夏樹芳（1551-1635），明代江陰人，萬曆十三年（1585）舉人，一生未曾當官，但交游廣泛，結交的友人中不乏當代達官貴人，例如：陳繼儒（ 1558-1639）、馮時可（1541-1624）、李維楨（ 1570-1624）等。夏氏平日以設塾授課為業，晚年隱居山林，其著作相當豐富，有《女鏡》、《玉麒麟》、《香林牘》、《琴苑》、《茶董》等，從文學類到休閒類，題材多樣，著作共有十三本之多。可惜他甚少受到後世學界的重視，著作大都淹沒在茫茫書海之中。本論文藉由考述夏樹芳的生平及著作，發現他正是明代末葉功名不遂知識份子的典型，透過編纂書籍來證明自己的存在價值，他的著作則有三個特色：第一，種類相當多元，可以劃分為教育類、文學類、禪學類、生活類和類書五種。第二，其著作目的多力求有利社會教化，希望能透過著述的傳世，使讀者閱讀獲益，進而改善世風。第三，他的興趣廣泛，文學、禪學和教育都有涉獵，可見他對立身修養與人生況味的領會與經營。透過夏樹芳生平和著作的考察，可以一窺他的社會關懷和淑世理想，以及晚明知識份子實現自我人生價值所作的努力。

Xia Shu Fang (1551-1635)，born in Jiang Yin City during Ming dynasty. In 1585, equivalent of Wan-Li year thirteen, he was awarded her First-Degree Scholar. During her life time, although he never got involved in the politics, he made a lot of friends from different hierarchies in the society, and these included those who were considered to be the rich and famous of that era. For example： Chen ji ru (1558-1639)、Feng shi ke (1541-1624)、Li wei zhen (1570-1624) etc. Xia, ran a private school for a living, and retrieved into the woods to withdrawn herself from the society in her later years. He published around 13 literature pieces from an array of genres, which included:Female Mirror、Jade Kirin、 Xiang Lin Du、Qin yuan and Tea dong just to name a few. However his work was not truly appreciated by the society of contemporary scholars, therefor his work has been regretfully drowned under a sea of other literature pieces. This research paper carefully examines Xia Shu Fang's life and work and came to discover that his way of giving all her heart and soul to prove her self worth through constructing these literature, is a classic example of an intellectual of the Ming dynasty. There are three main characteristic to his work, first of all,her work can be categorized into 5 different areas：education,literature, Zen studies, life events and 「Encyclopedia」. Secondly, it is aimed to influence the society and benefit his readers thus fulfill her ultimate goal to change the world for the better. Lastly, we can truly understand his life pursue from his interest shown towards all aspects of life, especially in the areas of literature, Zen studies and education related topics. Through studying Xia Shu Fang's lifestyle and works, we can truly look into the life of an intellectual in the late Ming dynasty and understand his love for the society and his hope to creat an idealistic world to fulfill her self worth.