Abstract At the turn of the Ming and Qing Dynasties,there is the most prosperous period in the history of civil societies formed by ancient Chinese scholars .In the early Qing Dynasty,Lian Society,founded by Chen Hu the famous thinker,is one of the important associations of the adherents of the Ming Dynasty .The information about Lian Society could be mainly found in Wantan Shihua edited by Chen Hu .Although it is called Shihua,it is a kind of responding-style poetry collections .The works and authors contained in Wantan Shihua are numerous and jumbled .Therefore,Wantan Shihua is not simply equal to the poetry collections of Lian Society .Through careful analysis and identification upon Wantan Shihua,we find that Lian Society was founded on August 15th Mid-Autumn Festival,1647 (the forth year under the rein of Emperor Shun Zhi in the Qing Dynasty) .It is located in the Wei Village,one of the small villages in Kunshang city,Jiangsu Province .The members of the Lian Society also made their own rules named The Law of Lian Society .They often held gatherings and responsory activities,at least more than six events,such as enjoying the full moon while drinking,rowing on the pool,village visiting,drinking in Lancao,imitating the poems of Pi Rixiu and Lu Guimeng in Lanxi,writing poems in the House of Fenglin,and so on .In August,1649 (the sixth year under the rein of Emperor Shun Zhi in Qing Dynasty),Chen Hu was invited by Mao Jin,a famous bibliophile and published author,to teach in Changshu,Province,which marked the end of their gatherings and responsory activities in the Lian Society .The members of Lian Society included the prominent thinker Lu Shiyi,Wang Yu,Sheng Jing,Lu Xibin,Jiang Shishao,Xia Youguang,Li Guomei,Hua Qianlong,Wang Faxiang,Gong Wan,Cao Fen,etc .Some of menbers' personal information is still under investigation .In the meanwhile,we find that some members of the Lian Society also joined other similar societies,such as Zhongqiu Kunhu Literary Society in Changshu,Jiangsu Province,Loudong Shilao Society and Yinxi Poetry Society in Taicang and the like,so other researches will be made upon this aspect .Above all,we can also make the further explorations of other poetry societies that Chen Hu and other members founded or joined .Thus,we can clarify relations about Lian Society and Wantan Shihua in more aspects .All of the related investigations will be useful to further researches on the associations of the adherents of the Ming Dynasty in the whole early Qing Dynasty and even the civil societies formed by ancient Chinese scholars .
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