After the falling of Ming dynasty, literatus faced the life-and-death situation, and chose to become government officials or hermits. Some of “Ming chen” decided to serve as government officials of Qing dynasty. So we call them “Shi Qing Ming chen”because they served two dynasties. Earlier studies of the “Shi Qing Ming chen”usually gave unfair evaluations since “Shi Qing Ming chen” were considered as renegades of the Ming dynasty. Even nowadays, scholars have noticed the contributions and effects of “Shi Qing Ming chen” from politics, literature, history to culture in early Qing dynasty. But most studies were focused only on the few famous literatus like Qian Qianyi or Wu Weiye. Others focused their efforts on common aspects of “Shi Qing Ming chen” without details of individual differences. In fact, there are less further studies on individuals of “Shi Qing Ming chen”.
This dissertation hopes for a breakthrough. We focus on Cao Rong himself, as individual study, discussing the inner world of “Shi Qing Ming chen” during the Ming-Qing transition. In order to get rid of stereotypes of the traitor and present the real image of Cao Rong himself. Not only studying on his lyrics, but also discussing his works of literature, history and directory. Therefore, we can observe Cao Rong’s inner sides and history of his life from all the aspects since the fall the Ming dynasty.
From Ming chen, Qing chen to the hermit, Cao Rong used different images to construct his self-identity. Besides, he expressed the cultural identity through the writings of literature, history, and collecting antiques.
This dissertation analyses four subjects.
First of all, the main focus is on “Shi Qing Ming chen”. We discuss the identity shift of Cao Rong and the struggle of his inner world. And then, why did he choose to serve Qing? After serving as a government official, he was active in politics. On the other hand, his political career was not very smooth. He was in a dilemma of retreat for the official.
Secondly, we put our attention on “Qing chen”. Narrating his history of the official one by one. He was promoted during the capital period. After that, he was demoted to Guangdong and Shanxi, and then joined the army in Fujian. During the traveling of service, he wrote fruitful works of literature, presenting his impact on the places of exile, and the journey of his inner world.
Third, focusing on the identity of the past, “Ming chen”. Even Cao Rong already accepted the new identity, he never forgave the past one. the identity of “Ming chen”, reminded him the sincerity toward the Ming dynasty. By writing the experience of the past, he searched for remembrances of himself, old friends and Ming dynasty. In addition, during his later years in hometown , Cao Rong tried to reconstruct his image as a hermit or Ming loyalist. Retreating to “Juan pu”, he refused to recruit from the Qing. Late in his life, he wanted to find the freedom of himself and threw off the image of the “Qing chen”.
Finally, by way of cultural identity, Cao Rong had shown his emotional attachment on Han and Ming culture. He devoted his energies to inherit and save the old culture, inclusively compiling Ming history, collecting Jinshi texts, books and paintings, and editing catalogs. In addition, he had been enthusiastic about promoting literature to the younger generation. He was famous by his works of poems and lyrics. During the early Qing period, Cao Rong had great influence on literature.
In conclusion, this dissertation shows that after the Ming-Qing transition, Cao Rong found a way to settle down his identity and value by identifying self and culture. He gradually reduced the sufferings from the politics and changes of life. Finally, he found a settled place for a quiet life.