The Natural
The Natural
Nearly 300 narratives, or 25 per cent of the Yuewei caotang biji are about the natural. These are stories about the interest of the elite, such as unusual happenings and items, rarities, literature, religion, philosophy and scientific topics. The main part are narratives of human behaviour in certain situations, followed by an evaluation.
These notes are mainly about unusual occurrences or objects, such as rarities and collections. Ji Yun comments upon natural science, classical or modern literature, philosophy, and religion. In addition to his many interests, his taste, as well as that of his circle of friends and colleagues, is displayed. Moreover, the statements about literature reveal Ji Yun's attitude as a compiler of the YWCT.
Here, more often than in stories with other subjects, Ji Yun communicates results of his own research as well as his opinion and evaluations. He states a wish for preserving old sources, correcting wrongly transmitted old documents, and contemporary accounts. The narratives show Ji Yun as a very educated, manifold interested, and critical scholar, who wishes to pass his knowledge on to his readers.
In over 160 narratives of the YWCT the behaviour of humans in a given situation is described and morally judged. The moral judgement becomes apparent by the different kind of rewards or punishments mentioned, or through the frequently appended notes to a story. Before having a closer look at the moral point-of-view and judgement of the elite in their public and private behaviour, the difficulties in defining the elite of the Qing dynasty should be mentioned.
An easy way to classify the protagonists is to divide society into the traditional three social strata. Accordingly, the elite would consist of officials, scholars, and landlords; the middle class of merchants, craftsmen, artists, doctors, geomancers, monks, and nuns; whereas the lower class contains farmers, other rural people, servants, slaves, beggars, and urban poor (Eberhard 1967, 84–85).
As Evelyn S. Rawski and Susan Naquin point out, a classification into Manchus, Mongols, and other ethnic groups would be of special importance for the time of the Manchu Qing dynasty (Rawski 1998, 2−10; Naquin 2000), 371–380, 381–387)
Additionally, during the Qing dynasty material wealth gained in importance for the determination of status:
If wealth was a prerequisite for the acquisition of elite status and if wealth could procure the status symbols of scholarship through education, patronage, and connoisseurship, then wealth was likely to begin to carry its own status and its own rewards in the eyes of many, much to the horror, no doubt, of Confucian conservatives (Ropp 1981, 29).
This social development is further supported by the drastic population growth and the constant growth of scholars taking part in the official examinations. Until 1800, almost three million classically educated scholars were by some means connected to the imperial examinations, which is one per cent of the whole population (Elman 2002, 370).
The number of available government posts, however, stayed relatively constant. As a result, higher official positions were only ensured for scholars who had passed the metropolitan examinations (huishi) (Elman 2002, 366; Ropp 1981, 2–23).
The gap between the traditional social distinction of elite and non-elite on the one hand, and the economic reality on the other hand, lead to increasing cultural and psychological tensions (Ropp 1981, 30–31). These tensions are also mentioned in the YWCT.
Whilst more scholars became dependent on alternatives to a political career, more wealthy officials and gentry families occupied unemployed scholars. One possibility for scholars was to find work as a private secretary (muyou 幕友) for officials. As Leo Chan points out, there were so many private secretaries during the Qing, that they could count as a social class by itself. Comparable to rural school teachers, private secretaries belonged to the stratum of scholars, who, in metropolitan areas would not count as part of the elite, but as standing between the traditional elite and the middle class (Chan 1998, 133–135).
At least five private secretaries belonging to Ji Yun's own staff of employees also figure in the collection: Li Wenzao 李文藻 (1730−1778), Peng Yuanrui 彭元瑞 (1731−1803), Yu Junqi 俞君祺 (fl. 1763), Zhao You 趙佑 (1727−1800) and Zhong Xinhu 鍾忻湖 (fl. 1763).
Another alternative to a professional career was the growing private and public patronage of diverse scholarly projects. Through the generous funding of rich merchants and by the local elite, scholars could find employment for the compilation of history books, or for one of the many imperially sponsored literary projects.
Other men, who had passed the examinations successfully, decided against an official career and rather worked as private teachers in families or academies, in order to continue their own research, as for example, Ji Yun's friend Qian Daxin 錢大昕 (1728–1804).