The Industrial Capital of the Chinese Traditional Culture —— A Case Study of Li Yu’s Zhe School〔* 〕

Song Xiaoli

(School of Digital Media Jiangnan University，Wuxi Jiangsu 214122)

Ⅰ．Li Yu’s cultural capital

Dominated by classics and history，the mutual transformation of“returning to the ancients”and“explanations of words in ancient books”has become the“generative theory”of Chinese cultural phenomenon，under which the transformation of the origin of a word always rests on the pragmatic level．We have shielded the spirit of human culture out of the solid linguistic world．Our cultural phenomenon always rests on the words of some“masters”．Therefore，we may refer to Li Yu as a“well－ known dramatist of the early Qing Dynasty”，and the exploration of him from the perspective of human has been shielded from “classics and history”．Or，when it comes to the exploration of one’s social culture，we will use the depiction of“freak”and“being unconventional”．The evaluation beside etymology has become a“cultural block”．

Li Yu respects society and everyone，while he bears solitude himself．Obviously，cultural industry is a concept which cannot be defined．We have estate culture，farm culture and urban culture，but have no cultural capital pattern of capitalism operation．

The history prior to the age of Li Yu deserves our attention．Sima Qian，the representative of the transformation of classics and history，is the first figure in Chinese history with the significance of national economy and business society．However，he mainly constructs the“merchandise”theory，which refers to business and capital accumulation．“Capital”is the“essence”of business，which deserves our further research．Whether capital is advocated in the study of Chinese classics is the focus of debate between Zhu Xi and Zhedong School after the times of Sima Qian．However，Zhedong School puts forward the unity of“heart”．Zhou Zhenhao analyzes that person orientation is capital，and that ability orientation，knowledge orientation and science，technology and culture have gradually formed a cultural industrial capital．Li Yu is the first one that constructs the“Zi”of“culture”according to the demand of social cultural market．Obviously，as a pioneer of cultural capital，Li Yu realizes the historical breakthrough of cultural capital of Biographies of Merchants written by Sima Qian in the transformation of China’s classics and history．It should be listed as the mainstream cultural biography as it has formed the commercial communication system of Chinese culture after the times of Zhu Xi．

Ⅱ．Li Yu’s cultural industry system

1．“Zi”— change of attribute of the literature and art industry in the Ming and the Qing dynasties

Cultural industry theory involves the premise of cultural capital．The logical premise of understanding cultural industry system is the folk transformation，commercialization and socialization．Inheriting the spirit of classics and history，open to the mass society，Li Yu’s world is a civilized urban instead of the moral codes of Zhou Gong，Yue Fu of the Han Dynasty of Sima Qian，nor the rural customs and etiquette of Zhu Xi．Therefore，Li Yu can do nothing but hide his“profound patriotism”．He may not be a loyal literati or hermit．But he remains the will of preserving the homeland by history in his works．Therefore，the culture of his times has been reduced to the illustration and mocking of the uneducated．Li Yu’s works are mainly comedies，which are depicted as“plain yet vulgar”by commenters．It is the change of the attribute of cultural industry to deem culture as the folk interest as capital．However，we totally ignore the distinguished characteristics of cultural capital of Li Yu’s cultural industry in the research of cultural industry theory．Hence，we need to identify the great promoter of Chinese culture from the academic view．

Li Yu’s understanding of cultural capital is the study of classics and history unfamiliar to the majority of Chinese literates．The key figure Zhu Xi of the Song Dynasty transforms national study of classics and history into social neo－Confucianism，on which foundation Li Yu further transforms the study of classics and history into the study of life．Writing is Li Yu’s life．Zhedong culture takes human as the center and takes no consideration of the right of any theories．Zhejiang people，who wander up and down the country since ancient times and are not content with present situation，always rebel conventional rules and pursue new ideas．Therefore，the legends and novels written by Li Yu feature startling language．As a result，we can understand his style that gets both praise and blame．

2．“Ben”— the folk basis of cultural industry

Li Yu’s fundamental aim is talent．Capital is talent，and brilliant expression of emotions is cultural capital．Li Yu has a complete set of drama capital theory，which illustrates artistic rules from the perspective of structure，words，tone，gag and pattern．He further puts forward a set of gag theory，and there is nobody that pays more attention to summarizing the art of gag like him and lifts the status of the art of gag in the creation of drama．

“Nothing exits beyond the mind”．The form of mind is interest．In the face of the pattern of life capital，philosophy intertwines the exciting and bizarre plots，characters，figures，dialogues and actions of“accident and incident，misunderstanding and human error，disguise and nature，incarnation and self”．Our intention of the creation of cultural industry is the pursuit of commercial capital．I think that the beauty of the idea of“mind”of Zhedong School proposed by Zhou Zhenhao lies in the fact that the nature of capital has the same“mind”as traditional literati．However，Li Yu’s idea of the“same mind”belongs to the category of self－ontology，which falls into the realm of the industrialization of literati capital value．

