Review Of Honorable Merchants: Commerce And Self-Cultivation In Late Imperial China
Honorable Merchants: Commerce and Self-Cultivation in Late Imperial China was written by Richard John Lufrano and documents the culture and lifestyle of mid-level merchants during late imperial China. The book describes the rise of mid-level merchants, who can ultimately be seen as a modern day middle class. During the era of late imperial China, there was an increase in commercialization, which “most members of society…had come to accept commercial activity as a necessary part of life,” causing them to “regard those engaged in commerce as respectable members of society.” With more commerce, Chinese merchants needed to understand how they could operate a successful business, but how would they accomplish a feat like this?
The author’s main
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The main sources that the author relies on are the merchant manuals, for they were likeminded and resembled Confucius philosophy. The author uses these manuals, which “were imbued to some extent with the desire to teach Confucian morality,” to support his main argument. The foremost purpose of these merchant manuals in late imperial China was “to help people achieve success and attain wealth through commerce.” Confucian philosophy constituted the foundations of these manuals, which Chinese merchants used to adopt the proper dispositions to operate their business. Lufrano chooses to incorporate these manuals in his book because the authors of the manuals “employed a coherent and consistent approach supported by realistic and detailed instructions on how their readers [the merchant] could become both prosperous businessmen and respectable gentlemen.” These late imperial Chinese merchant manuals are used by the author to describe the mid-level merchant culture along with their practice to aid them in the market. Ultimately, these manuals that the author incorporates throughout the book supports the overall argument of how these Chinese merchants appropriated the Confucius teachings in the manuals that helped them establish respectful business practices in late imperial
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