“山兽之君”、虎患与道德教化——侧重于明清南方地区

"King of Beast",Tiger Calamity and Ethics in the South in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

在传统时代,老虎是以"山兽之君"的形象出现在中国历史文献中的。老虎既是凶猛的吃人动物,又具备超常"灵性",主宰了人间道德善恶。老虎的两种特性,直接影响到人们对"虎患"的认识和防治。以今天眼光看来,中国历史上的"虎患"可能并非完全"虎"患。人们倾向于以道德教化的观念来解释"虎患"。在应对虎患的措施方面,人们往往采取捕杀和对神明进行祈祷相结合的方法。当人们很整齐自然地把"虎患"和道德教化联系起来的时候,表明传统社会应付在现代人眼光看来是"生态破坏"之自然灾害时的整体心态。那就是,民众道德水平提升与官府政治修明乃是应付自然灾荒之根本。

In ancient times,tiger had been recorded in the image of'King of Beasts'in Chinese historical accounts. Tiger was considered not only as a ferocious man-eaten animal but also a animal with the super'intelligence'of dominat- ing good and evil in the earth.The dual characters of Tiger had direct impact on people's understanding and protection of tiger calamity.Probably,the'Tiger calamity'in Chinese history is not a'Tiger'one from a modem perspective but one explained in terms of ethics.So in dealing with the tiger calamity,people often combined catching and killing with pray- ing to gods.Natural and collective combination of'Tiger Calamity'and ethics reveals the collective attitude toward a nat- ural calamity,which may be viewed as an'ecocrisis'in a modem society,in a traditional society.It is proved that ef- fective coping with natural calamity depends on promotion of people's ethics and improvement of governmental policy