论秦汉魏晋南北朝书信的类别及其构成的变化

On Letter Categories in Qin,Han,Wei,Jin,and South and North Dynasties,and Their Construction Changes

秦汉以前,不论是臣答君的回信,抑或臣子之间的通信,都一律称书。至秦汉时发生变化,皇帝给臣下的书称"诏书"、"赐书",臣下给皇帝的书称"上书"、"上奏"。"书"、"奏"加"上",强调了以卑达尊之意。除"书"和"奏"之外,还有"表"、"章"、"笺"。从书信构成看,各种类别的书信又可分为公文和私信两大类。奏、章、表、笺为公文或具有公文性质,而私人往来的信件大多称为"书"。西汉以前私人书信凤毛麟角,西汉以后私人信件开始增多,魏晋南北朝时期物质条件及社会环境的变化是私人书信比重剧增的原因。

All the letters of the emperor's reply to the ministers or all the correspondence among ministers were called as 'shu'before Qin and Han dynasties. Changes took place in Qin and Han dynasties. Those imperial prescript issued to liegemen were called as'zhaoshu'( imperial edict) and'cishu'( bestow edict),and those letters that the liegemen submitted to the emperor were called as'shangshu'( submit memorial to emperor) as well as'shangzou'( report to emperor),which mean that the humbles present memorial to higher authority. In addition,there were other forms such as'biao','zhang',and'jian'. As far as the letter construction concerned,the categories can be divided into the official one and the private one. 'zou','zhang','biao'and'jian'are official or of official sense,while the private correspondence were mainly called'shu'. There were very few private letters before Western Han dynasty but they increased dramatically after Western Han dynasty.It saw the sharp rise of private letters in the Wei,Jin,and South and North Dynasties,as great changes in material and social conditions took place during that time.