The Beginnings of Chinese Civilization中國文明的開始

作者簡介：李濟，哈佛大學哲學博士，考古學、人類學家，中國考古學之父，對西陰村、安陽和城子崖考古發掘的領導影響了20世紀下半葉中國考古學的發展。

內容簡介：結集李濟在在考古學、人類學領域最具代表性的英文論文，如在華盛頓大學介紹“使殷商文化由傳說變為信史”的安陽殷墟發掘的演講和分析中國現代考古學科形成、考證中華民族起源的文章。

ARCHAEOLOGY 考古學

Antiquarian studies in China began to develop in the beginning of the Sung Dynasty . They enjoyed a glorious period for more than one hundred years, during which a solid foundation was laid for later development. The classical revival in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries included a very strong current of antiquarian interest, which has been rightly considered as the direct descendant of Sung scholarship. Western science began to affect China seriously, only at the beginning of the twentieth century. So the concept of modern archaeology in China may be said to be developed from two entirely different, but mutually complementary traditions: on the one hand, it is related to that special branch of classical learning known as the Study of Metals and Stones; and on the other, to the field explorations and excavations, which were first developed in the science of geology and biology, and from which archaeology in the West has been gradually evolved. Such being the case, archaeology, therefore, unlike most other natural sciences which have come to China unprecedented, serves best to link together modern science and traditional Chinese learning. In order to make a proper estimate of what is being done at present and what can be achieved in the future, it is necessary that something should be known of China’s antiquarian past.在中國，對古物的研究在宋朝初期就已經開始有所發展，當時曾經有百余年的鼎盛期，為以后的發展奠定了堅實的基礎。18 ～ 19 世紀古學的復興包含了一股古物熱的風潮，這股熱潮被認為與宋學一脈相承，此種看法是正確的。西方科學開始對中國產生實在的影響，已是在 20 世紀初以后。因此，中國近代考古學的概念可以說是從兩個截然不同而又相互補充的傳統發展而來：一方面，它是從中國古典學問中的金石學這一特殊分支發展而來；另一方面，它又與地質學和生物學中首先發展起來的田野調查與地下發掘聯系在一起，西方考古學正是從這些科學中逐漸發展出來。既然如此，那么，與大多數中國第一次接觸到的自然科學不同，考古學極好地將西方近代科學和中國古典學問聯系起來。要準確評價目前正在進行的工作和未來可達成的目標，有必要對中國古學研究的歷史作一番了解。

Historical Background歷史背景In a paper published by the late Professor Wang Kwo-wei on “Archaeology in the Sung Dynasty,” he pointed out the distinct achievements by Sung scholars in archaeology, in several different fields. The more important of these are collecting, recording, and identifying. In all these their merits rank very high; some remain unsurpassed down to the present time. It is interesting to note that this is only part of the result of a broad intellectual movement of the Sung Dynasty, which yielded important achievements in many different spheres. The whole movement was characterized by a great deal of constructive effort; many of the monumental works on history, treasures of Chinese spiritual possessions, date from this period. While the interest in antiquities was no doubt a phase of the historical mentality of the time, it attained an independent development in the very beginning. Works on this subject left to us from this period are strangely modern in many of their ideas. 在已故王國維教授發表的《宋代之金石學》1一文中，他指出宋代學者在金石研究多個方面取得了非凡成績，尤其體現在搜集、著錄和考訂方面。他們在研究所及之領域均獲得了極高的成就，有些至今尚無人能及。應該注意到，這只是宋代這場大的思想運動的部分結果，這場運動在許多不同領域都取得了重要成果。此次運動整體呈現出極具建設性的特點，許多史學巨著、精神財富都起源于那個時代。雖然對于古物的興趣無疑只是宋代史學思想發展的一個階段，但它從一開始就獲得了獨立的發展。這一時期留傳下來的有關這一主題的著作，其中的許多觀念都出人意料地具有近代特征。

