经世致用传统与乾嘉时期的历史编纂学

The Tradition of Making Study Serve Practical Purposes and the Historiography in Qianlong and Jiaqing Period

在中国史学史上,经世致用思想源远流长。然而其内容和参照系,却因时代不同而表现互异。各个历史时期经世致用思想的演变,直接影响着历史编纂学的内容和形式,显示出不同的时代特征。乾嘉史家编撰史书,注重考辨史料真伪,撰写考史札记,而不在于编纂大部头叙事著作。客观地说,清代历史编纂学及其成就,与汉唐时期相比各有千秋,具有同等重要的价值,不应彼此轩轾。

The thought of making study serve practical purposes has been quite influential in the history of Chinese historical studies. Its content and reference frame varies in different ages, directly impacting the content and form of historical compilation with different features of era. The historical compilers in the Qianlong and Jiaqing Period laid emphasis on textual research into historical documents and wrote reading notes on their textual research. They did not focus their attention on writing narrative historical works of huge size. It is safe to say that historical compilers and their achievements in the Qing Dynasty and those in the Tang Dynasty are equally important and equally outstanding.