인식의 이중성― 唐代 소설 속 상인을 보는 시선들

Abstract

Merchants in ancient China, especially merchants in Confucian values, were considered to be the most subordinate status of other professions. This is because the merchant did not directly participate in the production activities, but rather as a confusing thing to the right distribution of the product. They will eventually hinder the rational operation of the national system. But paradoxically, ‘商’ which has a distinct character and role from ‘士農工’, is bound to a category of ‘士農工商’. This shows that while criticizing ‘商’, it had to admit its role. For this reason, the perception of the merchant was likely to appear on both sides in reality. They acknowledged the pursuit of profit while asked merchants to be temperate and not greedy. The authorities tolerated the merchant’s interests in a way that did not exceed their power, and blamed them morally while sharing profits with merchants. This contradictory perception has a long history and can be seen to some extent in the perception of modern merchants or businessmen. It appears to be a question of value, but in fact it is a historical issue. The process of gradually gathering this contradictory perception can be seen as the process of moving to the modern world. This paper examines the image of merchants and their perception in the literary novels of Tang Dynasty into four themes of ‘merchants as objects of disdain and persecution’, ‘merchants of greed and mercilessness’, ‘merchants of trust and mercy’, ‘accumulation of wealth through generosity or minimal profit’.