论“三老五更”中“五更”的产生年代

Analysis of the Production Year of Wugeng in Sanlao and Wugeng

根据《礼记》关于"三老五更"的记载,学界多以为"五更"与"三老"俱始于周代,然检诸文献,先秦时"五更"的相关记载却相当罕见,西汉初期的文献中也多云"养三老",不言"五更"。又据《汉书》王莽"养三老五更"的记载可知,"五更"的产生年代实应在西汉末年而非周代。今本《礼记》"五更"一词当为后人所加,周代大学"养老礼"的对象也不包括"五更"。

According to the record of the Book of Rites, many scholars think that both Wugeng and Sanlao had started in the Zhou Dynasty, but the examination of different documents shows that there was no any record about Wugeng in the pre-Qin Period, but there were more records about Sanlao without the mention of Wugeng in the literature in the early Western Han Dynasty. The record in the Book of Han shows that Wugeng started in the late Western Han Dynasty rather than in the Zhou Dynasty. Wugeng should have been added to the Book of Rites by the later generations, the pension ritual in the universities in the Zhou Dynasty does not include Wugeng, either.