诗和远方:唐宋文学如何塑造中国现代旅游经济

“生活不止眼前的苟且，还有诗和远方”，这句在中国广为人知的歌词意在呼唤人们对精神世界和美好理想的追求。本文借用了这一概念，将目光投向中国历史上最辉煌的文学瑰宝——唐宋文学（“诗”），探讨这些作为无形文化资本的文学遗产，如何跨越千年，塑造并推动了中国现代旅游经济（“远方”）的发展。

“Life is not only about the present struggles, but also poetry and distant places.” This widely known lyric in China calls for the pursuit of spiritual fulfillment and beautiful ideals. Borrowing this idea, this paper turns to one of the most brilliant treasures in Chinese cultural history—Tang and Song （T&S） literature (“poetry”)—and examines how this intangible cultural capital has crossed more than a millennium to shape and promote China’s modern tourism economy (“distant places”).

旅游业是世界上空间集聚程度最高的产业之一。一些城市能够持续吸引大量游客，而另一些城市即便拥有相似的收入水平、交通条件、自然资源或实体文化遗产，却难以获得同等关注。现有研究已经充分讨论了收入、价格、交通、政治稳定性、自然地理和建筑遗产等因素对旅游流量的影响，但对于一种更难测量的因素——无形文化资本，尤其是文学作品如何影响现代旅游经济，仍缺乏系统的因果证据。

Tourism is one of the most spatially concentrated industries in the world. Some cities continue to attract large numbers of visitors, while others with similar income levels, transportation conditions, natural resources, or built heritage receive much less attention. Existing studies have extensively examined the roles of income, prices, transportation, political stability, physical geography, and built heritage in shaping tourism flows. Yet systematic causal evidence remains limited for a harder-to-measure factor: intangible cultural capital, especially how literary works affect the modern tourism economy.

本文正是从这一问题出发，考察唐宋文学这一中国古典文化高峰，如何在一千多年后继续为相关城市创造经济价值。文章的核心观点是：唐宋文学作品虽然产生于特定地点、描写特定山川景观，但其经济价值并不只是停留在地方文化记忆之中。通过国家语文教材和标准化课程体系，这些地方性的文学资产被转化为几代人共享的文化参照，提高了相关城市和景观在潜在游客心中的显著度，并进一步转化为现实的旅游需求。

This paper addresses this question by studying how T&S literature, widely regarded as the pinnacle of Chinese classical culture, continues to create economic value for related cities even a thousand years after its creation. The central argument is that T&S literary works were created in specific places or depicted identifiable landscapes, but their economic value is not confined to local cultural memory. Through Chinese language textbooks and the standardized national curriculum, these localized literary assets are transformed into shared cultural references across generations, increasing the salience of associated cities and landscapes among potential tourists and ultimately generating real tourism demand.

在实证方面，本文基于已有文献对唐宋文人创作地点的系统重建，衡量当代地级市历史疆域内的唐宋文学存量，并将其与2002至2019年中国城市层面的国内旅游收入和游客接待量数据相匹配。为了识别因果关系，本文使用著名的唐宋书院和唐代以前诗人数量作为工具变量。这些历史教育与文学基础设施影响了唐宋时期文学产出，但原则上不会通过文学创作以外的渠道直接影响现代旅游结果。

Empirically, this paper measures each contemporary prefectural city’s historical literary stock using a systematic reconstruction of the creation locations of T&S literati, and links this measure to city-level data on domestic tourism revenue and tourist arrivals from 2002 to 2019. To identify causality, this paper uses the presence of famous T&S academies and the number of pre-Tang poets as instrumental variables. These historical educational and literary infrastructures shaped T&S literary output but are plausibly unrelated to modern tourism outcomes through channels other than literary production.

基于两阶段最小二乘法估计，本文发现唐宋文学作品与现代国内旅游经济变量之间的弹性约为0.2，表明唐宋文学对中国现代旅游业具有统计上显著、经济上可观的正向贡献。该影响的大小与许多已被广泛讨论的旅游决定因素相当，例如世界遗产认定、旅游景区评级或高铁开通。这说明，无形文学资本并非只是文化象征，而可以像实体遗产和基础设施一样，对地方经济产生可观而持久的影响。

The two-stage least squares estimates indicate an elasticity of about 0.2 between T&S literary works and domestic tourism outcomes, suggesting a statistically significant and economically meaningful positive contribution of T&S literature to China’s modern tourism economy. The magnitude of this effect is broadly comparable to other well-documented determinants of tourism, such as World Heritage inscription, tourist attraction accreditation, or high-speed rail connections. This shows that intangible literary capital is not merely symbolic; like physical heritage and infrastructure, it can generate sizable and lasting local economic returns.

本文进一步揭示了文学遗产影响旅游经济的核心机制。主要机制来自需求侧，即“教育—显著性”渠道。唐宋文学的大量作品被选入国家语文教材，经过标准化课程体系的传播，成为几代人共享的文化参照。这种共同的记忆使相关城市和景观在潜在游客心中更加突出，更容易被想起、被向往，并最终转化为真实的旅游需求。因此，唐宋文学对旅游的影响在那些作品进入国家课程体系的城市中尤为明显。

This paper further documents the mechanism through which literary heritage affects tourism. The primary channel is demand-side: the education–salience channel. Some T&S works were selected into national Chinese language textbooks and disseminated through a standardized curriculum, becoming shared cultural references for generations of students. This collective memory raises the salience of the associated cities and landscapes, making them more likely to be remembered, desired, and eventually visited. As a result, the tourism effect of T&S literature is especially pronounced for cities whose works appear in the national curriculum.

除需求侧机制外，本文还发现两个互补的供给侧渠道。唐宋文学产出较高的城市，在长期历史过程中往往积累了更丰富的广义文化资源，并进一步发展出更多样化的文化旅游产品。这些供给侧因素并非取代需求侧机制，而是与教材传播带来的旅游需求相互配合，共同增强文学遗产对现代旅游经济的影响。

In addition to the demand-side mechanism, the paper identifies two complementary supply-side channels. Cities with higher T&S literary output later accumulated broader cultural resources and developed a richer array of cultural tourism products. These supply-side factors do not replace the demand-side mechanism; rather, they complement the tourism demand generated through textbook-based cultural transmission and jointly strengthen the effect of literary heritage on the modern tourism economy.

本文的贡献在于，它提供了关于无形文化资本经济回报的可信因果证据，并揭示了国家课程标准化如何将地方性的文学资产转化为全国范围内的旅游需求。与会磨损、折旧并需要持续维护的实体文化遗产不同，经典文学文本一旦通过教育体系被制度化传播，便具有高度韧性——他们不会随着时间自然贬值，反而能够在代际传承中持续强化，成为一种稳定、可扩展并具有地方指向性的经济资产。因此，本文为理解文化传承、教育制度与地方旅游发展之间的关系提供了新的视角。

The contribution of this paper lies in providing credible causal evidence on the economic returns to intangible cultural capital and in showing how national curriculum standardization converts localized literary assets into nationwide tourism demand. Unlike physical heritage, which is subject to wear and tear, depreciation, and continuous maintenance costs, canonical literary texts, once institutionalized through education, are highly resilient. They do not naturally depreciate over time; instead, they are reinforced through intergenerational transmission and become stable, scalable, and place-specific economic assets. Therefore, this paper offers a new perspective on the relationship between cultural transmission, educational institutions, and local tourism development.