归有光贞女论与清代女性传记中的礼之辨

Gui Youguang’s Concept of Chastity and the Debate on Rituals in the Biography of Women in the Qing Dynasty

归有光曾撰文指“女子未嫁而夫死,或殉或守”不如“礼”。清人或专门撰文,或于贞烈女性传记中,对归氏之论多有激烈批判,而对归氏所作张贞女事之文又多有引用,并将之作为同类女性传记文的楷模,但他们对归氏晚年观点的转变却视而不见。这种辩论经历了从清初单纯针对“礼仪”的争论,到清中以考据方法论证,再到围绕“礼意”对“中庸”等儒家核心理念的阐释,特别强调女性贞烈事件的风教效应。其辩论的初衷及依据,与“礼治”理想、“政治忠贞”、旌表政策等因素密切相关。对归氏的批判或肯定,同时也是清人表达自身立场的话语策略。

Gui Youguang once wrote that“a woman whose fiancé died,either martyred or kept”does not conform to“ritual”.Scholars in the Qing Dynasty either wrote special articles,or expressed in the biographies of the virgin and the martyr,to criticize his theory fiercely. They also quoted Gui’s essay on Zhang Zhennv’s affairs many times,and regarded it as a model for similar biographical essays. At the same time,they turned a blind eye to Gui’s changing views in his later years. This kind of debate has experienced from the debate on“ceremony”in the early Qing Dynasty,to the method of textual research in the middle of the Qing Dynasty,and then based on the“essence of ritual”to explain the core concepts of Confucianism such as“the middle way”,with special emphasis on the moral effect of the female chastity incident. The original intention and basis of the debate are closely related to the ideal of“rule of etiquette”,“political loyalty”,and official policy. Criticism or affirmation of Gui’s theory is also a discourse strategy for the Qing scholars to express their position.