 more than ten million taels of silver were imported into China through trade. (See Liang Fangzhong “Mingdai Guoji Maoyi Yu Yin de Shuchuru” [Foreign Trade and the Silver Import and Export in the Ming Dynasty], Mingdai, vol. 3, p. 302).Google Scholar Huang Renyu believes that even this influx of silver did not meet demand. Therefore, high interest was charged on loans, and consequently pawn shops became the most flourishing monetary organization (Renyu, Huang, op. cit., p. 136).Google Scholar

¹³ Ho, Ping-ti, op. cit., p. 41.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Shiqi, Cheng, “Mingdai de Gongjiang Zhidu” (Artisan and Craftsmen System of the Ming Dynasty’), Zhongguo, pp. 436–466.Google Scholar Quoted from Mingtaizu Shilu, chapter 230.

¹⁵ Minghuidian, chapter 189, “Gongjiang” (Artisans and Craftsmen) section 2. (From Shiqi, Cheng, op. cit., p. 464).Google Scholar On average, there were, during the Ming dynasty, about 270,000 to 280,000 artisans and craftsmen registered with the government.

¹⁶ Qingshilu, chapter 16, on Shunzhi period. (Shiqi, Cheng, op. cit., p. 466).Google Scholar

¹⁷ Labour came from a number of areas around Jingdezhen, including Boyang, Leping, Fuliang, Anren, Dexin, Wannian, Yugan, Nanchang and Duchang. Pu, Lan, Jingdezhen Taolu, chapter 8, p. 161.Google Scholar (Hereafter cited as Taolu.)

¹⁸ Taolu, p. 162.Google Scholar The change in Jingdezhen had been very slow, therefore, the size and organization there is believed to have changed very little from the late Ming to the early Qing period. Apart from war time, early Qing conditions in Jingdezhen could be applied to that of the late Ming period. (See Miaotai, Liang, “Mingdai Houqi Jingdezhen Zhiciye Zhongde Ziben Zhuyi Mengya” [The Embryo of Capitalism in the Porcelain Industry in Jingdezhen during the Late Ming Period], Mingqing, p. 471.Google Scholar)

¹⁹ Pottery and Ceramic Research Institute of Jiangxi Province ed., Jingdezhen Taoci Shigao (Draft History of Jingdezhen Pottery and Porcelain) (hereafter cited as Draft History), Peking, 1956, p. 109.Google Scholar According to this source, one kiln in the Qing dynasty is believed to have been able to fire four times as many pieces of ware as a kiln in the Ming dynasty.

²⁰ Ying, Tang, Taoye Tushuo, 1743.Google Scholar Quoted in Taoshuo, 1774,Google ScholarYan, Zhu. (Taoshuo, translated and annotated by Zhenglun, Fu, Peking, 1984, pp. 11–51.Google Scholar)

²¹ Shimao, Wang, (ca. 1573–1620), Eryou Weitan, in Shuofu Xubian, chapter 18, pen 142, p. 8a.Google Scholar The translation of the quotation is from The Pattern of The Chinese Past, by Elvin, Mark, Stanford, 1973, p. 285.Google Scholar

²² This rebellion against the Manchu government had spread in the Jiangnan region and the South-Western part of China. Sanfan Jishi Benmo (The Complete Account of the Three Feudatories), by Lurong, Yang, Shanghai, 1935.Google Scholar

²³ Passages in Porcelain and the Dutch East India Company, by Volker, T., indicate this situation by saying that, in the year 1644,Google Scholar “because of internal troubles in China there would probably not be any fine porcelain shipped because the province where it was made was full of war”, and that “the masters of these ships (coming from Formosa) have lamented the war in China and ‘the great mortality among the porcelain makers’“. (Volker, T., Porcelain and the Dutch East India Company, Leiden, 1971, p. 50.Google Scholar) Information in Sanfan Jishi Benmo also reveals the involvement of potters in this war. For example, one passage states that during this rebellion, the pottery calligrapher Zhao Tingrui drowned himself because of his participation on the rebel side. (Sanfan Jishi Benmo, vol. 3, p. 4b.Google Scholar)

