明清时代长江三角洲地区市镇蓬勃发展之势颇为引人注目,这不仅因为它促进了本地区经济日趋繁荣,而且也因为它促进跨地域的市场圈的迅速形成。此类市镇作为商品经济的产物,作为农业商业化的产物,带有一个显著特征:专业化分布格局。粮食业市镇是该地区仅次于丝绸业市镇、棉布业市镇的第三大类市镇。米市是粮食商品化程度提高的产物,而粮食商品化则是传统农业进步的一大标志。粮食交易市场的存在,调剂了缺粮区与余粮区的流通,有助于农业经济的地区性互补格局的构成。 The boom in the towns in the Yangtze River Delta during the Ming and Qing Dynasties was quite noticeable not only because it promoted the economic boom in the region but also because it facilitated the rapid formation of a trans-regional market. As a product of the commodity economy, such a town, as a product of the commercialization of agriculture, has a distinctive feature: the specialization distribution pattern. The grain trade town is the third largest type of town next to the silk town and the cotton cloth town in the area. Rice is the product of the increased degree of commercialization of grain, and the commercialization of grain is a sign of the progress of traditional agriculture. The existence of grain trading market, adjusting the circulation of deficit-laden and surplus grain areas, is conducive to the formation of a regional complementary pattern of agricultural economy.