评费丝言《谈判城市空间:都市化与晚明南京》

On the Book Negotiating Urban Space:Urbanization and Late Ming Nanjing Written bySi-yen Fei

费丝言(Si-yen,Fei)《谈判城市空间:都市化与晚明南京》(Negotiating Urban Space:Urbanization and Late Ming Nanjing)一书以南京为研究对象,通过四个细致的个案来试图探究晚明都市化如何在制度和文化方式上影响城市空间的构造,就如何理解帝国晚期的"城市主义"(urbanism)提出了新的论述角度。作者既不同意"国家"与"社会"的截然二分,也并不能完全接受所谓的城乡一体论。她强调的是,明初以农立国的政策使晚明"都市问题"出现时有了许多可供"谈判"的"空间"。所谓的"谈判",即是政治上实现"公议"的过程以及在文化实践中的调适。而在这些"空间"中被塑造着的城市,也就逐渐形成了独立于乡村的地位。因此,作者指出不能只把晚明都市化看作宋代商品经济发展延长线上的产物,而应该就明代的朝代特性,进行制度与文化因素的分析。作者这一系列讨论与反思在一定程度上超越了西方城市史研究既有的理论框架,也为国内城市史研究者带来了启发与思考。

The book Negotiating Urban Space:Urbanization and Late Ming Nanjing written by Si-yen Fei puts forward a new perspective into the understanding of urbanism in the imperial period.Si-yen Fei points out that we should not regard the urbanism in Ming dynasty as a product of the economic development of Song dynasty.Instead,we should make analysis on the systemic and cultural factors according to the features of Ming dynasty.These reflections and discussions of Si-yen Fei shed light on relevant studies in China.