“古诸侯称王说”公案考论

Research on the Theory of Ancient Federal Princes Claiming Throne

青铜器铭文及传世文献中均有西周春秋时期诸侯称王的记载。关于这一现象,王国维曾提出"古诸侯称王说"。"古诸侯称王说"对后来的西周春秋史研究产生过重大误导,直到半个多世纪以后方由王世民和张政烺分别纠正其谬误。笔者首先分析了王国维对于"古诸侯称王"现象认识的变化,指出王国维晚年已经放弃了"古诸侯称王说",然后梳理了王国维著作的整理出版过程,发现在王国维去世后,其弟子赵万里整理遗著时贪多求全,仍旧收录了王国维已经舍弃的《古诸侯称王说》这篇短文,因而导致谬说流行,贻误后人。此公案为后人整理学术文集带来了警示,即研究者必须以研究对象的最终学术认识作为取舍标准。

The inscriptions of bronze ware and handed-down documents both record the phenomena that some federal princes in West Zhou and Spring and Autumn Periods claimed throne. In regard to the phenomena, Wang Guowei proposed the Theory of Ancient Fedaral Princes Claiming Throne which had generated a significant mislead to the history study of West Zhou and Spring and Autumn Periods until Wang Shimin and Zhang Zhenglang corrected its mistake respectively after more than half a century. In this article, the evolution of Wang’s academic perspective on the phenomena of ancient federal princes claiming throne was analysed first. It’s found that Wang has abandoned the Theroy in his later years. Then the collation form and publishment sequence of Wang Guowei’s publications was inspected. The conculsion is that this academic case is generated by Zhao Wanli who collated Wang Guowei’s publications outright and without discard. This work can draw caution to the collation of academic collected works by others that the collation standard must be the author’s ultimate academic respective.