Li Yu’s dream of literary reputation does not fall into the romantic places like Song Ci poetry，the memorial gateway of Yangzhou celebrities，or the transmitted political theory of Zhu Xi．The construction of Li Yu’s cultural industry features the special gift of Zhe School．

Ⅲ．“Establishing the essential point”— the social value of Li Yu’s cultural industry

Li Yu’s cultural industry pays attention to social value and discusses historical comment．Like classics，Zhe School pays attention to history，illustrating aims by the“essential point”．

Li Yu’s thought of cultural industry is by nature the social value of ancient China．Li Yu cannot surpass history．Huang Zongxi contributes to the transformation and upgrading of system instead of establishing social capitalist theory．After the Revolution of 1911，Sun Yat－ sen introduces social capitalist theory and promptly overthrows the feudal system．Li Yu establishes capitalist theory in terms of cultural industry，namely establishing social value system．

In terms of heroes，Li Yu abolishes the national heroism．His“respect for national heroes”is actually defined by sociology as family honor．Li Yu’s value of cultural capital is based on social value instead of interest value．

Indeed，we must come to realize the inheritance of Zhe School and regional blood of Li Yu when doing research on him．Li Yu realizes the respect of culture for the mass and depicts worldly aesthetics brought by market and commerce．It can be witnessed that Li Yu respects classics，further establishes the social value of history and reevaluates the social value of literature and art，forming unique ontology of the capital of literature and art by absorbing the cultural value of various schools．Compared Li Yu with Lu Xun，Jin Yong and Shao Yifu，we witness the capital value of the cultural industry of Zhe School．In the promotion of literary industry，he has combined with the outlook of various places and societies and paid attention to artistic rules．Thus，he creates the well－known“Li Yu phenomenon”which gains quite a reputation in his lifetime，establishing a new academic perspective for the research on Chang’an School，Huizhou School and Zhe School at present．

Ⅳ．Conclusion

The definition of cultural industry is defined as national productive system in western countries．Since the 19th century，“cultural production has been incorporated into national productive system and defined as one of the productive industries．”Chang’an School puts forward the construction of agricultural industry on the basis of Chinese culture，which has become the industrial culture system of national etiquette and custom．Therefore，in the face of cultural consumption and merchandise production，Sima Qian first defines his judgment mode of cultural industry．In the times of Zhu Xi，Huizhou School involves the basic problem of cultural production under the estate system．We pay attention to cultural accumulation under the model of etiquette and custom，such as the industrial model with the center of tobacco，wine and tea．Such culture has been nurtured constantly on the level of national cultural system，thus forming official cultural taste．The estate industry we see today almost has all elements of Chinese cultural industry，such as court，officials and villages，which are all constructed with the core of estate industry．Zhe School，with the representative of Zhedong School，puts forward the sociology of conscience．

Li Yu’s comedies still make people laugh，and many of his works are performed in the form of Kunqu opera or adapted into other types of opera．Li Yu’s works have been spread to Japan since the 17th century，and then his works have been translated into several languages，reaching France，Britain，German and Italy．Li Yu has become a world － class writer．Zhe School pays attention to talents and humanistic spirit．Today，Li Yu and Shao Yifu represent the spirit of Zhe School．Zhou Zhenhao，as the fellow provincial of Shao Yifu，studies Li Yu，Shao Yifu and Ningbo School．Inspecting Shao Yifu hospitals and teaching buildings all over China，we have witnessed a special situation of Chinese literature and art．

Li Yu’s works can be called a monument in the history of traditional Chinese literature and art，especially the history of ancient theatre．Such mass culture and folk cultural capital feature strong creativity，wide spread and large quantity of audience under the industrial operation mode．Due to the limited space，we do not quote the analysis of other scholars．Maybe Li Yu’s works remain a classic problem to be discussed for many scholars．Li Yu who reads a lot is like Jin Yong，both of whom love the scenery of Hangzhou．Zhou Zhenhao writes in the preface of Tiantai Sect and Zhedong School，“The culture of Zhejiang does not flatter the achievements of the emperor．It has no value school like European culture，culture feasts of various modern schools，or national cultural landscape．Instead，Zhejiang culture aims at contributing to society and winning the support of society．Therefore，it is vagrants’love for home，pioneers’expectation of society and an innocent child who is willing to contribute everything without taking anything away．”We can witness the group phenomenon of China’s edition，media，film and television and literature created by Zhejiang cultural character in his book．Being brave to create is the feature of Zhejiang culture，and the great vitality and creativity are the life power of Zhejiang cultural industry．Therefore，we should discuss cultural industry capital against this backgrou nd．

Notes:

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