清华简与夏史重建

Tsinghua Bamboo Slips and the Reconstruction of Xia History

清华简中发现了丰富的夏史资料,开启了重构夏代文明史的新境界。但它与传世文献一样,都是由口头传说生成的晚出文献史料。依照兰克史学的治史规则,这种非原始资料的可靠性大有问题。20世纪二三十年代,疑古派正是利用传说资料的局限性,提出了风靡一时的层累地造成中国古史说,把夏代历史说成是传说的堆积,虚妄的伪造。然其论说证据不密,逻辑不畅,经不起新旧文献尤其是清华简中夏史材料的验证,无法支撑疑古派建立的学术大厦。上古史研究是一个非常特殊的领域,兰克史学那套摒弃传说资料的研究方法未必适用。不管传说性文献形成的时间早晚如何,也不管它存在多少问题,其中具有客观历史的质素、事实真相的颗粒,不是仅凭主观怀疑就可以彻底否定的。坚持文献与考古资料相须为用,其归一揆,才能真正重构出“充实而有光辉”的夏代文明史。

The discovery of rich materials on Xia history in Tsinghua bamboo slips has opened up a new realm of reconstructing Xia civilization.Like the passed down literature,it is a late emerged historical material generated from oral legends.According to the historical rules of Ranke’s historiography,the reliability of such non original materials is greatly questionable.In the 1920s and 1930s,Doubting Antiquity School used the limitations of legendary materials to propose the popular theory of layer by layer causing ancient Chinese history,portraying Xia dynasty history as a pile of legends and false forgery.However,their evidence is not dense,logic is not smooth.It cannot withstand the verification of the newly released Xia historical materials in Tsinghua bamboo slips,and cannot support the academic building established by the Doubting Antiquity School.The study of ancient history is a very special field,and the research method of abandoning legendary materials in Ranke’s historiography may not be applicable.No matter how early or late legendary literature is formed,or how many problems it has,the quality of objective history and the particles of factual truth in it cannot be completely denied solely by subjective doubt.Only by adhering to the principle of combining literature and archaeological materials and categorizing them as one can we truly reconstruct the“rich and glorious”history of Xia dynasty civilization.