『聊齋志異』에 표현된 상인이미지 연구

Abstract

The Ming and Qing Dynasties, when Liaozhaizhiyi was written, witnessed the emergence of merchant groups, including the Huishang, Jinshang, and Shandong merchants, spurred by the development of the citizen class and the first appearance of the Rushang phenomenon. Author Pu Songling chose to include many works on merchants in Liaozhaizhiyi. His literary family had faced failure, forcing his father Pu Pan to abandon studies and to engage in commerce. In addition, Pu’s hometown Zichuan was characterized by active commerce, which enabled him to understand the lives of merchants and write a variety of images about merchants. Various types of businesses are described in the collection, which covers commercial areas throughout the country, particularly Shandong. Liaozhaizhiyi offers crucial hints to the author’s views of merchants. First, he criticizes inaccurate perceptions of merchants contemporary to him. Second, he faults landowners for hoarding wealth, arguing that money should be circulated and regarded as capital. Third, he maintains that commercial profits should be generated as surplus. Finally, he denounces corrupt officials’ tyranny and exploitation of merchants. Two major types of merchant images are presented in Liaozhaizhiyi: As the son of a literary man, Pu chose to depict images of literary men who became merchants. Secondly, the collection depicts images of peddlers. As a child, Pu saw many small-scale peddlers in his hometown Zichuan and was sympathetic to them. He understood their lives very well and realistically describes their emotions and harsh conditions. Finally, he also depicts common merchants’ psychological relationship with money and criticized them as unbound by ethics or morality and willing to sell their own flesh and blood under the dominant money–first principle.