本文首先探討唐代市人小說的源起與表演形式，進而回溯從先秦到明、清時代，古典文獻中「市人」一詞的意涵，皆是指在市場里從事工商業為生計者。但從該詞與藝能種種相關的用法中，發現早期的藝能與市場活動存在著一種密不可分的關系，中國職業藝能者的誕生與成長，實與市場這樣的空間密切相關。其次，經由唐代小說中有關市場的記載，從市場的空間配置與功能，發掘出「市場」與「皇宮」，實形成一種陰陽對比的觀念，各自代表了不同的價值觀。更明确地說，市場隱然與皇帝作為頂點的行政機構相對，成為一種反權力的想法及其相關坐值觀的空間象徵。而唐小說這種反映都市住民的價值觀的藝能性格，也成為宋元以降的小說史中主要的動因。

This paper begins by examining the origins and the performance styles of Chinese shi-ren fiction 市人小說 in the Tang dynasty. A subsequent investigation on how the term "shi-ren" is used in Classical texts ranging form the pre-Qin period 先秦 to Ming 明 and Qing 清 reveals that the term refers only to the people who made a living by conducting business in the marketplace. Yet based on its usage, which also has close relationship with acrobatics, this paper therefore proposes that the marketplace, as a space, is actually related to the emergence of early acrobatics in China. Moreover, market as a space is also one of the causes of the rise and the development of professional acrobatics in the early days. From the market-related descriptions found in Tang fictions, coupled with the spatial distributions and functions of the marketplace, the author discovers that 'marketplace' and 'imperial palace' are two contrary spaces, similar to the idea of yin 陰 and yang 陽, each representing different values respectively. As a result, the marketplace, to put it more precisely, has become a spatial symbol, reflecting an idea of anti-power and other relevant values that go against the executive institute with the emperor as its pyramidal figure. This artistic characteristic, mirroring the values that only belong to the town, become the most important motive power of fiction history in the later periods from the Song and Yuan Dynasties.