汉代人的幸福观及其表达之考古学管窥

The Concept, and Material Representation, of Happiness in the Han Dynasty: An Archaeological Perspective

幸福观作为人类精神文化的重要内涵,是考古学研究的有机组成部分。基于汉代铜器、瓦当、玉器和纺织品等遗物上的铭文和装饰纹样以及墓葬装饰的考古发现和梳理可知,汉代人的幸福观主要由健康长寿、子孙繁昌、平安喜乐、酒食富足、家常贵富和高官厚禄这六种观念构成;其表达方式既注重语言文字表达,也注重图像纹样和器物造型的形象表达。汉代人的幸福观中,健康长寿、子孙繁昌、平安喜乐、酒食富足等观念是自古以来人类共有的观念,家常贵富观念是阶级社会的产物,而高官厚禄观念是秦汉时期形成的。汉代人的幸福观对近两千年来中国人的幸福观产生了深刻的影响。

The concept of happiness is a key component of human spiritual culture and also an integral part of archaeological research. Given the archaeological findings of inscriptions and decorative patterns on the Han Dynasty bronzes, tiles, jade artifacts, and textiles, as well as those discovered in the Han Dynasty tombs, we propose that the Han Dynasty people’s concept of happiness had six major components, namely longevity, prosperity, peace and happiness, the abundance of wine and food, wealth and prosperity of the family, and high officialdom. We also suggest that people of the Han Dynasty focused on both verbal and written expressions as well as figurative expressions in the form of patterns and artifacts. In the Han Dynasty, the concepts of longevity, prosperity, peace and happiness, and the abundance of wine and food are common to all human beings since ancient times, while the concept of family wealth was noticed for class-based societies only and the concept of high officialdom was not developed until the Qin and Han times. The concept of happiness in the Han Dynasty had a profound impact on the Chinese people’s concept of happiness over the last two thousand years.