당대(唐代) 소설 속 시장과 상인－이질 세계와의 접촉과 그 매개 주체－

Abstract

As the word ‘士農工商’ proves, merchants and traders in the traditional Confucian culture were one of the most despised professions. This is because the merchant is viewed as a negative entity that does not directly participate in production activities and further confuses the proper distribution of products. However, the fact that ‘商’ is included in the ‘士 農工商’ professions itself paradoxically shows that regardless of criticism of merchants, people can not help but acknowledge their social role in traditional society. In this paper, we will examine what kind of roles traders in the stories of Tang dynasty have in terms of ‘mediator’ of the other world, unlike the general research themes on merchants. In the same vein, the ‘marketplace’ in which merchants are active can also be a space for ‘border’ to enter a different world. The merchant, the subject of mediation, and the marketplace connect the human world with the world of immortal hermit. ‘仙人’, a human being and a hermit, acts in the marketplace as merchant and lead people to the world of hermit. This is where the merchant nature of the medium works. In addition, the merchants from the West of the Tang dynasty has enabled people to contact the different world through unrealistic behavior and unreasonable trading methods. It can be said that the role of mediator, the essence of merchant and market, is extended beyond the mediator of goods or money, to the medium of different worlds. This may be a common characteristic of merchants, both East and West. In this paper, we examine how this process is expressed in the stories of Tang dynasty.