晚明乡宦的教化观及其实践困境

The Enlightenment Concept and its Practical Difficulties of the Country Gentries in the Late Ming Dynasty

明代地方教化组织发展至晚明已渐渐流于形式,普遍的世风日下和风俗浇漓促使乡宦群体重新寻找教化途径,试图以"以身倡率"的模式改良风俗,由改士风到改民风。但由于乡宦以重返浪漫主义色彩的农业田园社会为教化宗旨,这与晚明不可逆的城市化、商业化进程相悖,因此难以赢得民众的认同。同时乡宦虽然在教化观念上主张复古复礼,但在实践中却渐趋奢华纵欲,导致大规模的民众竞相仿效,教化未行而风俗更坏。"上行下效"的教化过程因传统与现代、农耕文化与商业文化的冲突而在实际的推行过程中出现困境。

Local enlightenment organizations had been out of action in the late Ming dynasty. Faced with deeadencies of social moralities and deterioration of civil customs the country gentry must search for new approach to social improvement. They tried to use role model to reform customs, hoped through reform of intellectual ethos to improve folk custom. But their aim of back to the romance of rural society is unpopular because it is at odds with the irreversible urbanization and commercialization in the late Ming era. In addition, although they advocated retro enlighttenment the country gentries became luxurious in practice,and their living stlye was followed by the mass, thus made folk custom worse than ever. The role model enlightenment fell into a dilemma in practice because there were conflicts between tradition and modernity, as well as between farming culture and business culture.