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by JEN-SHU WU
"當代的中國大陸已成為全球的消費大國,各個大城市裡名牌店林立。然而早在三、四百年前江南的大城市裡,已經可以看到休閑消費的繁榮現象。休閑消費如何改變了城市的空間?店舖為因應消費需求如何改造其空間配置?休閑的空間如何擴大與分化?私人性質的休閑空間為何走向公共化?男性與女性在消費空間上有何差異?本書嘗試將「空間」的觀念帶入到消費研究的領域,探討明清城市內休閑消費活動如何改變了空間結構,進而分析現象背後所反映的社會關係與權力糾結。 本書分成三篇,各篇有兩章,分別從六個面向來探析。上篇從休閑與購物兩方面來探討明清城市的消費性格與消費的動力。中篇兩章則是以城市休閑消費所反映的社會空間為主題,分別以蘇州的園林與旅遊為例。下篇的兩章主要是關於兩性購物消費的議題。透過上述各章的分析與討論,作者在結論裡分析明清城市消費空間變遷所具有的三層意義。作者總結指出「消費」就是城市性格的重要特徵,同時也以休閑消費的吸引力來解釋明清鄉紳逐漸城居化的原因,並說明十八世紀江南官紳對休閑消費的觀念有去道德化與去政治化的可能性。 My previous monograph, Luxurious Taste: Consumer Society and Literati during the Late Ming (2007) discussed the formation of a so-called consumer society during the Ming Dynasty, a society that had its foundations in urban environments. My new work, Urban Pleasures: Leisure Consumption and Spatial Transformation in Jiangnan Cities during the Ming-Qing Period, focuses on the diversity of leisure and shopping activities and spaces that marked lifestyles and life experiences in cities from the mid-Ming to the mid-Qing period. I consider the concept of “space” in the field of consumption research, argue for the effects of consumption on changing spatial configurations, and explore the social relations and political negotiations behind the changes in the major cities of the Ming and the Qing. Urban Pleasures is divided into three sections, each consisting of two chapters, which collectively explore the subject from six aspects. Part One focuses on the characteristics and incentives of consumption in Ming and Qing cities through aspects of leisure and shopping. The two chapters in Part Two explore mainly the social space reflected in urban leisure consumption. These two chapters use Suzhou as a case study to show how urban gardens were converted from private leisure spaces to public spaces and explore the evolution of tourism space from the Ming to Qing periods. The two chapters in the last part of the book center on the issue of gender and consumption. Based on the analysis and discussion throughout these chapters, the conclusion explores the significance of variations in urban consumer space in the Ming and Qing on three levels, namely: the spatial practice of consumption, the social production of consumer space, and the political negotiation of urban spaces. “Consumerism” was an integral part of the characteristics of “urbanity” during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The appeal of leisure consumption helps explain why the gentry often moved their residences from the country to the city from the mid-Ming period on. As well, the literati conception of leisure consumption was potentially de-moralized and de-politicized during the eighteenth century.
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