Chinese History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Chinese History - Essay Example The paper tells that the Ming Literature texts address issues of consumption in both negative and positive ways. However, they are not detached from a discourse of morality, governance and universal order discourse that links humanity from any class in the society. In the Ming China, the majority of the population was busy with issues of whether to consume enough of the available necessities of life to avoid death rather than the choices about consumption. The difference of access was clear in the choices in terms of the range of commodities to be used. The elite are the ones who make decisions on how things out to be. Therefore, as Clunas points out, â€Å" in the pre-industrial world of goods of the Ming elite is a clear parallel to the situation described by Adrian Forty as intrinsic to the more complex world of the nineteenth century in Europe and America†. Thus, the writings reveal the manner in which consumption f luxury goods affected decision-making and class struggles in Ming China. In my opinion, The Ming Literature texts address issues of consumption in Ming China and show that Ming was a materialistic individual who wanted to preserve the culture and class system of ancient China. The issue in Ming China was not about what to consume but about the amount to consume with respect to the different classes that people occupied. This clearly shows the class anxieties between the elite and the low classes where the elite wanted to preserve their status by all means. This explains the consumption of luxurious goods by the elites.