全球史视野下的明朝尚武展示

Presentation of Militarism in the Ming Dynasty from a Global Vision of History

明朝积极利用了各种媒体塑造并传播军事大典壮观场面,在信息科技尚未发达条件之下,皇帝希望借此与外界接轨,利用文臣诗赋的平台来传播圣君形象。虽然在政治上皇帝与廷臣之间冲突层出不穷,但是至少在明初时期,在颂扬军事大典这个问题上,他们的利益关系比较一致。到了明中后期随着政治文化变迁,越来越多的知识分子就排斥了大规模军事大典,将其描述为极其虚伪、毫无实质意义之举,军事大典很难起到展现皇帝魅力、彰显王朝军事力量的作用了。明朝军事大典同时包含了许多不同的意义和功能,它是一种消遣方式、一种运动爱好和军事训练,也是一种政治符号、宫廷典制等。

Despite of the backward information technology at the time, the Ming court made full use of all possible means to present and promote the magnificence of its military ceremonies. In the hope of connecting the court with the international world, scholar-officials’ poetry was utilized to serve as a platform to eulogize the image of a wise and sacred emperor. Although the political conflicts between the emperor and his officials had always remained a problem, at least in the early Ming Dynasty, they shared similar interests in promoting military ceremonies. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, with changes in political culture, more and more intellectuals began to repel large-scale military ceremonies, saw them as a hypocritical behavior with non-sense, and believed it was difficult to show the emperor’s charisma and the country’s military power through such ceremonies. The military ceremonies had some different meanings and served other functions. They were not only a good way of entertainment, sport, and military training, but also a political symbol and court institution.