王国维之《太史公行年考》立论基石发覆

Uncovering the Mistakes Hidden in the Foundation of the Thesis of The Criticism of Sima Qian's Year-by-Year Activities by Wang Guowei

王国维在司马迁生年的考证上有重大贡献,同时也存在严重缺陷。立论基石"数字讹误说"不能解释《史记》中为何"二十"与"三十"罕见互讹,而"三十"与"四十"频繁互讹,故不具"科学的基础",其论证也不合逻辑,司马迁生于汉景帝中元五年说(前145年说)不能成立。《索隐》与《正义》在司马迁生年上的"十年之差"与"数字讹误说"无关,而是"廿""!""?"和"世"字由唐入宋书体演变所致。

Wang Guowei made the significant contributions in his criticism of Sima Qian＇ s birth year, but his conclusion is se-riously defective. The foundation of his thesis Mmistakes of digits fails to explain the fact that in Historical Records the number 20 is practically never confused with the number 30, but that the number 30 and the number 40 are frequently found to be confused with each other. Therefore his thesis lacks “ a scientific foundation” and his line of reasoning is not logical, either. That Sima Qian was bom in the fifth year in the duration of Zhongyuan of Han Emperor Jing cannot be established. The defensive arguments put forward by Zhang Dake and other scholars are of no help. The “ten-year discrepancy” between Suoyin and Zhengyi about the birth year of Sima Qian is irrelevant with “mistakes of digits” , but it is the consequence produced by the change of writing at the period of transi-tion from Tang dynasty to Song dynasty.