It is true that there was neither historical nor comparative method, nor any attempt at a comprehensive system, but the effort aimed at accurate presentation and reproduction, and many of their identifications are quite praiseworthy. K’ao Ku T’ou and Po Ku T’ou published between the eleventh and twelfth centuries A.D. are more than a collector’s handbook. In them a system was created for recording and reproducing antiquities, which, except for minor details due to improvements in modern printing, has been taken as a model of all treatises on antiques till the present day. It may not be possible to test the accuracy of their measurements or reproductions, but their aims at being accurate are more than obvious; and the ingenuity and correctness of most of their identifications have been confirmed by modern criticism. As printing was at that time already invented, so the vogue of collecting spread fast. What is more remarkable is that the fashion of collecting was created and maintained chiefly by private individuals, in spite of the fact that the largest and the most well-known collection is an Imperial one. Thus Professor Wang says in his paper on “Archaeology in the Sung Dynasty”:誠然，那時沒有歷史方法，沒有比較方法，更沒有試圖創造一個綜合體系，但他們追求準確描述和復制的努力以及他們的許多考訂，都是頗值得稱道的。11 ～ 12世紀出版的《考古圖》和《博古圖》絕不僅僅是一個收藏指南，其中創立了一個著錄和復制古物的系統，除了因近代印刷技術的改進而造成的在少數細節上比較落后外，這一系統直到今天都是這方面論著的典范。也許無法檢測其度量與復制的精確程度，但他們力求精確的目標是顯而易見的；他們在辨識古物方面表現出的獨創性和正確性已為近代批評界所印證。由于那時印刷術早已發明，因此，收藏古物之風傳播極快。更令人驚嘆的是，盡管最大最著名的收藏是皇室收藏，但收藏之風尚卻主要是由個人開創并維持的。因此，王國維教授在其《宋代之金石學》一文中說：

Remarkable as was the Imperial collection, the fashion of collecting ancient objects, however, was created by private individuals. History records that Liu Ch’ang, when governor of Yung Hsing , secured eleven objects of pre-Ch’in periods; and that Li Kung-lin, having a wide acquaintance with objects of antiquity and being skilful in judging them, showed such enthusiasm, that whenever he heard of an object of value, he would not hesitate in the least to pay a price of a thousand taels. Books such as Lü Ta-lin’s K’ao Ku T’ou, Hsu K’ao Ku T’ou by an unknown author, Wang Fu-chai’s Chung Ting K’uan Shih, and the appendices of the Tsih Ku Lu and Chin Shih Lu, very frequently record the names of the collectors underneath the descriptions of the objects. The collectors thus recorded numbered no less than several scores.... ……宣和藏器之富，固自不足怪也。然宋人搜集古器之風，實自私家開之。劉敞知永興軍 [ 今山西 ]，得先秦古器十有一物。李公麟博物精鑒，聞一器捐千金不少靳。而《考古圖》、無名氏《續考古圖》、王復齋《鐘鼎款識》以及《集古》、《金石》二錄跋尾，往往于各器之下注明藏器之家，其人不下數十……

The scope of those collections included mainly bronzes and jades, but coins and some kinds of stone work were sometimes also included. Although they concentrated most of their interest on inscriptions, it is the merit of the Sung archaeologists that they were able to see, in the antiques which they were collecting, important materials for studying ancient institutions. It was the common belief of the Sung antiquarians that it needed men versed in rituals to know the usage of antiques. Thus they made two great contributions towards the gradual building up of an antiquarian science in China: namely epigraphical study, and identification of forms, besides their persistent effort in collecting, reproducing, and circulating. In about one hundred years or so, they created a new science and perfected a new technique.這些收藏的范圍主要包括青銅器和玉器，不過，錢幣和石器有時也在收藏之列。盡管宋代藏家們的興趣主要是在銘文上，但是，他們的可貴之處在于，他們能在其所收藏的古物之中看出研究古代制度的重要材料。宋代的古物研究者們普遍相信：了解古器物的用途需要熟諳禮法。因此，除了不斷地收集、復制和傳播古物之外，他們對中國古物學的逐步建立還作出了兩方面的重大貢獻，即銘文研究和款式識別。在一百年左右的時間里，他們開創了一門新科學，完善了一門新技術。

