公共领域话语的中国意义——评《为权力祈祷：佛教与晚明中国士绅社会的形成》

卜正民《为权力祈祷：佛教与晚明中国士绅社会的形成》是一部开风气之作，以晚明地方士绅捐赠佛寺活动为其分析的核心．使用哈贝马斯公共领域理论来考察晚明中国国家和社会的关系。公共领域作为一个生长于欧洲社会文化背景下的西方观念，能否在中国这样一个典型的东方社会生长和发展，中国是否存在一个市民社会体系或者是否存在着公共领域．卜正民这部著作为我们提供了一个很好的范例和靶子。

CHINESE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PUBLIC SPHERE OF DISCOURSE:COMMENT THE BOOK OF PRAYING FOR POWER:BUDDHISM AND THE FORMATION OF GENTRY SOCIETY IN LATE-MING CHINA

Started the trend for analyzing the relationship between Chinese nation and society by using the theory of public domain, Praying for Power： Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China written by Timothy Brook discussed the phenomena of local gentry donate their money to the Buddhist temple in late Ming Dynasty. As a western conception, whether the public domain can explain the classical Chinese society, or whether the members of the public social system and the public domain were really existed in China, the book provided us a suitable example.