A Critical Review of Viewpoints on the Time of the Origin of Hongqu(Red Yeast Rice)

红曲起源时代观点再辨析

Through a summary of the results of past research on the time of the origin of hongqu(红曲,red yeast rice),a critical review is made of multiple pieces of published evidence supporting the various viewpoints that hongqu originated from the Han,Wei,Jin,Tang,or Song dynasties.Based on a newly discovered textual comment by Kong Guangtao孔广陶(1832–1890)that rectified the mistake of mis-quoting“red wheat powder in Guazhou”(Guazhou hongzhi瓜州红)as“red yeast rice in Guazhou”(Guazhou hongqu瓜州红麯)in Entry into Learning(Chuxue ji初学记),a conclusion can be drawn that the evidence for a Han dynasty origin that has dominated for nearly forty years is not well-grounded,and proposes that Chinese hongqu originated in the Tang dynasty(618–907).

本文通过综述有关红曲起源时代问题的研究结果,辨析了国内外已发表的起源于汉、魏、晋、唐和宋代等不同观点的有关依据。本文以新发现的清朝孔广陶(1832~1890)对《初学记》将“瓜州红麯”误抄为“瓜州红麯”的订正为依据,认为20世纪80年代起流行了近40年的“汉代起源说”的依据欠确凿。经综合分析,主张我国红曲起源于唐代。