北宋外国非官方人士入贡问题探析——以大食商人和天竺僧侣为中心

Research on the Non-official Foreign People Tributary in Northern Song Dynasty:focus on the Arab traders and Indian monks

两宋时期,外国使客入华朝贡络绎不绝。如果以使客的身份来划分,大致可以分为三类:一是代表本国来华朝贡的外交使节(官员、王室成员、商人、僧侣等),二是以个人身份来贡的蕃客(商人、僧侣),三是介于使节和蕃客之间的使客(商人、僧侣)。目前史学界关于宋代朝贡问题的研究甚多,但多侧重于官方外交使节的朝贡问题,而对于非官方人士的入贡则较少关注。以往研究亦有涉及大食商人、天竺僧侣和高丽僧侣等的入贡问题,然仍未深入发掘其历史线索和价值。本文在前人研究的基础上,以北宋(南宋无非官方人士入贡事件,原因见下文分析)入贡的大食商人和天竺僧侣为主要考察对象,探析宋朝非官方人士入贡问题,以求教于方家。

In Song Dynasty,the Arab traders and Indian monks were the main bearer of the non-official foreign people tributary.Their tributary channels were respectively the operation of foreign businessman in China,their own application and gone with Song monk,the recommendation by local government or tribal chief.The main contents of the tributary were respectively commercial trade and religion exchange.The loose tributary policy at the beginning of Song Dynasty,the setup of Translation Institute(译经院)and the need of obtaining foreign information made the Song Court willing to accept the non-official people tributary.The non-official people tributary mainly concentrated before 1016,which was mainly affected by the operation of the tributary policy of Song Dynasty and Translation Institute.The foreign non-official people tributary was fragmented and optional,lack of organization and normality.