²⁴ Mengzhu, Ye (ca. 1628–1700), Yueshipian, vol. 7.Google Scholar This book was published in about 1692. A passage on porcelain from this book is included in Mingdai Shehui Jingji Shiliao Xuanbian (Selected Sources for the Study of Social and Economic History of the Ming Dynasty), Guozhen, Xie ed., vol. 1, Fujian, 1980, p. 157.Google Scholar

²⁵ Raozhou Fuzhi (Gazetter of Raozhou Prefecture), 1684, vol. 10, p. 80.Google ScholarFuliang Xianzhi (Gazetteer of Fuliang County), 1682,Google Scholar the chapter on pottery administration (Taozheng Pian).

²⁶ Draft History, p. 108.Google ScholarTingyu, Zhang, Mingshi (History of the Ming Dynasty), Peking, 1974, p. 1999.Google Scholar

²⁷ Taolu, chapter 10.

²⁸ Draft History, pp. 108,Google Scholar 109.

²⁹ This incense burner is illustrated in Transitional Wares and Their Forerunners, by Kilburn, Richard,Google Scholar pl. 56. The 1628 plate discussed below, in the collection of Mr. Morris Whitehouse, is illustrated in the same book, pl. 54, and in Oriental Blue and White by Garner, Harry, London 1979,Google Scholar pl. 59b.

³⁰ For comparison, it is interesting to know that the Imperial Weaving and Manufacturing Bureaus in Suzhou and Hangzhou were officially closed down in 1627. As a result, according to written records, in the early Qing period, the buildings were crumbling and the factories were deserted. Zheyi, Peng, “Qingdai Qianqi Jiangnan Zhizhao” (The Textile Industry in the Jiangnan Area During the Early Qing Period), Lishi Yanjiu, 1963, no. 4, pp. 91,Google Scholar 92.

³¹ Passages in Taolu, chapter 3, reveal that the Qing dynasty imperial kilns were first constructed in 1655. In this year, an order for dragon jars was placed by the court, but the work was not completed. In 1660, another order was made for large dragon jars and terminals (or tiles), but again, this order was not fulfilled. In 1661, the imperial inspector in Jingdezhen appealed to the court to stop the operation of the imperial kilns.

³² Taolu, chapter 10.

³³ Taoshuo, chapter 1, and Taolu, chapter 2.

³⁴ This short story is included in Xingshi Hengyan by Menglong, Feng, and first published in 1627. Peking 1956Google Scholar edition, chapter 34.

³⁵ See Christie's catalogue of Fine Chinese Export Porcelain, March 7, 1984,Google Scholar no. 268. Unfortunately this piece is not illustrated and the signature of the name of the potter (or pottery painter) has not been mentioned.

³⁶ In Stoke-on-Trent the percentage of women workers in the pottery factories is as high as 60%. See “Tale of Two Cities”, Management Today, Oct. 1985, p. 152.Google Scholar

³⁷ The subject of fictional themes on Transitional porcelain and their relationship with contemporary literature and woodblock prints has been studied by the present author. See my Ph.D dissertation “Representation of Fictional Themes on Chinese Transitional Porcelain (1620–ca.1683)—With Special Reference to the Romance of the Western Chamber”, LondonUniversity, 1984.Google Scholar Also by the same author, “Fictional Themes on Chinese Transitional Porcelain and Their Sources of Decoration”, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, 1986, pp. 1–146.Google Scholar

³⁸ Taolu, chapter 3. According to this book, in Jingdezhen there were five kinds of yaohu (kiln household). These were:

a. Shao Yaohu—either kilns burning pine-faggots to produce rough wares, or brushwood to produce fine wares. This was also calledpeiyaohu (Raw Clay Household).

b. Dapei Yaohu—households firing raw ware made in other workshops. They either used pine-faggots or brushwood.

c. Shaolun Yaohu—Households firing their own-made raw wares and raw wares made in the other households.

d. Chai yaohu—workshops producing fine wares. These may include a, b, and c above.

e. Cha yaohu—households producing inferior wares. They may also include a, b, and c above.

³⁹ Miaotai, Liang, op cit., p. 473.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Ibid. p. 473.

⁴¹ Fuliang Xianzhi, section on Pottery Workers.

