Confucian Values and Rebellion in 17th-Century Chinese Fiction

Introduction: Feudal Authority and Confucian Society

Seventeenth-century China, as depicted by C.T. Hsia and in its works of fiction, was a feudal, authoritarian society dominated by Confucian values of duty, honor, obedience, and fidelity to parents, siblings, and spouses. At the same time, there were clearly many young men and women who defied this authoritarian Confucian culture and expressed their desires for more personal freedom and happiness — although Hsia has overlooked the main reason for this. Opposition to the old feudal order already existed in the cities and towns by the seventeenth century, at least among the younger members of the merchant and student middle classes.

No matter that the lower classes hardly appear in the stories at all — except as mostly anonymous servants, laborers, and peasants — the middle-class young seem to be attempting their own Romeo and Juliet revolution of the type that had begun in the West around the same time. Among these figures were the prostitute Du Tenth and her student lover Li Jia in "Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger," Fortune and her young merchant lover Ch'en in "The Pearl-sewn Shirt," and Miss Ts'ui and the student Chang in "The Story of Ying-Yang."

Du Tenth and the Commodification of Love

Money and middle-class capitalist values seem to dominate the life of Du Tenth, since the story centers around money — first to buy her freedom from prostitution, and then when her lover sells her to Sun Fu for 1,000 pieces of silver. Li Jia's father has bought his way into the Imperial Academy, and his money will also ensure that Li passes the state examinations; but like the Prodigal Son in the Bible, Li spends most of his funds on drinking and debauchery. He then falls in love with Du Tenth and spends all his money on her, even pawning his clothes, to the point where the madam intends to throw him out as a "bum."

The madam treats Du Tenth like a commodity, comparing her unfavorably to other girls who are "money trees" to the madams and procurers. Finally, Du Tenth gives Li 150 taels of silver from her savings, and he scrambles to borrow the other half from his relative Liu — even though most of the family no longer trusts him. His father is infuriated with Li for wasting all his hard-earned money, and Li is reluctant to return home to face his wrath; yet Du Tenth wants him to accept traditional values and the "Heaven-ordained relation of father and son."

As it turns out, Du Tenth was far more devoted to Li than he was to her, since he takes an opportunity to make a profit by selling her. Du Tenth commits suicide rather than be disgraced in this way — especially by the man she loved — and in the end it is revealed that she had saved a fortune worth far more than 1,000 taels from her work as a prostitute. As the story concludes, Li and Sun Fu are shown to be no gentlemen, and their lack of traditional morality reflects that of an urban, commercial society.

The Story of Ying-Yang: Scholar Values and Romantic Defiance

In "The Story of Ying-Yang," a young student named Chang falls in love with Ts'ui, the daughter of a wealthy widow. His values were strictly those of a Confucian scholar and gentleman — so much so that his more worldly friends teased him for still being a virgin at age twenty-three. His infatuation with Ts'ui causes him to write poems to her that she regards as "filthy," but she agrees to have an affair with him, and he lives with her during the times he stays in the city. Eventually they both married other people, and she would not see him again, though she sent him poems advising that he transfer his love to the woman he was now with.

Conclusion: An Incipient, Not Revolutionary, Challenge

Hsia is correct that in every case, traditional Confucian morality is reaffirmed in these stories, and that rebellions always turn out to be temporary. This rebellion appeared to be only incipient, rather than a revolutionary challenge to the old order, and was confined mostly to the relatively small, literate middle class in the towns. The writers recognized the pressures building within seventeenth-century Chinese urban society, but their stories consistently channel those pressures back into the settled grooves of duty, hierarchy, and moral propriety.