唐末五代政治史料中所見之民間社會情狀與軍中風習

Popular Social Practices and Military Culture in the Late Tang and the Five Dynasties: As Revealed by Accounts of High Politics

唐末五代是中國歷史上最特殊的時代之一，長時間和廣泛的動亂，使得政治統治者出現大規模的變化，許多人在短短的時間內從小民變成權位的享有者，好像一塊地經過猛烈翻攪，表層的許多土都是從深層挖上來的。唐末五代統治者的行為也有特異的樣貌，就可能和許多新統治者出身民間有關。由於宋代以前文獻中有關常民的訊息非常稀少，本文企圖透過唐末五代的政治史料，對中古晚期民間文化的若干面向有所擬測。這種探討方式有個方法論上的疑難。發掘軍政現象中的民間文化成分，需要有民間情態的直接訊息作為對照，才能夠證實或進行比較有力的推論，但就是因為直接訊息稀少，我們才需要替代品，這造成一個困境，替代品的可靠度不容易判定。本文也可以視為一個企求突破困境的嘗試。
本文探討唐末五代軍政領袖圈中的三個突出現象：養子風氣、婦女參政、伶人活躍――特別是俳優，主要說明這些現象與民間社會文化的關聯，藉此窺探唐宋之際的民間景況，並對相關問題提出看法。此外，本文探討的現象有些和軍隊有密切關聯，本研究因此也涉及了軍中風習。晚唐五代藩鎮勢力龐大，軍隊與軍人具有高度的政治社會重要性，認識軍人社群，也有助於我們了解這個時代。

The late Tang and the Five Dynasties (ca. 880–960) constitute one of the most peculiar periods in Chinese history. Long-term, widespread upheavals led to abrupt changes in the political and military elites. Many rose to become wielders of power from being nobodies within a short span of time. It was like a tremor-stricken patch of land where much of the surface soil had emerged from subterranean strata. This era is known for unusual behaviors in the political arena; this may have been due to the fact that many of the new rulers were from the lower echelons of society. Given the scarcity of information about common people in pre-Song China, this study attempts to gauge some aspects of popular culture on the basis of materials about the political history of the late Tang and Five Dynasties. This approach involves a methodological difficulty. Uncovering elements of popular social practices in accounts of political and military activities requires direct information about popular life for comparison. Yet it is precisely due to the lack of this direct information that we seek possible substitutes. A dilemma occurs that the reliability of the substitutes is not easy to gauge. My study may be regarded as an effort to overcome this dilemma.
This study examines three conspicuous phenomena in the high politics of the late Tang and the Five Dynasties: widespread son adoption, women’s political involvement, and the activeness of entertainers. It aims to illustrate and examine the connections of these phenomena with popular culture as a way of gaining insight into the lives of average people. In addition, a significant portion of the phenomena under investigation was present in the military. This article is thus related to military culture. As regional military governments were dominant in China during the late Tang and the Five Dynasties and military men held great social and political importance, a deeper understanding of military communities can advance our knowledge of the age in question.