本文討論的主題為明清時期做壽的文化現象，全文分三部份，第一部份談慶壽文化的發展，追索明代以後慶壽年齡的下降，以及各地慶壽的情況；第二部份探究慶壽文化的內容，即賀壽文字、慶壽圖、吉祥戲等與祝壽活動的結合過程；最後，則談及慶壽活動所牽涉到的消費市場，討論慶壽市場的規模，以及明清時期做壽消費的擴大，特別是十九世紀中葉以後筵席趨向使用海參、魚翅、燕窩及燒烤等高級菜色的情況。全文主要以做壽的風尚為中心，論其與士人文化的聯繫，以及物質消費的關係，而呈現生活中喜慶活動所包含的一些文化、經濟面貌。 明清的做壽文化是士大夫文化的一環，做壽活動的文化性建構，也以士大夫為主體，存在著階層之別。明清慶壽文化中也有著雅俗的衝突，士紳對於庶民襲取其做壽文化的一些文化性象徵，有著強烈的不滿。另一方面，做壽活動也呈現了「面子」的競爭，消費隨之日見擴大，尤其是清中葉以後，交通運輸條件的改善及清帝國與世界經濟體系連繫在一起，使海產（如海參、魚翅等）大量輸往東南沿海，進而及於內陸各地，引發了新一波的飲宴浪潮，而此實是商品經濟進一步發展的體現。中國近世以來重視老人家生日的習慣，與西方人重視小孩生日的風氣極為不同，也呈現了中西生日文化的重大差異。

The topic subject under discussion in this article is a cultural phenomenon of birthday celebration for the elders in Ming-Qing period. This article is divided into three parts. The first part, which is devoted to the decrease in age limit of celebration and examples of the custom all around China, features the development of the culture. Then the second part, which covers the integration of terms, idioms, drawings, auspicious plays, and activities applied to the celebrations, probes into the content of the culture. The final part presents the consumer market involved in the celebrations. It discusses the possible scale of the market, and the increasing consumption of the activities in Ming and Qing, especially the tendency that banquets served luxurious dishes like sea cucumbers, edible nest of cliff swallows, and roast meat in the middle phase of the nineteenth century. This article, which is mainly on the prevailing custom of birthday celebrations for the elders, highlights their relationships between literati culture and material consumption to represent the cultural and economical complexion involved in certain celebrations. 

Birthday celebrations were a part of literati culture in Ming-Qing period. Based on literati, the cultural formation of the activities presented a class nature. There were class conflicts between refined and popular tastes. The literati harbored strong resentment against commoners who pirated their cultural significance of birthday celebrations. On the other hand, these celebrations showed a competition of honor. As a result, the consumptions were daily increasing. Especially after the middle period of Qing Dynasty, under favor of the improvement of transportation and fused into world economic system, the entire empire was in a new wave of banquets consequent on the importation of a large quantity of marine products (e.g., sea cucumber and shark fin, etc.) from southeast coast to the inland. The new wave conveys a message that the empire’s commodity economy was attaining its further development. As for the phenomenon that some of the literati held their birthday celebrations under 40 years of age, it reflects the subversion for the literati against the popular culture of birthday celebrations. The Chinese has been paying much attention to the seniors’ birthdays since modern times. On the contrary, The Western emphasizes on the birthdays of their children. The sharp disagreement represents the wide divergence of birthday culture between the Chinese and the Western.

明清; 生日; 演劇; 飲食; 慶壽文化; 生活史; 社會史

Ming-Qing; birthday, theatrical performance; banquets; culture of birthday; private life history; social history