江南市镇的民间信仰与奢侈风尚

The Folk Belief and Luxury Trend in South of Yangtze Towns

江南市镇有着辉煌的历史 ,工商业高度发达 ,文化底蕴深厚 ,早在明代中叶以来就出现了经济的转型 ,市场经济繁荣 ,早期工业化成就引人注目。这种独特的社会经济土壤 ,培育出来的民间信仰与奢侈风尚 ,具有相当深刻的历史内涵与认识价值 ,有重新检讨的必要。民间信仰这种复杂的社会现象 ,不能以“封建迷信”这种似是而非的套话予以否定 ,以民间信仰为形式的迎神赛会成为民众的狂欢节 ,而延续数百年 ,化作小传统中挥之不去的文化记忆 ,至今仍有着生命力。奢侈风尚既是经济繁荣、社会富庶的产物 ,又是促进经济繁荣、社会富庶的不可或缺的重要因素 ,官员的“禁奢”主张 ,以及文人斥为“世风日下”的哀叹 ,是逆潮流而动的迂腐之见。桑巴特的《奢侈与资本主义》

The towns in South of Yangtze own a glorious history behind them. They were commercially advanced and culturally sophisticated. As early as Mid-Ming Dynasty, there came economic transformation in these towns; the market economy here prospered. The early industrialization achievement was conspicuous. Grown out of this unique socio-economical soil, the folk belief and the luxury trend indicated profound historical meaning and cognitive value, which demands rereading. Folk belief, a complicated social phenomenon, should not be written off by specious idiom such as “ancient superstition”. Rather, it should be seen that the god-receiving party, a form of folk belief, was a carnival for the local people and has been handed down by generations for hundreds of years. It has grown into the minor tradition and cannot be easily erased out of our cultural memory. Its animate life in even today's environment must have something to tell us. The luxury trend was not only the fruit of but also the incentive to economical prosperity and social wealth. The “anti-luxury” proposal from the governmental officials and the “corruption in social habit” lament from the educated class were both stubbornly stale current against the fresh social tide. This point is somehow testified by Sombart's work Luxury and Capitalism.