Merchants and Confucianism: With Special Reference to Ningbo merchants, Anhui merchants and Shanxi merchants of the Ming and Qing Dynasties

The relationship between merchants and Confucianism can be analyzed based on a case study of the Ningbo merchants,Anhui merchants and Shanxi merchants of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Confucianism may find its variations in the three places.The East Zhejiang scholarship accentuates the spirit of human subjectivity,emphasizing the application of what is learned to practice;the scholarship of Zhu Xi attaches much importance to reason and courtesy,insisting on much erudite learning;the scholarship of Fu Shan lays stress on learning according to the current situation,appearing more erudite than systematic.Thus the merchants in the three places had different attituds towards Confucianism respectively: Ningbo merchants kept Confucianism at arm’s length,Anhui merchants indulged in the scholarship of Zhu Xi while Shanxi merchants had the scholarship of Fu Shan estranged from them.Undoubtedly Confucianism had varying influence on the merchants of the three places.The East Zhejiang scholarship had implicit influence on Ningbo merchants;the scholarship of Zhu Xi had explicit influence on Anhui merchants;the scholarship of Fu Shan only had feeble influence upon Shanxi merchants.