Epistolary Culture in the Southern Ming Period

This study examines the evolution, function, and social meaning of letters during the Southern Ming period (1644-1683). Existing scholarship focuses on letters in the social context of the late Ming and early Qing period, either analysing letter collections or using letters as historical sources to explore the life experiences of literati. I show that many of these letters cannot be simply identified as Ming or Qing letters, due to the turbulence that characterized the dynastic transition from the Ming to the Qing. Concentrating on the period of the Southern Ming regime allows the epistolary culture of the period to be assessed as the regime moved from establishment to decline; letters, due to their capacity to fuse materiality, literary, and social concerns in a written conversational exchange, provide key insights into this period of cultural transition. I examine Southern Ming letters from both material and literary perspectives. The first half of this study investigates the material composition of letters and epistolary processes of exchange, including networks of correspondents. I argue that the Southern Ming epistolary activities continued to be carried out under a Ming identity, although many correspondents were technically Qing subjects as a result of adopting the hairstyle and clothing of the new Qing dynasty. The second half of this study explores how letters helped to form emotional communities for correspondents who suffered after the collapse of the Ming dynasty, showing how both Southern Ming loyalists and Qing subjects displayed ambivalence in their correspondence with one another. I argue that letters were a medium for Southern Ming correspondents to remain emotionally connected to the Ming dynasty. Letters provided comfort and facilitated monitoring, helping those identifying as Southern Ming loyalists to resist pressure to conform to the new Qing regime. I show that the letters exchanged between Southern Ming loyalists and Qing subjects evidence the evolution of their relationship from political opposition to increasing interdependence as the Qing regime became more firmly established. At this stage, letters were a critical mechanism for Southern Ming loyalists to exercise agency to survive, as they were relatively powerless in the political field dominated by Qing subjects.