Jiangxi Literati and Interregional Networks in Thirteenth- to Fifteenth-Century China

Abstract

From the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, literary interactions were essential to the formation and functioning of literati society beyond local society in China. By tracing the circulation of occasional writings, this study demonstrates how literary interactions provided a way for literati to connect with their peers from other localities and establish interregional networks. Literati developed such social spaces in between by traveling and socializing for reasons beyond the civil service examination, government duties, and Neo-Confucian teachings. These spaces also allowed for the wide circulation of information and facilitated the exchange of opinions on issues of shared interest or concern. The relationship between the networks based on literary interactions and other interregional networks underwent significant changes during the Southern Song (1127–1279), Mongol-Yuan (1271–1368), and Ming (1368–1644) dynasties. This study presents case studies of literati from central Jiangxi to illustrate the transformations in their views and experiences. In the first chapter, I outline different types of interregional networks in the Southern Song, paying particular attention to literary social circles created by literati outside the bureaucracy. The second chapter focuses on the first half of the fourteenth century, when the Mongol court began to incorporate more southern literati into the bureaucracy. The third chapter turns to the late Yuan and early Ming—from the late fourteenth century to the early fifteenth century. This chapter explores a period in which Ming emperors sought to create a single literary social circle. The fourth chapter examines the development of literary social circles up to 1449. In this new era, literary social circles, which had previously provided social spaces between the bureaucracy and local society, no longer seemed to be active.