敦煌蒙书《兔园策府》的流传与散佚

The Spread and Loss of Tuyuan Cefu,a Children’s Textbook in Ancient China,Uncovered in Dunhuang

《兔园策府》为唐太宗之子李恽令僚佐杜嗣先仿科举对策文体例创作的文集。由于其内容丰富、文辞华丽、行文严谨,最初主要作为科举士子应试对策文的参考书流传,唐前期科举对策文中多有模仿其文句者。后随着流传渐广,不再具备模仿价值,渐被士子鄙弃,沦为乡村书塾教授儿童习文造句的童蒙教材。至于明清时期,随着科举制度的变迁和作文体例的改变,此书彻底丧失实用价值,趋于散佚。《兔园策府》曾广泛流传,其由科举参考书到童蒙教材的转变,直至最终亡佚,是我国古代社会文化变迁的一个缩影。

Tuyuan Cefu is a collection of Duice essays(i.e.argumentative essays)written by Du Sixian,a staff member of Tang Taizong’s son Li Yun.Because this book was written when Li Yun served as the governor of Liangzhou,it was named Tuyuan Cefu.Tuyuan Cefu is often mentioned in the handed-down history books as a book of vulgar childhood in rural education.It is believed to have been widely spread as a children’s textbook.However,because Tuyuan Cefu has long been lost,we can’t understand its true appearance from the only words and phrases in the handed-down historical records.The discovery of the Tuyuan Cefu remnants in Dunhuang is very important for our study of the book.Tuyuan Cefu,which was rich in content,gorgeous in language,and rigorous in writing,was modelled on the style of Duice essays required by the imperial examination and had been widely circulated in ancient China.