This new science, founded by a group of Northern Sung scholars, was ably continued even after the disastrous event of the Tsing K’ang era when the Golden Tartars raided the capital city at K’aifeng and made it a ruin. In fact it continued to the very end of the Sung Dynasty. Many notable treatises on antiques were produced in the later period.由北宋學者建立的這門新科學，即使在遭遇靖康年間金人突襲、摧毀京城的災難后，仍頑強地沿續了下來。事實上，它一直延續到宋朝末年。許多有關古物學方面的著名論著都是在宋朝后期完成的。

Owing to this continued activity, the foundation of the new science was laid firmly; so even after a total lapse of almost five hundred years, it still retained enough vitality to give new strength to the classical revival in the Manchu Dynasty. “During the 150 years, from the middle of Chien Lung’s reign to the present, marvellous progress has been made in the study of archaeology, ...” says Liang Ch’i-ch’ao in an address in honor of the visit of the Crown Prince of Sweden to China. “The number of books on archaeology is truly astonishing. I am familiar with at least 400 books which I consider as valuable contributions to this subject,” he continued. The works of this period, however, deviate very little from their Sung prototype; but they have attained greater accuracy, and are worked in greater detail. They are on the whole better epigraphists. Owing to the intensive interest in textual criticism of this period, antiquarian studies were much encouraged, as they offered so much new material, and were evidently helpful in the study and interpretation of ancient classics. Yüan Yüan, who edited the famous Huang Ch’ing Chin Chieh, is also the author of Chi Ku Chai Chung Ting I Ch’i K’uan Shih, one of the first treatises on bronze inscriptions written in this period. From Yüan Yüan’s time on, a long list of scholarly antiquarians has followed, until it gradually merges into an intermediate stage when Western influence began to penetrate. The result of the contact of this influence with the old tradition is the birth of a new archaeology in modern China.由于此種連續不斷的努力，這一新興科學的基礎得以建立牢固；也正因為如此，即使在經過了近 500 年后，它仍有足夠的生命力給清朝古學的復興以新的動力。 “由乾隆中葉以后直至現在，一百五十年間，這種學問有很猛烈的進步” ，梁啟超在歡迎瑞典王儲到訪中國的致辭中說。他還繼續說道： “關于考古學的著作，數目的增加實在可驚，據我所看見過，認為很有價值已經成書的，不下四百種。 ”這一時期的著作幾乎沒有偏離宋代的原型，不過更精確、更詳細而已。從總體上看，他們是更優秀的碑銘研究家。由于這一時期對于文本考據的濃厚興趣，古物研究得到大力提倡，因為它們提供了如此多的新材料，對于研究和解釋古代經典顯然極有幫助。著名的《皇清經解》的編者阮元，同時也是《積古齋鐘鼎彝器款識》的作者，后者是這一時期研究青銅器銘文的最早的專著之一。自阮元以后，涌現出了一大批學者型的古物學家，直到西方影響滲入中國，傳統的金石學逐漸進入一個過渡性的中間階段。古老傳統與西方影響接觸的結果催生了近代中國新的考古學。

The great contribution of this period is the advancement of epigraphical studies, of which the Sung antiquarians made only a start. They also showed a more diversified interest, and produced special treatises on bricks, tiles, seals, and other antiques of a given locality. It is only fair to say that at the end of the nineteenth century, traditional antiquarian science had already developed to such a stage that it was only a step from the standard of Modern Archaeology. Wu Ta-chêng’s treatise on jade, and his study of early inscriptions, for instance, can stand comparison with any modern scientific treatise of a similar nature. It is an even bet whether or not traditional archaeology in China would have advanced to the modern stage even without Western influence! It is at any rate obvious that without such background archaeology would not have attracted so much interest in China at the present time.這一時期的重大貢獻在于銘文研究的進步。在這一領域，宋人只是開其端緒而已。此外，他們的興趣也比宋人更為廣泛，并撰寫了有關磚、瓦、印璽及某些特定地區的其他古物的專門論著。公允地講，到 19 世紀末，傳統的古物學早已發展了到離近代考古科學僅有一步之遙的階段。例如，吳大 論玉器的專著及其對早期銘文的研究，可與任一同類性質的現代科學著作相媲美。即使沒有西方的影響，中國傳統的考古學是否也已發展到近代階段，對此我們很難下結論。無論如何，若沒有這樣一個背景，考古學不會在中國引起如此多的興趣，這是顯而易見的。

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