⁴² Yingxing, Song, Tiangong Kaiwu, 1637; reprinted in Hong Kong, 1975, pp. 198–199.Google Scholar This book has been translated into English by Zen-Sun, E-Tu and Sun, Shiou-Chuan, as “T'ien-Kung K'ai-Wu: Chinese Technology in the Seventeenth Century”, Pennsylvania, 1966.Google Scholar

⁴³ Taoye Tushuo, op. cit., p. 75.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Information in Taolu throws light on the organization of the porcelain factories and the division of labour in the Qing period. According to this information, works were divided into five sections, yao (kiln), hu (household), gong (workers), zuo (establishment) and jia (specialist). A kiln comprised households, and there were five kinds of kiln households (see note 38). Each household employed numerous workers, from clay-milling workers to kiln firing workers, each of whom was a specialist. These skilled workers were divided into groups on the basis of their skill, and there could be up to seventeen groups of such kinds. In all there were eighteen porcelain establishments, and each was headed by a specialist known as jia. (Taolu, chapter 3, pp. 79–85)

⁴⁵ Mingshi, chapter 6, Shihuo Zi (agriculture and commercial goods). Zheng Xiumeng etc., Jianming Zhongguo Jingji Tongshi (Outline of Chinese Economic History), Harbin, 1984, pp. 378, 396.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Taolu, chapter 4, p. 106. The translations are by Sayer, , Ching-te-Chen Tao-Lu; or The Potters of China, Hertford, 1951, pp. 32, 33, 35Google Scholar.

⁴⁷ According to the record in Fuliang Xianzhi, in 1528, fighting which resulted in deaths broke out between pottery workers from Leiping and kiln owners from Fuliang on the matter of payment. In 1605, pottery workers from Raozhou fought with the kiln owners from Duchang, over questions of poor working conditions and payment. (Draft History, pp. 239, 240.)Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Fuliang Xianzhi, vol. 1,Google Scholar chapters on Custom (Fengsu Pian).

⁴⁹ Draft History, pp. 121–122.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ This blue and white vase is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, no. 769–1883. It is well finished, and painted with the best quality copper blue of that time with a scene of scholars and female musicians playing music in a garden. The drawing is very fluent and skilful, and shows a distinct late Ming style and subject matter. This vase could be dated to the Chongzhen period (1627–1644). D. 20 cm; H. 44 cm.

⁵¹ Baochang, Geng, Mingqing Ciqi Handing (Appraisal of the Porcelain of the Ming and Qing Dynasties). Hong Kong 1984, p. 144.Google Scholar Mi Wanzhong was a contemporary of Dong Qichang (1555–1636), and a rival to him. They were known as “Nan Dong Bei Mi” (Dong of the South and Mi of the North).

⁵² Tiangong Kaiwu, op. cit., chapter 7, p. 196.Google Scholar

⁵³ Taolu, chapter 4. The regulation of the Ming government was that a merchant should pay tax to the government before purchasing goods. On the day of trading, he should give the tax receipt to a middleman, who in turn checked the goods for him and made sure that nothing went wrong. This middleman also had the responsibility of reporting this trading deal to the government. In this way, the government could be sure of collecting each trade and commercial tax. Chongri, Liu and Yunpeng, Zuo, “Dui Yaren Yahang de Chubu Tantao” (The Preliminary Study on ‘Middleman’ and ‘Sales Agency’), Mingqing, p. 192.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Ever since the Song dynasty (906–1279), Huizhou merchants had been engaged in domestic trade, but it was not until the middle of the Ming dynasty that they came to play an important part. Their rise was mainly due to the salt trade, but this soon expanded to include other commodities, e.g. silk, tea, cotton, book printing, and porcelain. During the late Ming and early Qing period, their trading activities extended all over the country. Yiling, Fu, Mingqing Shidai Shangren Ji Shangye Ziben (Merchants and Commercial Capital During the Ming and Qing Dynasties). Peking, second edition, 1980, pp. 64,Google Scholar 65. Hiroshi, Fujii, “A Study of the Hsin-an Merchants”, Toyo Gakuho, 1953–1954, vol. 36,Google Scholar nos. 1,2,3.

