蒙冤叙事与下层抗争:天地会起源传说新论

Narratives of being Wronged and Lower-Class Opposition: A Study of the Legend about the Origin of the Heaven and Earth Society

从民间文化的语境来看,与其说天地会的起源传说是一种关于清初反满斗争的记载或影射,还不如说是一种另类的"义士蒙冤"叙事。跟近世以来大众文化中常规的"小民蒙冤"和正统的"忠臣蒙冤"叙事不同,"义士蒙冤"叙事容许甚至公开倡导对来自庙堂的巨大不公进行复仇性的抗争。这种抗争逻辑采用了大众文艺的戏剧化叙事结构,虽然染上了传统族类观念的色彩,但却深嵌于两千多年来的主流天命意识形态之中,下层抗争的正当性由此在形式上得到了主张。这一抗争逻辑的要义并非复仇伸冤,亦非"权利"意识的伸张。"顺天行道"这一口号体现了对于皇权的想象性竞逐,天地会在日常社会生活层面则沦为一种内外有别的集团暴力。

In the context of popular culture,the legend about the origin of the Heaven and Earth Society is better to be considered as a special type of injustice narratives,i.e. narratives of righteous people's being wronged,rather than records or hints of actual history of Manchu-Han conflicts. Different from the ordinary narratives of grassroot people's being wronged and orthodox narratives of loyal ministers' being wronged,the narratives of high-minded people's being wronged allowed for,or even advocated,vengeful opposition to the injustice from the court. This logic of opposition adopts dramatic narrative structure taken from the popular culture,and is deeply rooted in the two-thousand-year-old mainstream ideology of mandate of Heaven,thus gaining a pro forma legitimacy for opposition of the lower class. The key point of such opposition,however,is neither vengeance nor some kind of consciousness of 'Rights'. Behind the slogan of 'Shun Tian Xing Dao',or 'Obey the Heaven to enforce justice',there is an imagined competition for imperial power. While in the sphere of social life,the actual behavior of the Heaven and Earth Society becomes kind of group violence with exclusive rules.