矛盾的世界:明清商人价值观探微——以徽商为视角

Contradiction World:the Values of Ming and Qing Merchants——From the perspective of Hui Merchants

明清之际,伴随着商品经济的发展,商人阶层逐步扩大,中国社会也缓慢地从传统向近代转型。作为走向转型前方的商人,他们一只脚轻轻地触到了近代的门槛,另一只脚还被牢牢地束缚在传统的旧屋里。他们的价值观也极具二重性和矛盾性,他们一方面固守天理,另一方面也放纵欲望;他们既积极进取又归于隐退,既自信又自卑,集俭约、忠诚与奢侈、叛逆于一体。商人价值观的二重性,是处在转型时期的商人内心矛盾的表现。以徽商为视角,研究商人的二重价值观,对于更全面的了解明清时期的商人具有一定的意义。

During Ming and Qing Dynasties, the merchant class got a gradual expansion with the development of commodity economy, and the Chinese society transited slowly from traditional to modem society as well. As the leading force in transition, one of their feet had already touched the threshold of modem times, while the other was still firmly bounded in the traditional old one. Their values were of duality and contradiction. On the one hand, they defended the heavenly principles, on the other hand they indulged their lust. They were both aggressive and seclusive, superior and inferior. They are of frugality, loyalty, luxury and rebel. Merchant＇s duality values are the expression of their inner conflicts during the transitional period. In the case of Hui Merchant, the study of Merchant＇s duality value has a certain meaning for the comprehensive grasp of the merchants during Ming and Qing Dynasties.