大禹真实性问题再认识

Reconsidering the Authenticity of Yu the Great

禹是中国第一个统一王朝国家的开创者。其立政为民、治水除患的功业,勤于国事、公而忘私的品格,几千年来一直受到人们由衷的称颂。但是,20世纪二三十年代,禹是真实的人,还是虚拟的神,在古史学界有过一场热烈的讨论。顾颉刚认为禹是天神,而非真实的人王,并提出层累地造成古史说,在学术界影响深广,至今余波犹在。实际上,由于中国具有悠久的重史传统和史官制度,使不具文字记录条件的上古文明通过口耳相传的方式得以传流下来,有些细节可能失真,但基本框架和标志性人物不会是向壁虚构的,必然有其史实的质素。禹有神性是原史时期历史神话化的结果,应该还原为一个历史人物来看待,而且是中国早期文明史上的伟大人物。疑古派对大禹及夏代历史的否定,不管是作为一种古史观还是一种研究方法,都是需要加以扬弃的。

Yu the Great was the founder of China's first unified dynasty.His meritorious deeds of establishing government for the people,controlling floods and eliminating disasters,and his character of being diligent in state affairs and selflessness have been praised by people for thousands of years.However,in the 1920s and 1930s,whether Yu the Great was a real person or a fictitious heavenly deity was a heated discussion in the ancient history circle.Gu Jiegang believed that Yu the Great was a god,not a real king,and put forward the theory that ancient history was formed through the ages,which has a profound influence upon the academic circle,and the aftermath still exists today.In fact,due to China's long tradition of emphasizing history and the system of historians,ancient civilizations that do not have written records can be passed down through oral teaching.Some details may be distorted,but the basic framework and iconic figures will not be the same.If it is fictional,it must have the quality of its historical facts.Yu the Great's divinity is the result of historical mythologization in the proto-historical period.He should be treated as a historical figure,and is a great figure in the history of the early Chinese civilization.The denial of Yu the Great and the history of the Xia Dynasty by the school of suspicion needs to be sublated,whether it is a view of ancient history or a research method.