包天笑是民國著名通俗小說作家、文學雜誌編輯。本文以其回憶錄描述之辛亥前早年生涯部分為主要村料，來看一個舊士子如何從參與晚清新式出版機構中逐步改變其經濟狀況與社會地位。本文不僅在呈現包天笑早年個人的成功史，而更在反映當時江南士人知識與社會活動的變遷。從成為一個翻譯者、作家、編輯與出版業者，部分晚清士人以其具有之文化資源，得有科舉之外的另種選擇機會來改善他們的生活，同時在這個過程中其社會基礎也發生改變。

From the memoir of Bao Tien-xiao, a famous fiction writer and editor of literary journals in republican China, this article tries to reconstruct Bao's early life before 1912 revolution, and to describe how an old-style degree holder under the culture of civil examination changed his economic condition and social status by involving into the novel publishing institutions. Bao's successful career is not only his own personal history, but also a reflection in changing intellectual and social activities of Jiangnan literati during this period. By being a translator, writer, editor and publisher, some literati in late Qing, with their cultural resources, had another choice to improve their life, and their social basis had been transformed under this process.