当代符号学视角下中国古代凤舟图像叙事

The Pictorial Narrative of Ancient Chinese Bird-pattern Boats under the Perspectives of Modern Semiotics

凤舟是我国流传至今而鲜为人知的传统民俗之一,古代凤舟图像的解读对于溯源中国舟船竞渡历史,厘清舟船竞渡谱系,发掘凤舟承载文化,传承凤舟竞渡民俗具有重要意义。本文选取商周至秦汉时期古代凤舟相关遗存图像,综合考古、田野、文献等资料,以米克·巴尔为主的当代符号学研究理论展开凤舟图像叙事的分析,借助巴尔“换框”的阐释方法,分析不同语境“画框”之下的凤舟竞渡隐匿符号世界,将研究的视角转向到图像叙事分析上,综合不同凤舟研究者的观点,对凤舟图像进行了重新解读和定义,阐释了中国古代文化背景下不同时期、不同族群凤舟图像叙事的意义;研究进一步展开了中国古代凤舟竞渡图像与东南亚地区古代鸟舟竞渡图像、台湾地区鸟舟实物之间的关联比较,溯源了中国古代凤舟竞渡文化与海上丝绸之路国家和地区之间的渊源和交流,对当今遗存的鸟舟竞渡相关图像解读将逐步揭开凤舟竞渡文化的本真面容。

Bird-pattern boats belong to traditional Chinese folk customs passed down till now,known by few people.The understanding of the pictures on ancient Chinese bird-pattern boats is conducive to tracing the history of Chinese boat ferrying competitions,clarifying the boat ferrying systems,uncovering the cultural symbols carried by bird-pattern boats,and inheriting the folk custom of bird-pattern boat ferrying competitions.Taking the remaining pictures related to ancient bird-pattern boats from Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Qin and Han Dynasties,this paper examines the underlying symbolic worlds of bird-pattern boats in different contexts.We adopt a comprehensive approach including literatures from archaeology,field work and files,Micke Bal’s modern semiotics and his“frame shifting”assumption,and analysis of pictorial narration.Our research unveils the narrative significance of ancient Chinese bird-pattern boats,their relation with Southeast Asia’s ancient bird-pattern boat ferrying images,a comparison between them and Chinese Taiwan’s bird-pattern boat relics,and the links between them and other countries on the ancient Maritime Silk Road.