以玉比德:中国玉文化之伦理观

Comparing Virtue to Jade:The Ethics of Chinese Jade Culture

以玉比德是中国玉文化发展史上十分重要的价值创新之一。无论是具体的玉石材料、玉石制品,还是制造玉器的工艺行为,抑或玉石的售卖、收藏、馈赠等活动,不但直接参与社会价值和个人价值的建构,而且比德符号的能指与所指并非一成不变的概念和范畴。从“惟德是辅”到“三纲五常”,再到现代社会的价值反思,从圣王到文人士子,再到市井百姓,“玉-人-德”相比附的伦理传统如今仍在大众探寻价值和存在意义的过程中承续与变化。

Comparing virtue to jade is one of the most important value innovations in the development history of Chinese jade culture.Whether it is specific jade materials,jade products,the craft behavior of making jade,or the activities of selling,collecting,and gifting jade,it directly participates in the construction of social value and personal value.Moreover,the signifier and signified of the bide symbol are not immutable concepts and categories.From only helping the virtuous"to three cardinal guides and the five constant virtues",and then to the value reflection of modern society,from the sage king to the literati,and then to the common people,the ethical tradition attached to the jade-person-morality"is still being inherited and changed in the process of the public's search for value and meaning of existence.