Contents
Tables, Maps, and Figures xv
Notes to the Reader xxi
1 Introduction: The Sibao Book Trade and
Qing Society 1
The Expansion of Commercial Publishing
in the Qing 8/
Sources for the Study of Sibao
Publishing-Bookselling 20
Part I
The Business of Book Publishing and
Bookselling in Sibao
2 The Setting: Minxi and Sibao 35
Minxi 35/ Sibao and the Zou and Ma
Lineages 57
3 The Origins of Publishing and the
Production of Books
in Sibao 79
The Beginnings of Publishing in Wuge
and Mawu 79/ The
History of the Zou and Ma Publishing
houses: An Overview 84/ Producing Books
in Sibao 93/ Conclusion 124
4 The Structure of the Sibao Publishing
Industry 126
Publishing Houses as Household
Industries Within the Zou
and Ma Lineages 127/ The Income from
Publishing-
Bookselling 145/ The Use of
Earnings 149
5 "We are all brothers": Household
Division, the Proliferation
of Publishing Houses, and the
Management of Competition 159
Family Division and the Development of
New Publishing
Houses 161/ Managing Intra-Lineage
Competition Among
Publishing Households: Customary Rules
and Practices 177/
Managing Interlineage Competition 186
6 Sibao Bookselling Routes 189
The Book Market in
Sibao 190/ Bookselling Networks
Outside Sibao 192/ The Pattern of Sibao
Bookselling:
Why They Went Where They
Went 206/ Conclusion 230
7 Sojourning Bookselling and the
Operation of the
Branch Shops 235
Life on the Road: Itinerant
Bookselling 236/ Branch
Bookstores 252
8 Sibao's "Confucian Merchants" in Minxi
Society and the Late Imperial Economy26
8
"Confucian Merchants": The Image of the
Sibao Publisher-
Booksellers 269/ The Zou and Ma
Publishing Families as
Local Gentry 276/ The Sibao Publisher-
Booksellers in the
Late Imperial Economy 288
Part II
Sibao Imprints
9 The Nature and Sources of Sibao
Imprints 305
Overview of Sibao's Output 306/ The
Sources of Sibao
Texts 309
10 Educational Works 321
Primers and Glossaries for Beginning
Students 326/ Beyond
"Primer Literacy": Supplemental Texts
for Elementary
Education 349/ Textbooks for
Composition 358/ Poetry
Anthologies and Manuals 367/ The Heart
of the Curriculum:
The Classics 374/ Beyond the Four Books
and Five Classics 396/ Conclusion 402
11 Guides to Good Manners, Good Health,
and Good Fortune 410
Household Encyclopedias and Guides to
the Rituals of Daily
Life 411/ Medical and Pharmaceutical
Manuals 428/ Guides
to Good Fortune: Almanacs, Fengshui and
Divination Manuals,
and Morality Books 449/ Conclusion 470
12 Fiction and Belles-Lettres 476
Fiction 478/ Drama and
Songbooks 499/ The Elite Arts:
Poetry Collections and Calligraphy and
Painting Albums 506/
Conclusion 510
13 Sibao's Customers and Popular Textual
Culture in the Qing 513
Audience and the Prices of Sibao
Imprints 513/ The Production
Quality of Sibao Imprints 519 Sibao and
Popular Textual
Culture 523/ The Stability of Sibao's
Popular Canon 529
14 The Diffusion of Print Culture in Qing
China 535
Sibao in Context: Other Commercial
Publishing Sites of the
Qing 536/ The Circulation of Texts in
the Qing 548/ The
Book Cultures of the Qing 553/
Literacy, Social Status, and
Political Power 559
Appendixes
A Transport Routes Within the Min-Gan-Yue
Region 573
B Value of Woodblocks from the Juxian
tang and Dawen
tang, 1897 577
C Genealogical Charts 578
D Sibao Publishing Houses and Publisher-
Booksellers*
E Sites of Sibao Bookselling and the Zou
and Ma Booksellers*
F Sites of Zou and Ma Migration in the
Qing*
G List of Sibao Imprints*
Reference Matter
Works Cited 603
Index 637