从历史“方国”到神话“异国”的断裂与重构——基于《山海经·海外南经》“贯匈国”的考证

Fracture and Reconstruction from“Historical Country”to Mythical“Foreign Country”:Based on a Textual Research of“Guan Xiong Country”“in Shan Hai Jing·Hai Wai Nan Jing”

神话传说与历史在早期发生与传播过程中往往是一个混合的整体,在其传播过程中依赖于“口头传统”和“图文结合传统”,但二者在传播过程中具有不稳定性,所以常会发生神话传说与历史内容的断裂和重构,而基于特定的时代文化背景,这一过程既有继承又有异变。基于此,追溯《山海经·海外南经》中的“贯匈国”的原型,可以认定“贯匈国”并非纯粹的虚构,而应是商代甲骨卜辞中记录的活动在西部地区的“(毌)方”,也即是西周文献中的“串夷”。由于“口头传统”和“图文结合传统”的断裂和重构,历史上“毌方”(串夷)失去了其原始含义,至战国后,“贯匈”被时人依据当时的文化背景重新阐释,遂成为了“为人匈有窍”的神话“异国”。而现代部分神话研究者往往忽略这一过程,直接将“匈有窍”与民俗学材料结合,在“形而象之”的基础上加以阐释,这类研究缺乏科学性和逻辑性,反思这类研究对于今日神话学的研究具有重要意义。

Since modern times,with the introduction of the concept of“myth”into China,academic circles often take myth and history as two opposing concepts.Myths are often regarded as imaginary stories,while history is regarded as a record of past facts.This antagonism has led to a long-term discussion on the relationship between myth and history.However,when it comes to just Chinese mythology and history,they are often a mixed whole in the early process of occurrence and transmission;this means that mythology itself contains the essence of history,and this inclusion relationship also means that history has the mechanism of“mythization”.On this basis,the academic circles have carried out a retrospective study on the historical elements contained in some myths and achieved a series of achievements.However,in this kind of research,some scholars tend to ignore the historical era and regional background of the creation of mythological content,and pay little attention to the era and regional background of the writing of the relevant mythological classics,as well as their cultural inheritance and variation.As a result,some studies ignore the fracture and reconstruction of the mixture of myth and history in the process of transmission.Taking the relevant research of“Guan Xiong country”in Shan Hai Jing·Hai Wai Nan Jing as an example,this paper conducted a comprehensive investigation of the compilation process,compilation time,as well as the historical and cultural background of Shan Hai Jing.The mainstream view of the academic circle believes that the Shan Hai Jing was mainly compiled in the Warring States period,and it also had some supplementary contents in the Qin and Han dynasties.However,it contains a large number of mythological contents from the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties,which indicates that the Shan Hai Jing has a heritage relationship with the culture of the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties.Therefore,the study of“Guan Xiong country”cannot be separated from the factors such as the content of the text from that era,the territory and geography of the country,and the degree of regional cultural exchange.Based on former scholars research findings and combined with the records of the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty,inscriptions on ancient bronze objects of the Western Zhou Dynasty,and handed-down documents,this paper proposes that“Guan Xiong country”is the“(Guan)Fang”which is located in the western region of the Shang Dynasty,as recorded in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty.Due to the coexistence of“oral tradition”and the“tradition of combining pictures and texts”in the communication process of early myths and history,and the two transmission ways themselves have the characteristics of“uncertainty”,“Guan Fang”(Chuan Yi)in the history is likely to lose its original meaning.When it came to the Warring States period,“Guan Xiong”was interpreted again by people on the basis of their own cultural background and thinking mode,thus in the process of the fracture and reconstruction,it became a mythical“foreign country”where“man s chest has orifices”.Based on the above conclusions,this paper further states that a reflection on the various phenomena of modern mythological research can help us know that paying more attention to scientific and logical research is of great significance to today s mythology research.