This dissertation explores the interaction between literati and various social forces in east China in the mid-seventeenth century by focusing on their military performance. Based on a wide range of sources, the study focuses on about twenty literati, most of whom have never been previously researched from a military history perspective. It examines the diversity and complexity of Chinese literati as they pursued power over and within local society, paying special attention to the interrelation between them (literati and society). It argues that Chinese literati in this time period had much less aptitude in changing China than has been previously thought. Both individual and group case studies show that they mainly focused on the realization of an ideal goal, but were unwilling or ill-equipped to adapt themselves to changing conditions as well as environments. This study also indicates that the local military forces as well as ordinary peasants generally played a more crucial role than the literati; the latter's superior position could only be realized in times of peace. That civil and military officials affected each other in fact is an expression of a larger relationship between the central government and its own military forces or with certain local forces. Finally, this study concludes that Chinese literati as a whole had no idea how to integrate and lead the other social forces to reach an ideal goal in that specific time period.

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