微观世界的宏观思考:从成都个案看中国城市史研究

The Macro Perspective of Microcosm: On the Study of Chinese Urban History Taking Chengdu as a Case

公共空间是观察社会关系的极好场所,在这些地方,各阶层的人们——特别是生活在下层的人们——进行着日常的生活。但在中国,城市公共生活的研究却长期为城市史学者所忽视,通过对中国城市空间的研究,可以更进一步揭示出民众与公共空间与公共生活的关系。把研究焦点转移到一个具体更小的公共空间,即20世纪成都街头文化和茶馆,把这两个微观研究对象置入中国城市史研究这个更宏观的语境中,对都市大众文化的研究进行若干反思,以加深我们对中国城市下层民众和精英的理解。要全面了解一个城市,需要进入这个城市的底层,探索这些组成城市社会生活最基本的单位,考察人们日常生活的细节,即使这些细节看起来多么微不足道。城市民众与公共空间使用的相互影响,使成都街头文化和茶馆文化在20世纪经历了重大的变化。研究这些变化,可以进一步理解改良者和改革及其他政治运动,是如何影响普通民众、精英与国家之间关系这样的宏观问题。

Public sphere is the best place to observe social relations,where all kinds of people,especially lower class people,conducted their daily life. In China,however,the topic of public life has been ignored by scholars of urban history. Studies of urban space of China can explore the relationship between commoners and public sphere and public life. A research that focuses on a small public place such as streets and teahouses in 20 thcentury Chengdu needs place the microcosm into the macro context of studying Chinese urban history. Such studies can lead us to rethink studies of urban popular culture and enhance our understanding of urban lower class people and elites. To have a whole picture of the city,we have to enter the lowest level of society and to understand the most basic units of urban social lives by examining the details of everyday life although those details look insignificant. The mutual influence of urban residents and their usage of public sphere made the major changes of street and teahouse culture in the 20 thcentury. To study these changes can help us achieve a better understanding of how social reformers and reforms and other movements influenced the relationship among ordinary people,elites,and the state.