从京剧《赵氏孤儿》说开去:中国人忠诚观考察

Peking Opera The Orphan of Zhao and Beyond:A Study of the Chinese Ideal of Loyalty

中国学者中存在着一种相当普遍的观点,认为中国人和日本人的忠诚观截然不同:中国人的“忠”因有“仁”这一天平的裁量因而是相对的,而日本人的“忠”是无“仁”之“忠”因而是绝对的。本文的考察从1959年京剧《赵氏孤儿》出发,旨在检验此观点关于中国人忠诚观的部分是否成立。考察显示,虽然就1959年京剧《赵氏孤儿》而言该观点成立,然而当我们的视野转向历史文献、《赵氏孤儿》舞台的演变、中国著名历史人物忠诚观等诸多方面时,发现该观点不仅不能成立,而且妨碍我们正确认识现代中国历史、政治和文学与忠诚观相互交织激烈碰撞的种种现象及本质,因而是极其有害的。然而该观点最大的问题却是其鼓吹的如下刻板成见:即中国人和日本人的忠诚观扎根于各自的民族性格之中,从来如此,将来也不会改变。从这个意义上说,该观点其实不啻于一个类似“日本人论”的“中国人论”,必须对其加以批判。

It has often been proposed by Chinese scholars that the ideal of loyalty is drastically different in the cultures of Japan and China: while it is relative to the moral virtue of benevolence in China, it is absolute in Japan. This paper examines the validity of this proposal as applied to China. Starting from an analysis of a Peking Opera entitled The Orphan of Zhao, this research indicates that, while the proposal seems valid when applied to the 1959 opera, it collapses when we look beyond that play. Evidence from several sources, including historical records, and the evolving stage of The Orphan of Zhao, shows the proposal to be faulty. Indeed,the proposal is not only faulty, but also prevents us from understanding the dynamics underlying the complicated and often intense interactions of history,literature, and politics in modern China. The most serious problem of the proposal,however, is its advocacy of stereotypical views of Chinese and Japanese cultures reflected in its claim that the different Japanese and Chinese ideals of loyalty are inherent and timeless, existing mysteriously in the national characters of the two peoples. In conclusion, the proposal amounts to a chūgokujinron-a Chinese counterpart of nihonjinron-and must be treated as such.