史官与官史——韩、柳的史官辩

Official Historian and Official History: A Debate on Official Historian between Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan

韩愈和柳宗元关于史官问题的辩论,发生于九世纪初唐宪宗元和年间。韩、柳辩论的问题,表面看来是史官可不可作?可不可有作为?如可为,应怎么作?其实涉及史官的职责、史官的命运、史馆的建置以及史学与政治的关系等等,可谓中世纪前期近千年以编纂当代史为重心的文化体制的一次总结和回顾。正因如此,就成了中国史学的历史进程中的一道难以回避的论题。

The debate on official historian between Han and Liu occurred in the early 9th century, Yuan He year of Tang Xianzong Reign Period. At first sight, the debate appears focused on the problems whether there can be official historians, will the historians excel in achievement, and how to do if they will？ In fact, this debate has a bearing on the responsibilities and the fate of official historians, the establishment of historical bureau and the relation between history and politics, etc. It could be taken as a summary and a review of a cultural system with its center on contemporary history compiling for 1000 years in the earlier Middle Age. Thus it becomes an unavoidable problem in the course of Chinese historiography.