왕도곤(汪道昆)의 상인 전기에 나타난 휘상의 협객적 면모 = On the Relation between Merchants and Swordsmen during the Middle of the Ming Dynasty: An Analysis of Wang Daokun`s Merchant Biographies

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Merchant biographies have been considered important material for understanding the relationship between literati and merchants in the Confucian society of the Ming, especially, in the Huizhou area. The merchants of Huizhou, however, also had some of the same characteristics as swordsmen. At a first glance, the two would seem to have little in common, given the fact that the former are profit-oriented while the latter are motivated by honor. Yet, both were equally marginalized by the Confucian society of the mid-Ming. Gradually the two became close and collaborated as they understood that they were complementary to one another. Although merchants aspired to the literati class, in reality, they lived in close relationship with swordsmen. This paper focuses on the chivalrous aspects of Huizhou merchants as shown through a close reading of Wang Daokun’s 汪道昆 biographies of Wang Shouren 汪守義, Fang Jingzhen 方景眞, Cheng Suo 程鎖, and Cha Nai 査내. Their lives were varied and ranged from merchant-philanthropist to a general and a musician. Regardless of career, they were invariably called ‘upright swordsmen’ 節俠. Such an honorable epithet reveals that not only literati merchants but also chivalrous merchants were highly esteemed in the Huizhou area.