四女传说——明清卫运河区域文化变迁的个案研究

The Four Ladies Legend: A Case of Local Cultural Transformation along the Wei Canal during the Ming-Qing Periods

四女传说作为运河市镇四女寺的标志性文化,明初以前是口头形式的女性情谊故事。明中叶随着运河交通及市镇发展,官府和佛道的影响增强,出现了碑文载体的孝道情节。清中叶市镇政治地位提升,官绅批判传说的佛道因素并推行儒家化版本。晚清四女寺逐渐衰落,官绅同时承认佛道化、儒家化的传说版本并建双祠祭祀。不同版本四女传说的冲突与并存,说明在四女寺市镇形成与发展过程中,僧道、官员、士绅等多个群体将不同的大传统投射到地方传说中,在此过程中,他们分别吸收、拒斥、承认与再造本地“土人”的传说版本。四女传说的演变,反映了大传统的多元内涵及其与地方文化的复杂互动过程,对认识明清时期运河区域文化变迁机制有重要意义。

The Four Ladies legend,a landmark cultural phenomenon of the Grand Canal town of Sinüsi,remained in oral form of a female-relation story before the early Ming,and was added a filial piety twist of Buddhist-Taoist color in the middle Ming,thanks to the development of the Canal transportation and economy.With the town's political status elevated in the mid-Qing,an alternative Confucian version was promoted by local officials and literati,but they later recognized both and constructed separate temples for them.The change shows how great traditions were ushered in and the way they absorbed,dismissed and accepted the native version of the legend.The layered interaction between the two explains the mechanism of local cultural transformation along the Grand Canal in the Ming-Qing periods.