清代仪仗使用驯象考

Elephants for Ceremonial Purposes in the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911)

中国古代宫廷仪仗用象历史悠久,清代宫廷仪仗用象上承宋明典制,并在发展过程中不断完善。清代驯象不仅用于国家重大典礼,而且可以在一定日期公开表演为京城百姓所观赏。对清代宫廷所用驯象进行研究,不仅可以完善中国古代驯象使用史,而且对于全面认识清代典制也具有重要意义。而目前对于清代驯象使用的研究相对较少~1,仍有不少问题待解。本文通过对清代使用驯象相关文献的梳理,以期明了在以往学者所忽略的驯象来源和管理问题的认识。

Elephants were often used for ceremonial purposes in ancient China.Yet the practice was only formally institutionalized in the Qing dynasty.The Qing court tradition bore the legacies of the Song(960-1279)and the Ming(1368-1644)dynasties,underwent continuous evolvement,and was eventually finalized during the Qianlong reign(1736-1795).The practice was carried on until late Qing dynasty.The study of how elephants were used for ceremonial purposes complements current studies of the history of the development of this tradition,while shedding lights on the Qing state ritual codex in a more comprehensive manner by looking into the source,management,and usage of the elephants.The scarcity of scholarly literature in this field renders further exploration necessary and significant.