A Ming Society: T'ai-ho County, Kiangsi, in the Fourteenth to Seventeenth Century (review)

Reviews 401 Limits ofPhilosophy 1985) popularized the idea that morality represented a distinctive sort ofnormative thought, with distinctive formulations and pressures. Williams cleverly encapsulated his view in a chapter tide, "Morality, the Peculiar Institution." One might read a somewhat similar disdain back into Nietzsche; but the fact remains that when Cua wrote these essays on Daoism, such approaches to morality were hardly current. Finally, it might be held that the difference here between Cua and me is merely terminological, centering on the use ofthe word "morality." Cua does, after all, emphasize that what Daoism offers differs from the kind of morality we are most familiar with in being particularistic. It should be emphasized also, however , that it differs in its relative lack ofpressure and seriousness, something that has a great deal to do with the distinctive character not only of Daoist ethics but also of Daoist metaphysics. There is a great deal to agree with and admire in this collection, even if one does not agree with everything. Scholars of Chinese philosophy will be pleased by the publication ofthis book. Joel J. Kupperman University of Connecticut Joel Kupperman is a professor ofphilosophy specializing in ethics. im John W. Dardess. A Ming Society: T'ai-ho County, Kiangsi, in the Fourteenth to Seventeenth Century. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University ofCalifornia Press, 1996. xi, 316 pp. Hardcover, isbn 0-520-20425-5. In the minds of Chinese literati, T'ai-ho County, covering an area slightly smaller than Rhode Island, in the southwestern part ofKiangsi Province, with a fiscal population of 212,834 in 1391, was no ordinary county. In the Northern Sung dynasty , its scenic landmark, the K'uai-ko Pavilion, became the topic of a famous poem by the eminent poet and calligrapher, Huang T'ing-chien. A generation ago, this poem was still a textbook selection for high school Chinese literature courses in Hong Kong. Equally famous in history has been the county's lineage© 1998 by University cmture ¡? fact) me post-Cultural Revolution reconstruction oflineage organizations and activities in rural T'ai-ho has become the subject ofa recent anthropological study, whose theme is the transformation ofthis traditional institution (Ch'ien Hang, Ch'uan-t'ungyii chuan-hsing: Chiang-hsi T'ai-ho nung-ts'un tsungofHawai 'i Press 402 China Review International: Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall 1998 tsu hsing-t'ai Shanghai, 1995). To the student of Chinese political history or of Chinese philosophy, T'ai-ho comes to mind easily with the names ofYang Shihch 'i and Lo Ch'in-shun, respectively; Yang was the most eminent statesman ofthe fifteenth century, and Lo the nationally respected standard bearer of the orthodox Ch'eng-Chu teachings in the sixteenth century. But it is also true that from the seventeenth century onward, the renown ofT'ai-ho rested chiefly on the memory of its scenery and lineages. Apparendy the political and cultural success of the county's elite in the national theater had slipped from brilliance to mediocrity if not obscurity. Change has long been the dominant theme of T'ai-ho's social and economic history, as shown from the relevant notes in the county's gazetteers, despite the continuing interest of the natives in such traditions as geomancy and the importance of spirits and prayer, rather than medicine, for the treatment ofillness. But notable changes appear to have taken place especially in the sixteenth century. A magistrate wrote in 1042 that it was a place where litigation was rare and where the people paid their taxes rather early. A late sixteenth-century description by a Kiangsi scholar, however, stated that litigation was common in T'ai-ho, and that it was considered a difficult area to govern. In the middle of the fifteenth century, an eminent court official of T'ai-ho origin wrote that the county was thriving in trade and business with an ample supply of daily necessities. But in the late sixteenth century, a famous native of a neighboring county noted that the sterility of its soil and problems of overpopulation had forced many of its people to make their living from neighboring counties. The changes in social behavior as observed...