Two Troubles in the North

• 발행기관: 한양대학교 수행인문학연구소
• 저자명: Tomoyasu Iiyama
• 간행물 정보: 『수행인문학』수행인문학 제40집 제1호, 105~121쪽, 전체 17쪽
• 주제분류: 인문학 > 기타인문학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2010.05.30

영문 초록

This paper examines discourses in the Civil Service Examinations during the Song-Ming period in southern China that justified the superiority of southerners to their northern counterparts and how this influences modern scholarship. “Why do northerners always fall behind in the Civil Service Examinations?” was a question endlessly asked with an obvious sense of superiority in southern China throughout the Late Imperial period. The core of the response almost always came back to the “environment” of the north: harsh winters, dry soils, arid climate, unruly Yellow River, and poor vegetation. In the eyes of southerners, these were the key reasons that made northern people dull, idle, and non-academic. In this way, Gu Yanwu, a dignified figure in Chinese intellectual history during Ming-Qing period, pointed out in his famous essay on the examination system that “the north has two misfortunes, one is the environment, and the other is the lack of talent.” Southerners lacked an understanding of northern China, however. Recent scholarship has revealed that northerners were not successful in the examinations in the Ming and Qing because they had focused on the Jurchen and Mongol recruiting systems in the Jin and Yuan. At this time, the examinations system did not play an important role in their lives. As such, in the north, there had never been a tradition of literati who eagerly sacrificed their lives to the examinations, as did their southern compatriots. In other words, there was another “Chinese society” in the North. As the southerners gained a dominant position in Chinese scholarship of Late Imperial China, their views became the legitimate explanation of the north-south difference. Modern scholars, including foreign academics, and even the descendants of northern literati themselves, have accepted this view. Thus, until recently, northern China has been deemed insignificant in the field of Chinese intellectual and social history. In order to obtain a better understanding of Chinese history and its social and cultural diversity, we need to not only research the history of northern China, but also examine why and when discourses of the north were formed. Doing so will help us understand the imagination that fostered the regional characteristics of China, and how the notion of environment played a central role in the process.

목차

Ⅰ. Introduction

Ⅱ. Tensions Between Southern and Northern Literati

Ⅲ. The Victorious South in the Ming Period

Ⅳ. Conclusion: Influence on Modern Scholarship

Works Cited

〈Abstract〉

키워드

the north-south divide civil service examination system environmental discourse Chinese literati Chinese historigraphy Gu Yanwu 顧炎武