⁵⁵ Congri, Liu, Zuo Yunpeng, op. cit., pp. 187–204.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Because of the unreliability of the Ming dynasty official population registration record (Huangce, Yellow Book), the exact population in China during the late Ming and early Qing period is very difficult to know. According to the studies by Ho Ping-ti, the Chinese population in 1600 could have been as high as 150,000,000 (Ho, Ping-ti, Studies on the Population of China. Cambridge, Mass., 1959, pp. 23,Google Scholar 277). However, much lower figures were quoted by Shuye, Tong in his book History of the Development of Chinese Commercial Handicraft Industry.Google Scholar According to his information, the population in 1623 was about 51,650,000, and in 1664 was 19,000,000. These figures were suspected of being greatly underestimated. Whatever was the case, it is unquestionable that in the transition from the Ming to the Qing period, there was a dramatic drop in population in China, because of the widespread epidemics and the massacres of Han people carried out by the Manchus as a means of consolidating their power in China. (Elvin, Mark, op, cit., pp. 310,Google Scholar 311; and Shuye, Tong, op. cit., p. 283Google Scholar).

⁵⁷ Shuye, Tong, op. cit., p. 255.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Miaotai, Liang, op. cit., pp. 485, 486.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Ibid., pp. 486,487.

⁶⁰ Ibid., p. 487.

⁶¹ Mengzhu, Ye, op. cit., p. 157.Google Scholar

⁶² Volker, T., Porcelain and the Dutch East India Company as Recorded in the Dagh-Registers of Batavia Castle, Those of Hirado and Deshima and Other Contemporary Papers, 1602–1682. Leiden, 1954.Google Scholar Christie's, Amsterdam, , Fine and Important Late Ming and Transitional Porcelain Recently Discovered from an Asian Vessel in the South China Sea. The property of Captain Michael Hatcher. March 14, 1984.Google Scholar

⁶³ Weihua, Zhang, Mingdai Haiwai Maoyi Jianlun (A Brief History of Overseas Trade During the Ming Dynasty), Peking, 1955, p. 46.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Dacheng, Han, “Mingdai Shangpin Jingji de Fazhan yu Ziben Zhuyi de Mengya” (The Development of Commercial Economy and the Sprouts of Capitalism During the Ming Dynasty), Zhongguo, vol. 2, pp. 1020–1021.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Wanli, Chen, “Songmo Qingchu Zhongguo Duiwai Maoyi Zhong de Ciqi” (Chinese Export Porcelain from the end of the Song Dynasty to the Early Qing Period), Wenwu, 1963,Google Scholar no, 1, p. 22. Volker, T., op. cit., pp. 59,Google Scholar 227.

⁶⁶ Jingyan, Jia, “Mingdai Ciqi de Haiwai Maoyi” (Overseas Porcelain Trade of the Ming Dynasty), Zhongguo, vol. 1, pp. 47–51.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Draft History, pp. 252–253.Google Scholar This passage is quoted from Yehuobian by Shen Defu (1578–1642), in Yuanming Shiliao Biji Congkan, Peking, 1959,Google Scholar no. 1.

⁶⁸ Dechang, Zhang, “Qingdai Yapian Zhangzheng Qian Zhi Zhongxi Yanhai Tongshang” (Sea Trade Between China and Western Countries in the Qing Dynasty Before the Opium War), Qinghua Xuebao, 1935, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 97–145.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Shuye, Tong, op. cit., pp. 328,Google Scholar 329. Xiumeng, Zheng etc., op. cit., p. 402.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Elvin, Mark, op. cit., p. 284.Google Scholar In this book, Mark Elvin studies the question of why industrial revolution did not happen in China, and compares the development in the West.

⁷¹ Ho, Ping-ti, The Ladder of Success in Imperial China, pp. 86–91.Google Scholar Examples of artisans and merchants of the Ming and Qing period gaining official positions and raising their social status are given in this book, pp. 42–45,58,59.

⁷² Chin, Sandi and Hsu, Cheng-Chi, “Anhui Merchant Culture and Patronage”, in Shadows of Mt Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School, Cahill, James ed., Berkeley, 1980, pp. 19–24.Google Scholar