A Historical Reflection in Confusions——Reviewing The Confusions of Pleasure:Commerce and Culture in Ming China

Abstract

In The Confusions of Pleasure:Commerce and Culture in Ming China, Timothy Brook, a Canadian scholar, paints a vivid picture of Chinese commerce and culture in the Ming Dynasty. With its unique perspectives and a chronological narrative structure, the book proves to be charming and worth reading. It is rather academic, for the author provides such a new viewpoint of the Ming society as with a duality--" indulgence" and " degeneration"--in its commercial culture. Meanwhile, he over-emphasizes the effects of commerce on social changes so as to neglect the functions of other social factors and make his conclusion partial. His misinterpretations of some historical literature and facts lead, unfortunately, to erroneous expositions in some parts. After all, the book is successful in the lively and insightful descriptions of the Ming commercial culture and of its development.