Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing

The multiple crises of the final decades of the Ming dynasty are a well-established theme in Chinese historiography. Still, despite the prevalence of epidemic disease in this scenario of disasters, Helen Dunstan’s 1975 “preliminary survey” of epidemics from the 1580s to the end of the dynasty in 1644 remains one of the few attempts to pin down the scale of these unprecedented outbreaks of epidemic disease. At the peak of the crisis an outbreak in Suzhou in 1641 is said to have killed more than half of the population. A mortality rate of 80 to 90% has been reported for an epidemic in the same area in 1643. Yet, in studies about other aspects of this period of Chinese history the frequent incidence of epidemics, famines, tsunamis and other disasters is largely absent. One can read about the expansion of commerce, the flourishing of literature and the arts, elegant gardens and other forms of conspicuous consumption, congregations of sojourning literati, and the courtesan culture that is believed to have reached its peak because of those levels of wealth and consumption. But how was it possible that people continued to engage in their pursuits seemingly unimpressed by the epidemics happening around them? Exploring this question based on the life and travels of the famous courtesan Liu Rushi in the Jiangnan region in the decade preceding the fall of the Ming, this paper argues that the experience of disease might have had a much greater impact on life choices than previously acknowledged.