龟兹“孔雀”考

A Study on the Peacock at Qiuci

关于龟兹孔雀的历史记忆,保留相当长久。以往讨论中国历史时期孔雀的地理分布及其变迁的论著对此似乎有所忽略。综合《汉书》、《后汉书》、《魏书》等书的记载可知:"孔雀生南州"的成见或许应当有所修正。龟兹等西域地方所出"孔雀"是何种禽鸟、是否与南国"孔雀"同类及其作为一种历史存在的环境条件,都是很值得探讨的生态史问题;历史上人们"取养而食之"并形成一定的经营规模,是野禽驯养史上的有趣现象;而龟兹孔雀有关信息传入中土的途径和影响则值得交通史研究者充分关注。相关考察的深入,或许还有待于民族文献研究以及动物考古研究的进步。

The historical memory of the peacock at Qiuci has been kept for a very long time. However, it seems that not much research on this in the past has yet been done in the writings about the geographical distribution and change of pea- cocks in Chinese history. It can be learned from the comprehensive study of Han Shu, Hou Han Shu, and Wei Shu that the argument ＂Peacock lived in the South of China＂ should be amended. What kind of bird was the peacock in the Western Regions of China such as Qiuci？ Was it the same kind of birds as the peacock in the South of China？ What about the environmental conditions for its existence in history？ These are important questions for further exploring in the ecological histo- ry. It was an interesting phenomenon in the history of wild bird domestication that ＂some wild birds were adopted and raised＂ and their domestication had reached to a certain size in history. However, researchers of the communication history should pay enough attention to the ways in which related information about the peacock at Qiuci was brought to Central Chi- na and the effect that they had. Further studies on the related issues would probably rely on the progress made in the study of ethnic historical literature and animal archeology.