quality:corruption, information:extraction
Fashion

In the early Ming period, the style, materials, and color of clothing were determined by the state. As early as 1541, the Ministry of Rites prohibited inappropriate styles of dress. However, by the 1560s, these prohibitions were no longer being enforced and people began to dress according to ever-changing fashion trends. The city of Suzhou became the center of fashion and set the trends for the rest of the country. This distinction between appropriate and inappropriate extended beyond clothing to items of daily use and household equipment. The arbiters of taste and elegance condemned the ostentatious display of wealth, such as the use of gold utensils and dishes, as vulgar behavior of the uneducated wealthy. This behavior was becoming more common due to the influx of silver from abroad, which led to the enrichment of merchants who surpassed landowners in terms of wealth and extravagant spending. These " nouveau riche " individuals sought social recognition, but the traditional elites fought back and tried to maintain their upper hand. One of their tactics was the institution of fashion. In the last decade of the Wanli era, the fear of the wealth and influence of the "nouveau riche" reached its peak. On the other hand, from the 1590s onwards, writers from the gentry class produced manuals instructing the ignorant on what objects and antiques were appropriate to own and how to properly dispose of them in accordance with cultural norms. However, the counterfeiting of antiquities and valuables also became widespread.

Fashion was intertwined with geji cultures, as educated and cultured Gējìs like Xue Susu and Ma Shouzhen emerged, breaking free from the traditional role of women being limited to the household. Fashion was also intertwined with sexual relations,a trend for sexual relations with boys also emerged among the elite, openly defying Confucian norms.