明代北京的書籍市場

A Study on the Beijing Book Markets in Ming Dynasty

明代北京為全國的政治、經濟、文化、交通中心，其書市之大，他處無一可比。尤其明初統治者對圖書事業的重視，以及明代中葉以後城市經濟空前發達，為圖書從業者創造了有利的發展條件。此外，明代刻書事業的發達，讓當時重要的書坊集中地北京，很自然地形成了圖書市場，加上來自全國各地的文人士子等重要的書籍消費者匯聚於此，更吸引了大量的圖書從業者紛紛前來，結行成市。另一方面，私家藏書活動的興盛亦有助於圖書市場的發展，尤其是中葉以後，國家經濟極度繁榮，社會風氣產生變化，尋常百姓們大多渴望閱讀書籍，對圖書的需求大幅提升。這些條件，都無形地造就了廣大的圖書商機與消費者群體，讓明代北京的書籍市場順應歷史潮流，得以開展壯大。

Beijing in the Ming Dynasty was a national political, economic, cultural and transportation center, and the book market there was beyond comparison in scale. The rulers in the early Ming Dynasty especially attaches the great importance to the book cause, and the unprecedentedly prosperous economy of the cities after the middle period of the Ming Dynasty also created favorable conditions for the development of book practitioners. In addition, the prosperity of book carving industry in Ming Dynasty had made Beijin, where many important bookstores were concentrated at the time, form a book market naturally. Since many important, highly-educated book consumers throughout the country gathered there, a large number of book companies were attracted to form a large-scale industry. On the other hand, the thriving private book collection activity was also beneficial to the development of the book market. After mid-Ming Dynasty, in particular, the domestic economy extremely flourished so that the social atmosphere had changed and resulted in the great desire of book reading among regular people, which raised the demand for books. All of these conditions had invisibly created vast business opportunities as well as consumer groups, which enabled the book market of Ming Dynasty in Beijin to be well-adjusted to the trend and thrive.