中國古代的信用與“信”

Ancient Chinese Credit and "Xin (信)"

本文考察了“信用”一词内涵在古代与现代的区别，指出在古代典籍中反映重约守诺品质的“信”字产生于充斥着尔虞我诈的春秋战国时期，此字的出现与广泛使用，并不能说明当时此类品质的大量存在，而是折射出社会上的极度缺乏。在对儒家代表人物关于“信”的论述进行分析后，提出宋代理学家利用注释经典的方式，对于儒家创始人孔子与孟子的一些论述进行了适合自己学说的解释，但与原意有着不小的差异。

As one of the basic foundations of our modern world, "Credit" has been a hot topic in the field of social and economic researches. We, however, know little about ancient Chinese credit. After combing a great amount of ancient classics, the author discusses about different comprehensions of Credit in ancient and modern times. The word "xin (信, credit)" meaning a virtue of keeping promise in ancient classics, came into being during the turmoil of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The molding and spread of the word didn’t show a prevalence of the corresponding virtue in the social morality at that time, but an absence, on the contrary. After analyzing the Confucianists’ theory of xin, the author puts forword that the Neo-Confucianists of Song, from the angle of developing their own ideas, made annotations to the classics of Confucius and Mencius subjectively. The meaning of xin, therefore, deviated from its original connotation.