明清禁毀小說政策及其影響

Abstract

Chinese fictions were influenced by political, economic, and cultural factors at the time of the Ming(明) and Qing(淸) Dynasties. Many of these fictions were prohibited by the government. Banning fictions was a means by which the Ming and Qing dynasties implemented cultural governance while the Qing government took it into extremes. We intend to base on previous research results and try to make a more comprehensive inspection on the policy of banning fictions in Ming and Qing dynasties. Generally speaking, the Qing government took an extreme approach, while the Ming government adopted a relatively lenient approach in banning fictions. The Ming and Qing fiction prohibition and destruction policy undoubtedly influenced the creation and publication of fictions, At a stage, Some fiction works even disappeared from China. However, for some types of fictions, the stricter the control, the more popular they become, the more ban the more popular. The banning of fictions by the Ming and Qing dynasties could result in two different outcomes: On one hand, the policy did actually play a role in banning fiction works. On the other hand, such policy also played a role in stimulating sales. The implementation and effectiveness of the policy of banning fictions by the Ming and Qing dynasties were closely related to the personal preferences of readers, booksellers, local governing officials and rulers.