On Traditional Confucian Culture and the Relationship between the Officials and Businessmen in Old China : A Case Study of the Ming and Qing Dynasty

Confucian scholars and businessmen are quite different professional groups because the former group aims at instruction while the latter at making a profit. Thus, they should have different values. In Chinese history, officials associated themselves with businessmen, which reveals the contradiction and unity between traditional Confucian culture and the development of commodity economy. This paper centers on the study of the Ming and Qing Period when the commodity economy reached a peak, and analyzes the cooperation between the government officials and businessmen and the traits of interaction between the state power and commodity economy, which reveals the role of traditional Confucian culture in the relationship between the government interference and economic development.