This paper inquired into the discourses on material culture in the latter half of Ming dynasty, which including Gao Lian's Eight Discourses on the Art of Living, Xiang Yuanbian's Nine Records from a Banana-shaded Window, Wen Zhenheng's Treatise on Superfluous Things, Tu Lung's Desultory Remarks on Furnishing the Abode of the Retired Scholar, Zhang Yingwen's Pure and Arcane Collecting. The discourses by Jiangnan intellectuals were compiled during the years 1590 to 1630 and dealt with their classification of and the way of seeing material world. Gao Lian and Xiang Yuanbian were rich merchants who cultivated cultural attainments necessary to be a literatus and tried to enter into elite society, Tu Lung passed Jinshi examination as a son of merchant, became an official, and succeeded to enter into elite society. On the other hand, Wen Zhenheng and Zhang Yingwen were members of elite society. Their discourses on material culture can be viewed on the one hand as rich merchant's cultural effort to try to enter into elite society, on the other hand as elite group's cultural capital on which they sought ways to differentiate themselves.