在明末的中國城市中，南京具有一種特別的氣質。它雖然不像北京那樣，具有強烈的政治色彩，但由於太祖曾建都於此，而在成祖遷都北京後，南京仍保留了部分中央政府的建置，所以政治性格並未完全抹煞。在明末激烈的黨社鬥爭中，這種政治性格特別得到彰顯，為南方的士大夫提供了重要的政治舞臺。另一方面，南京又充分反映了十六世紀初葉以後商品經濟的發展，提供了繁庶的物質享受和世俗逸樂。秦淮的妓院，更成為南京逸樂生活的重要源頭。太學、貢院和妓院同處一地，製造了更多名士風流的軼事，也讓秦淮河成為最廣受士大夫記敘的欲望的象徵。金陵因此承載了最多甜美、放蕩的記憶，成為一個逸樂之都。 在明末南京，激烈的政治活動和放蕩的逸樂生涯，在很多士大夫的生命歷程中因緣際會地綰合在一處。舊院與秦淮的歡樂轉頭成空，個人和南京的頹廢，卻因為朝代的興亡，意外地得到道德的救贖，而顯得格外的沉痛、悲涼。在這篇文章中，我主要是藉由余懷的《板橋雜記》和孔尚任的《桃花扇》，來重新捕捉一個十七世紀的中國城市的歡愉、逸樂，以及隨著朝代崩解而引發的強烈追悔之情和斷裂感。《桃花扇》不僅提供了一個宏大完整的政治史敘事，和《板橋雜記》合而觀之，也同時記敘了一個朝代、一座城市、一條河流及浮沈其中的人物的歷史。

Compared to other cities in late imperial china, Nanjing in the late Ming period had a unique flavor. Though it did not develop as strong a political character as Beijing, the fact that the Ming court maintained part of its governmental institutions and establishments in Nanjing after the capital was moved to the north, enabled the city to play a certain political role. Gentry-literati from all over the nation, particularly from the south, gathered in Nanjing to criticize national politics and engage in fierce political struggle with the "enuch party." After the sixteenth century, Nanjing also offered numerous avenues for material enjoyment and earthly pleasures. Courtesan houses along the Qinhua River constituted a source of indulgence and decadence. The fact that the Imperial Academy, examination halls and prostitution quarters existed side by side made the Qinhua River a symbol of desire, as was widely recorded by the gentry-literati. Evoking many delightful and licentious memories, Nanjing of the late Ming Period became a city of pleasure. For many gentry-literati of the early seventeenth century, radical political activities and decadent lives went hand in hand. The happy times in the courtesan houses along the Qinhuai River vanished in a matter of several years. Decadent life styles that figured so prominently among the Nanjing gentry-literati and late Ming contemporaries in general acquired accidental redemption with the sudden downfall of the Ming court. Based mainly on the accounts of the play Peach Blossom Fan and the Miscellaneous Notes on the Plank Bridge written by Yu Huai (1616-1696), this article describes the pleasures available in a Chinese city in the seveanteenth century and analyses the strong feelings of remorse and disruption which accompanied the collapse of the dynasty. The literary accounts of the Peach Blossom Fan as well as passages from the Miscellaneous Notes on the Plank Bridge not only provide a grand narrative structure that explains the vicissitudes of the dynasty, but also record the histories of a city, a river and a group of people who bore witness to the sudden rupture of a way of life.