Scholars of Ming-Qing history and literature have paid increasing attention to material culture in relation to persons as both individuals and members of communities—literary, cultural, and ethnic. Addressing material culture, book culture, and writing practices, Yulian Wu's Luxurious Networks explores the role of a cluster of things—jade, stone, seals, and books—in the life of salt merchants in eighteenth-century China, and in turn the role of those merchants in High Qing society. The book touches on a series of important issues in the studies of Qing history, for example, the ethnic nature of Manchu rule, consumer culture, lineage, and female chastity. Using salt merchants as an entry point, Wu aims to reveal a new network between Manchu court and Han Chinese, to analyze the merchants’ role in High Qing consumer society, to challenge the conventional understanding of literati-merchant (shishang) relations, and to argue for the potential that things hold...
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
