Resumo de The Confusions Of Pleasure

The founder of the Ming dynasty, the Hongwu emperor, came
from a peasant background and idealized autonomous, self-sufficient agrarian
communities; the dynasty he founded, however, was to oversee the economic
transformation of China.
Timothy Brook''s study of this in The Confusions of Pleasure is more a
cultural than an economic history, focusing on changing attitudes to trade and
commerce and their effects on everyday life. It is an engaging exploration of
the nooks and crannies of Ming society.

Brook takes his framework from Zhang Tao, a minor official and moralist who
wrote around 1600. Zhang saw the Ming dynasty as a progression from an ideal of
self-sufficient rural communities to commercial decadence, which he fitted into
a cyclic seasonal pattern. This is used for the chronological division of The
Confusions of Pleasure: Winter, spring, and summer each cover roughly a
century and fall the final years of the Ming. Zhang Tao''s is obviously a
literary view, but Brook tries to present non-elite stories and perspectives as
well, not just those of emperors and scholars: women, bandits, workers and many
others feature.

From the inscriptions on a brick in Nanjing Brook teases out something of
the life of kilnmaster Lu Li and the workings of the lijia
registration system. To illustrate the workings of the post and courier
systems, he describes the conveyance of a Persian embassy in 1420-22 and of
shipwrecked Korean sailors in 1488. Winter (1368-1450) goes on to
look at literacy (using personal journals and land contracts) and printing, at
the role of the state in the regulation of commerce and the food supply, and at
merchants, markets and luxury goods. It concludes with the gap between rich and
poor and the rebellion of Deng Maoqi in Fujian
in 1448-49, suggesting that the nature of the landlord-tenant
relationship was changing as commerce and the need for silver grew.

Spring (1450-1550) saw a retreat of the center; here
Brook looks at prefect Xu Jie and the administration of Wuhu, the problem of vagrants and the mass
avoidance of registration, especially by women, and the failure of the state to
respond to famines. The new ideas of Qiu Jin illustrate an increasingly
positive view of markets and merchants ? and this was a period when both
textile industries and maritime trade boomed. Though commerce was never
systematically encouraged, neither was it actively hindered for the most part
(bans on foreign trade notwithstanding): claims about rapacious and
anticommercial Ming state thwarting the growth of the commercial economy seem
forced.

The lives of Huizhou merchants illustrate the
gentrification of merchants and the increasing role of commerce in the lives of
the gentry, underpinning connoisseurship of

antiquities and fine living and, through printing, scholarship and the
dissemination of knowledge. Many moralists saw the Zhengde reign as a period of
decay, idealizing the past, and indeed "the moral register of status had
been replaced by an economic register as conspicuous consumption removed the
patina of polite elegance from wealthummer (1550-1644) saw conspicuous consumption in the dedication
of massive metal Buddhas ? and their theft or confiscation for their copper,
which was used for coins. Communications and mobility improved, with the spread
of printing, news, and letters and an increase in private travel for
pilgrimages, business and pleasure. Brook touches on debates over the textile
industry''s role in the development of capitalism and differences between China and Europe.
He covers trade, merchants, and merchant values. And he describes fashions in
clothing, collectibles, and sex (courtesans and pederasty) and the floating world of Hangzhou.
The sources used in this section include the Family Instructions of
a Miao lineage, an astrological almanac, and travel writings and route books.

In a short Fall (1642-1644) Brook desthe careers of two
gentry during the Ming-Qing transition, whose survival was assisted by
commercial skills and networks. Characters from four stories in Li Le''s
commonplace book offer additional perspectives on the late Ming. And The
Confusions of Pleasure ends with Zhang Tao''s final years and the
limitations of his analysis of the Ming dynasty.

The Confusions of Pleasure tackles a broad canvas using a
fascinating variety of sources. The result is in some ways scattered, but
individual sections cohere and the overall effect is that of a mosaic, a
multi-faceted picture of Ming China. The independence of individual sections
also makes for easy reading and with Brook''s lively prose (and a small but
helpful selection of woodcuts from the period) the result is a book that may
appeal even to those with no knowledge of the period. The Confusions of
Pleasure will be a gold-mine for those curious about the historical
underpinnings of Chinese commercial traditions ? and the gap between the
ideology and the reality of economic life under the Ming is reminiscent of
modern China ? but is recommended to anyone curious about other ways of viewing
the world.

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