論清華簡所謂《繁年》的書籍性質

On the Textual Nature of the So-called Chronicle in the Tsing-hua Bamboo Slips

本文以新近公布的清華簡第二冊為討論對象，分兩大段，探討這一百三十八簡的書籍性質為何。第一大段分別從記事不專繫於任何一國、不書時月而且經常省略任何一國的世系、敘事時，不以「我」稱述某國，於諸侯並列時，又不將該國置於首位、記載言論、不記異等方面，揭示這批材料違反史家記事的傳統，與見知的魯《春秋》、魏《竹書紀年》均迥別，並非任何一國的編年史書，而且顯然不是出自世襲史家之手。第二大段先確定這批竹簡內容的上下限斷，然後舉例證實這本書的取材有許多來自《左傳》以外者，進而說明此書應該是本有關春秋時期歷史梗概的節抄本，因此在敘事時，才會有許多交代不清之處，甚至錯誤。所以需要這種節抄本，大概是基於教育目的，以便讓人獲得春秋時期的歷史常識。因此，將這批竹簡題名為《繫年》，視為與《竹書紀年》性質近似的史書，是錯誤的。

This paper, divided into two parts, discusses the nature of the text written on the one hundred thirty eight bamboo slips collected in the second volume of the recently released Tsing-hua. Bamboo Slips The first part presents the fact that there are accounts that are not specifically tied to any one state, give no information on the time and date and often omit the genealogy and narratives of any state, accounts of a state without the narrative subject “We” (wo) to represent the state and without putting one's own state in the first place when juxtaposing the vassal states, and records of speeches without mentioning the disparate others. It thus concludes that these materials are out of tune with the narrative tradition observed by historians; different from Spring and Autumn Annals (Ch'un-ch'iu) of the Lu State and Bamboo Annals (Chu-shu chi-nien) of the Wei State, this text is not a chronological history of any state and apparently not from the hands of a hereditary historian. The second part determines the upper and lower limits of the content of this bamboo slip manuscript first, and then cites examples to show that this text contains materials mostly from sources other than Tso Commentary (Tso-chuan). It thus demonstrates further that it is a hand-copied extract, a sketch of history of the Spring and Autumn period, and therefore there are so many confusing accounts and even errors in the narration. The reason to have such hand-copied extract was presumably for educational purposes, to give people general knowledge of the historical Spring and Autumn period. In summary, it is a mistake to consider this bamboo slip text as a historical record structurally similar to Bamboo Annals and entitle it Chronicles (Hsi-nien).