PDF《Imperial China》

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Hist. China 2010, 5(3): 386C424 DOI 10.1007/s11462-010-0103-y Received January 12,

2010 Paolo Santangelo ( ) Faculty of Oriental Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Principe Amedeo 182b,

00185 Rome, Italy E-mail: [email protected] RESEARCH ARTICLES Paolo Santangelo An Attempt at a History of Mentality in Late Imperial China ? Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag

2010 Abstract Some elements of Puritanism in Chinese tradition are obviously different from the well-known intellectual phenomenon in the West;

in the Neo-Confucian ambit the key question concerns orderCdisorder, harmonyCdisharmony in society and inside one'

s personality, rather than sin and purity in personal morality. Yet we also find that chastity is involved in the contrast between the two concepts of purity and pollution and the idea of obscene (meaning inauspicious, ill-omened, profane ) allows us to uncover a darker side to sexual representation. Death seems another source of active or passive pollution: this effect occurs after contaminational contact with human or animal remains. Thus death is the source of desecration, or of contamination, especially when it is the consequence of violence. This means that in Chinese culture, a sense of impurity seems to be driven by the horror of death and the fear of being overwhelmed by the passion of love;

respectively, thanatos and eros. Other topics may also be associated, such as mental insanity referring to what is different, abnormal, strange, and socially subversive. The cleanCunclean distinction originally responded to a basic visceral feeling―horror and repulsion/disgust―that is typically associated with hygienic worries and matter that is perceived as repugnant and inedible. But these basic ideas seem to have been symbolically extended to cope with the subconscious and metaphysical spheres: the horror of death and the fear of being overwhelmed by passion, the mysteries which lie behind these emotions, and the attempt to sublimate such fears into an impulse to transcend the red dust of our limited existence. An Attempt at a History of Mentality in Late Imperial China

387 Keywords anthropological history, mental structure, purity-pollution, cleanness-filthiness, eros and thanatos Historical works have different approaches and aims, and may focus on the events of long, middle or short periods of time relating to society, ideas, economy, etc. The aim that this historian is extremely interested in is the reconstruction of the representation of reality, especially the inner reality of society in a certain historical age. This is what is roughly referred to as mentality. This enquiry concentrates on the period from the 17th to the 18th century: it is a very significant period in Chinese history, as it corresponds to the maturity of imperial culture, and also occurs just at the beginning of the massive impact of Western influences, as well as the beginning of global history. Owing to the demands of specific research, most of the selected sources are literary, as they are the richest sources for the representation of reality and imagery. Ordinary historical documentation, whose contents and aims are consciously written, throws relatively little light on psychological aspects;

therefore it is necessary to search behind these sources in order to grasp the apparent silence of what we call the collective mentality.

1 In fact, this approach offers new interpretative patterns in the re-reading of documents that have already been studied, and also allows the use of materials that have until now been regarded as the territory of other disciplines―symbols and myths, iconography, songs, tales―to be considered historical sources. In other words, the history of mentality does not ignore political and economic events, or social and institutional organization;