古书成书的复杂情况与传说时期史料的品质

Formation of Ancient Chinese Books and Sources of Legendary Materials

清华简《说命》三篇表明今传《尚书》文本并不是早期唯一形成的《尚书》文本,早期《尚书》文本的形成具有某种多元性。由此应看到古书成书过程是具有多元或多线性的。古代对传说时期史事记述的某些特征如《鲁语》与《祭法》对古代祭典记述的不同与古书文本形成的复杂情况相似,也与古史资料发生上的多元性有关。中国古代传说资料形成过程的多元性以及古代传说记述系统多样的存在,对于传说资料研究而言,其最深刻的意义在于有利于表明古代传说资料作为整体在本质上是具有真实事实来源的。

As made cleared by Tsinhua bamboo slips, the text of Shangshu which has come down to us was not the only text formed at first. The formation of the earliest texts of Shangshu is multi-sourced. This means that the formation of ancient Chinese books could be multi-sourced or multi-linear too. Some features of the descriptions of stories of the remote and legendary times of China by the ancient documents like Luju and Jifa should be related to multi-sourced occurrence of the descriptions. For the study of materials of the legendary times of China, such a multi-sourced occurrence of ancient descriptions is inclined to demonstrate that the ancient Chinese legendary materials as a whole have rooted in real facts.