乾嘉年间的鬼狐怪谈

The Stories of Zombies and Fox Spirits in the Qianlong and Jiaqing Periods

乾嘉时期是我国著名的朴学考证时期。以语言文字训诂考证进行经史研究,故被五四运动后提倡“以科学方法整理国故”的人视为科学方法及理性精神之先驱。本文则从当时人喜说鬼狐仙怪事迹的现象,做不一样的考察,发现另一副面貌的乾嘉时期。由乾嘉时期士大夫喜说鬼狐仙怪故事,可以发现当时并不具备现代意义的科学理性观。理性与信仰并存,或交互为用,纔是普遍的现象。而且精英士大夫阶层在面对这些鬼狐故事时所显示的伦理观,非特与庶民无异,抑且为世俗命定果报信仰之热心传播者。在宋明理学已渐丧失其伦理规范意义,经史考证又只是知识技艺的时代,信奉此种通俗儒道佛理,并以之教化民众,便成为士大夫自觉可以努力之工作。其宣化之方式,主要是文学作品,例如小说或戏曲、宝卷、歌谣等,为道光、咸丰、同治以后大规模出现的民间“善堂”奠了基。突破了经学视域,转由文学去看,纔能观察到这许多有趣的现象与值得思考的问题。

The reign of Emperors Qianlong and Jiaqing(1736-1820)was an era well-known for Puxue,i.e.the textual criticism of etymology, phonology,semasiology,etc.From the May Fourth Movement in 1919,it had been advocated as“a scientific method to handle the national heritage”.The Puxue scholars,therefore,were regarded as the forerunners of scientific methods and rationality.By investigating those scholars' preference in stories of zombies and fox spirits,this article aims to disclose another aspect of the era from Qianlong to Jiaqing.We discover that those scholars didn't attain today's scientific rational spirit,while the compatibility and mutual application of rationality and creed was really in prevalence.The moral attitude the class of elite expressed to these stories was no different from that of commoners,moreover,they even took up the role as preachers of secular beliefs in fate and retribution.In an era when neo- Confucianism lost its moral significance and textual criticism on Confucian and historical classics were regarded as craftsmanship,the intellectuals believed that the devotion in these secular beliefs and the preaching of them to commoners were necessary.The major means of preaching was literary works,such as novels,plays,precious scrolls and songs.The numerous welfare societies which appeared since the Daoguang period(1821-1550)were obviously the result of the Qianlong and jiaqing scholars' efforts.These interesting phenomena and problems can only be observed from the viewpoint of literature, instead of that of Confucian classicism.