安石榴的引进与石榴文化探源

A Study of the Introduction of Pomegranate and its Symbolic Culture

石榴原产于西亚,经中亚、西域传入中国。石榴树汉代已经传入,魏晋南北朝时北方已经普遍种植,并向南方扩展,唐代遍及全国各地。美国汉学家劳费尔以为石榴传入中国在3或4世纪的论断有误。石榴树除具有多方面的实用价值外,在世界各地不同文化中还具有丰富的文化意蕴,其吉祥、丰收和繁育、多子多福观念在各种文化中具有共同性。在中国文学中石榴还成为文人托物言志的对象,这一外来物种成为内涵丰富的意象和符号。

Pomegranate originated in West Asia and was later introduced into China through Central Asia and Western Regions.Since its introduction from the Han Dynasty,it has been deeply rooted in the north of China during the Wei-Jin Northern and Southern Dynasties,and later extended to the south and even all China by the Tang Dynasty.American Sinologist,Berthold Laufer denies the coming time of pomegranate to China in the third or the fourth century.Pomegranate,apart from many practical values,also enjoys rich similar cultural implications in different places around the world in its good connections with auspiciousness,harvest and fertility.In Chinese literature,it has become a rhetorical device for the literary scholars to express their emotions by depicting pomegranates.Thus,this introduced species has become a cultural symbol in China.