试述城市史的编撰与研究——以《常州通史》为例

On the Research and Compilation of Urban History

城市史的研究与编撰是一项严谨的学术行为,存在相当的难度,一是"横不缺面,纵不断线"的学术目标,二是史料本身的缺憾。研究城市史要广事搜集、考证传世文献资料,辅以文物考古资料作补充与印证,揭示城市在长期发展中的规律和区域个性。城市史编撰本着"一代信史",把握城市史与城市志之间的区别与关联。鉴古知今,开辟未来。

The research and compilation of urban history,as a rigorous academic exercise,poses considerable challenges which mainly lie in the demanding academic goal of"being horizontally all inclusive and vertically continuous"and the defects in historical literature itself. Researchers of urban history need to widely collect extant literature,made textual research on them,and resort to cultural relics and archaeological materials as supplementary and corroborating evidence,in order to identify the patterns and regional characteristics of urban development in history. The compilation of urban history should undertake the mission of"documenting an epoch truthfully",and bear in mind the differences and associations between urban history and municipal chronicles. History is a mirror to both the present and the future.