宋代商人的文化水平

The Cultural Level of the Businessmen in the Song Dynasty

宋代商品经济和文化大发展,商人增多。职业要求商人必须具备至少初步的文化水平,官方亦明确要求为朝廷服役的商人或者担任采买者必须识字。宋代识字的小商人或商铺的从业人员比较普遍,大中商人的文化水平多高于小商贩。从事远洋海外贸易的商人不但识字,更精通外语,并服务于朝廷外交。商人重视子孙的文化教育,其女眷至少要学会算账。宋代书商多属儒商,他们发出并传播民间声音,打破了官方一元化的言论,文化水平和贡献超过多数士大夫。在促进社会经济发展的同时,宋代商人也创造了新的商业文化和社会文化。

In the Song Dynasty, the commodity economy and culture developed greatly, and the number of businessmen increased. The businessmen must have at least a preliminary level of literacy, and the official also explicitly requires that the businessmen who serve in the court or who are buyers must be literate. The literacy of small businessmen or shops in the Song Dynasty is more common, and the cultural level of large and medium-sized businessmen is much higher than that of small traders. Merchants engaged in overseas trade are not only literate, but also proficient in foreign languages and serve the imperial diplomacy. Businessmen attach great importance to the cultural education of their descendants, and their female relatives should at least learn to calculate accounts. Most of the Booksellers in Song Dynasty belonged to Confucian businessmen. They issued and disseminated folk voices, broke the official monolithic speech, and their cultural level and contribution exceeded that of most literati. While promoting social and economic development, the Song Dynasty merchants also created new business culture and social culture.