ABSTRACT
In engaging with the theme of this volume, the concept of gentility, it may be worthwhile to refl ect on its cultural embeddedness in the West before embarking on a consideration of the particular applicability of it to a set of people and events in sixteenth century China. One way to initiate such a consideration is to look the word up in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), where one fi nds, among a range of entries, what seems perhaps the most appropriate defi nition relating to the themes and issues with which we are concerned,
The manners, bearing, habits of life, etc., characteristic of a gentleman or gentlewoman; polish of manners, politeness.1
