文化、消费与商业化:晚明江南经济发展的区域性差异

Culture,Consumption,and Commercialization:Regional Variations in Economic Advance in Late Ming Lower Yangzi Delta

15世纪中期以后的中国社会,尤其是在江南的某些地区,奢侈性消费推动着商业化迅速发展。许多地方志的编者对他们所关注地区两种并存的传统大惑不解:一方面,这些地区文学昌盛,礼仪修明;另一方面,他们不得不承认,这些地区人们的生活奢靡成风。学者们注意到,某些地区的文学传统与奢侈之风并行不悖;而另一些地区值得称道的却只有勤俭素朴的美德。这两种对立的现象显示了文化与经济之间潜在的因果关系,这种关系决定了中国不同地区,乃至在江南的不同州、县之间经济发展的不平衡性。

Chinese society,particularly the lower Yangzi delta area since the mid-fifteenth century,underwent rapid commercialization accompanied by the rise of luxury consumption in certain districts.Many local gazetteers note two customs confusing to their Confucian compilers.On the one hand,they claimed the places were distinguished in literature and ritual practices;on the other hand,they admitted that the lifestyles of these places were luxurious and extravagant.Some gazetteers indicate that the literary custom and luxurious lifestyle coexisted.But the gazetteers of other districts had only frugal tradition and rustic lifestyle to claim.The two opposite phenomena demonstrated a potential causal relationship between culture and economy,which made regional variations in the economic development in Jiangnan as well as other areas of China.