“中世纪”的建构与解构——兼论中国世界中世纪史理论与实践的困境

The Construction and Deconstruction of Medium Aevum:The Dilemma of the Medieval History of the World in China

"中世纪"是现代史学的一个重要概念。它萌芽于文艺复兴时期,在17世纪后期正式确立,是古代、中世纪、现代历史三分法的重要环节。在现代语境中,"中世纪"的含义不断变化,由最初的欧洲的局部历史现象变成欧洲的一般历史时代,进而等同于封建社会,最后成为人类社会的必经阶段。但是,"中世纪"等概念在历史学的实践中也存在很大弊端。20世纪中期以来,西方史学界对这些概念进行了广泛的质疑、批判乃至解构,并尝试新的历史分期法。中国史学界也逐渐校正了机械化的苏联模式,在理论和实践上有很大改变。但这些变化也带来一些问题,对中国的世界中世纪史学科形成了冲击和挑战。

The term Medium Aevum,which originated during the Renaissance before its maturation and wide circulation in the world in the second half of the 17thcentury,is an important construct in modern historiography.As a link in the chain of the tripartite division of history-Ancient,Medieval and Modern,it witnessed several changes in terms of definition in modern context,from a phenomenon of part of the Europe to an European one,and finally became a general period of world history equivalent to feudalism or feudal society.Nevertheless,the term 'Middle Ages' and those related concepts also have great negative impact on the practice of historiography.They have been widely challenged,criticized or deconstructed by Western historians ever since the middle of the 20thcentury.Chinese historians also got rid of the mechanic understanding of the Marxist theory by Soviet historians,and began to change greatly in practice in the field of medieval history.These changes brought some problems both in theory and practice,which are challenging the legitimacy of the medieval history of the world in China.