| Set in the Ming period, Rulin Waishi describes many illegal incidents, such as common people′s illegal concubinage. In Chapter 34, Du Shaoqing expressed his wish that the empire should legislate laws restricting concubinage, but he did not know that it was illegal already to marry concubines at will, nor did he know that the Ming Dynasty already had laws that were very close to his plan. Whether this description was caused by the author′s ignorance of the Ming Dynasty′s legislation, or because he had some special purpose, it is worthy of careful discussion. Since the concerning restriction of concubinage in the Law of Ming Dynasty was deleted in 1740 by Qing, and the author of Rulin Waishi was obviously familiar with legal affairs, whether the author knew the concerning regulations of the Ming Dynasty is also related to the issues such as the writing time of the concerning narrative in Chapter 34, and whether the author is Wu Jingzi. |