一個國家的教育體制可代表著整個社會的發展動向，近年來臺灣地區經濟高度發展，商業成為社會發展的重要環節，投射至教育層面則是商業教育的普及，重商儼然成為社會主流思潮。然回溯中國歷史，「商本末」為社會主流思想，「抑商」也直為統治者所採的政策，反應在教育上，則出現教育為科舉服務，技藝教育不為統治者及社會大眾重視的情況。時至晚清，在西方列強勢力入侵、清朝國力衰微的情況下，政治、社會、思想文化上都產生了極大變化。傳統商業模式遭受極大挑戰，商人積極尋求管道，吸收新知，各界要求政府籌辦商業學堂呼聲不斷，期能培養人才，以應新局。晚清商業教育即在知識份子的呼籲以及清廷的推動下，開始創設。
本文即以廣泛蒐集資料，並輔以各項研究成果，從中探析在晚清思想、經濟的急遽轉變過程中，傳統輕商的價值觀逐漸改變，商業轉而獲得各界重視的情形，進而暸解知識份子與清廷推展商業教育，創設商業學堂的情況。而此一新的人才養成辦法，如何推廣進行？有何特色？其教學成效與困難為何？均是本文欲加以討論的議題，希望從各項資料細膩爬梳中，建構起晚清商業教育的基本圖象。

　　　　　In the traditional China, the main stream value of the society puts on the national examination and by this the studying people can enter the bureaucracy system. The educational system is like a stepping stone to pass the exam. On the contrast, the development of commerce was not looked important and the social status of merchants was low. But in the late Imperial China, the west invaded China with string economic power and the Chinese intellectuals found it was important to enhance the development of Chinese commerce. For the sake, the intellectuals thought it was important to train people with new commercial knowledge. In the educational reform of the dynasty, it was emphasized to set the schools of commerce. How the Ch'ing dynasty implement the new policies and how the people think about the new system? Does the status of the merchants change 9 Does the commercial education improve the development of Chinese industrial and commercial? We just want to solve theses problems in this article.