宋代“积贫积弱”说商榷

An Argument on the View of the "Piled-up Poverty and Weakness" of the Song Dynasty

自从钱穆提出宋代"积贫积弱"说以来,人们几乎都将它看作是宋王朝的基本特点,但这并不符合事实。宋代地盘比唐代小,而经济却比唐代发达,财政收入也比唐代高。四大发明中三大发明主要在宋代,和以往任何一个朝代相比都不贫,甚至还富一些。如从军事实力论强弱,宋比辽、金稍弱,进攻之力不足,防守则有余。和西夏比,实力还略强一些。蒙古是当时世界上最强大的帝国,惟有宋能抵抗数十年,从世界角度说,也可算是数得上的强国了。如果从综合国力考虑,宋不仅不能说弱,还应该说是相当强的。和东晋相比,地盘差不多大,经济则要发达得多,东晋并没有称"积贫积弱",为什么单单给南宋扣上这顶帽子呢,显然这是不公正的。

Since Qian Mu introduced the view of the 'piled-up poverty and weakness' of the Song Dynasty, almost everyone takes it as the basic characteristic of the dynasty, but it was not true of the fact. The Song Dynasty was smaller than the Tang dynasty in territory but more prosperous than it in economy and richer than it in financial income. Three of the four world-known inventions by the Chinese were made in the Song Dynasty. Compared with any former dynasty, the Song Dynasty was by no means poor, or rather, it was a little richer. In terms of military offensive strength, the Song Dynasty was a bit weaker than the Liao and the Jin Dynasty but in terms of defensive strength, the Song was a bit stronger. If compared with the Western Xia Dynasty, the Song's offensive strength was a bit stronger. Mongolia was the strongest empire all over the world in those days, but it was only the Song Dynasty that was able to rival with it for quite a few decades. Thus, the Song Dynasty could be taken as one of the strongest throughout the world. As far as comprehensive national resources are concerned, the Song didn't rank among the weak but among the strong powers. In comparison with the East Jin Dynasty, the Song Dynasty had a territory almost as big as the former, but much more economically developed than the former. Then, why was the former not labelled as the 'piled-up poverty and weakness' but the latter? This is obviously unfair.