Daily life of people in Ming Dynasty

 In traditional Chinese concepts, the so-called history often refers to the history of the court and the history of plots. To put it bluntly, it is the family history of emperors and generals. This is easy for ordinary history readers to understand that a few big figures and important events constitute the main body of history, and there is nothing ordinary people in them. Of course, ordinary people's daily life is even less worth mentioning. This is actually a misunderstanding. Although the emperors and generals and important events occupy an important position in history, in comparison, ordinary people and their daily lives are not only equally important, but also an integral part of history—— Because the daily life of ordinary people is the normal state of history, showing the basic face of history. Mr. Yi Yongwen's "Daily Life in Ming Dynasty Society" is a work that uses civic literature such as novels, operas and historical evidence to describe the food, clothing, housing, and transportation of Ming society. Although the content in the book is only an interception of history However, it is not difficult for us to get a glimpse of the daily conditions of society in the Ming Dynasty.

Ming dynasty thinker Li Zhi once said: "Dressing and eating is human physics." It means to dress well and eat well. It is the pursuit of human instinct-to improve dressing and eating to the height of human nature. The importance of clothing and food in life. In "Daily Life of Ming Dynasty Society", Mr. Yi first wrote about "clothing". He started writing from the clothing of ordinary civilians. On the one hand, he quoted extensively, widely cited novels, dramas, notes and history related to clothing, and detailed descriptions. Ordinary people's clothing taste and fashion pursuit; on the other hand, we talked about it, extending from ordinary people's clothing taste to the society of the Ming dynasty and the changing world. In fact, the clothing and decorations of the Ming Dynasty greatly surpassed the previous generations in terms of their complex shapes and colorful patterns, or the variety of materials and the exquisite tailoring. Like the pearl shirt mentioned in "San Yan", the high-end dresses such as pleated skirts and moon skirts mentioned in "Jin Ping Mei", the styles of these clothes are colorful and swaying. They are not only practical. Value, but also aesthetic value, through these fashionable clothing, we see not only a beautiful clothing scenery, but also can truly feel the economy and material brought to the society by this clothing art. Vigorous movement.

The Ming people have such a preference for clothing, and they also have good pursuits in food, housing and transportation. The Ming Dynasty was originally a dynasty with relatively developed industry and commerce. Especially in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the urban culture became more prosperous, and the general citizens' demand for meat and vegetables also increased. Mendoza, a Spaniard who had been to China, listed the meat of Chinese banquets in his "History of the Great Chinese Empire", including not only domestic animals such as pigs, cows, and sheep, but also some Wild animals, and banqueters not only enjoy these meats themselves, but also give them as gifts to guests. And beverages that have the same demand as meat are tea and wine. Taking Nanjing as an example, “there are six to seven hundred restaurants and tea houses, and there are more than one thousand tea houses.” This shows that Ming people’s consumption concepts have changed. 

In addition, in terms of living, ordinary houses naturally have the simplicity and convenience of small gates and small households, while large households are good at constructing urban forests, so that they can listen to the ding-dongs of mountain springs and watch the colorful fallows without leaving their homes. Living in a busy city, but thinking about mountains and forests. With the improvement of transportation facilities, tourism has also become a trend. Both the gentry and ordinary civilians used to travel in the mountains and rivers as the fashion, and even the "outing" with them as the mainstream became a major sight in Ming society.

The folk life in ancient China was not as monotonous and boring as we imagined--not only was it not monotonous and boring, but to a certain extent, it was even vivid and colorful. As Mr. Yi summed up, gourmets are the "crystallization" formed when the level of diet has developed to a certain historical stage. They lead the diet of the times and integrate the beauty of diet during a period of time. Their appearance is related to the era, region, and The natural material basis is closely related to the social environmental conditions-such as gourmets, gardeners, travellers, and even fashionistas. Their appearance is also the "crystallization" formed by the development of material living standards to a certain historical stage. Pay attention to them It is to restore the ancient social life that has passed away.