英文摘要
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The conviction of Xu Jie's three sons in 1542 was one of the most sensational events of sixteenth century Ming China. Most scholars examine this case through the lens of the power struggle between Gao Gong, the sitting prime minister at the time, and his predecessor, Xu Jie. In these studies, Cai Guoxi, the official responsible for the conviction of the Xu brothers, was generally seen as despicable because Cai turned his back on his former superior, Xu Jie, and allied with Gao to launch vicious attack against the Xu family. His role in this case crippled his image as a capable prefect of Suzhou who governed with integrity. Employing the "the desire to get rich" theory of Mizoguch Yuzo, this paper will re-examine the conviction of Xu Jie's three sons in the historical context of rapid economic, social and ideological changes during the middle of the Ming dynasty. The conviction of Xu Jie's three sons was not simply a clash between high-ranking officials or a scandal of personal morality; it was the product of a conflict between old and new attitudes of officials and the literati toward the desire to become rich. While Cai Guoxi insisted on the old value that an austere ethic was required for officials, Xu Jie represented the new value that justified the desire to get rich under certain conditions. After the conviction, most Jiangnan literati stood by Xu Jie and his new values and severely criticized the conservative Cai Guoxi. This phenomenon reveals the changing attitudes of the literati in their embrace of the desire to get rich by the late Ming.
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