中国古代青铜器的多维“物叙事”功能研究

Polyvalent Narratives of Material Agency: A Neo-Materialist Investigation into Ancient Chinese Bronzes

在当代物质文化研究从「文本主义」向「新物质主义」（new materialism）过渡的学术背景下，具有鲜明物质性特征的青铜文化研究同样呈现出了层次分明的多元研究取向。本文取径新物质主义理论和方法，结合叙事研究与考古学的交叉视角重新切入青铜器研究的知识系统，发现并归纳層屈青铜器在商周文明中承担的三种「物叙事」功能：一、作为礼制文化语法系统的物：通过纹饰技术与铸造体系构建权力话语，其「器以藏礼」的象征秩序成为早期国家意识形态的物化表达；二、作为仪式实践的具身性媒介物：峹祭祀、宴飨等仪式场域中，青铜器通过物质－感官互动重构并生产人神关系网络，推动早期中国从巫觋文化向礼乐文明的范式转型；三、作为物质「行动元」的物：凭借合金配比、铸造缺陷等物理属性介入技术传播、资源分配与社会权力重组，揭示出物质对社会进程的深层干預。本研究突破传统器物学对青铜器的阐释研究，从“符号－实践－物质”三个维度展开分析，既呈现青铜器將何通过多重叙事路径参与文明的生成，亦论证新物质主义理论对中国文化遗产研究的范式革新意义。这一跨学科探索不仅为古代器物研究提供方法论参照，更对当代文化遗产的“活性阐释”与价值重估具有启示性意义。

Under the academic backdrop of contemporary material culture studies transitioning from ''textualism'' to new materialism, research on bronze culture with distinct material characteristics has similarly manifested stratified and diversified scholarly orientations. This study adopts the theoretical and methodological framework of new materialism, reexamining the knowledge system of bronze ware research through an interdisciplinary perspective integrating narrative studies and archaeology. It identifies and categorizes three ''material narrative'' functions of ancient bronze artifacts in Shang-Zhou civilization: 1. As material embodiments of ritual cultural syntax: Constructing power discourse through decorative techniques and casting systems, where the symbolic order of ''vessels containing rituals'' served as materialized expressions of early state ideology. 2. As embodied media in ritual practices: In ceremonial contexts such as sacrifices and banquets, bronze artifacts reconstructed and reproduced divine-human relational networks through material-sensory interactions, facilitating China's paradigm shift from shamanistic culture to ritual-musical civilization. 3. As material ''actants'': Influencing technological transmission, resource allocation, and social power restructuring through physical properties like alloy composition and casting flaws, revealing material agency's profound intervention in social processes. Transcending traditional artifact-focused interpretations, this research conducts threedimensional analysis through ''symbol-practice-material'' perspectives. It not only demonstrates how bronze artifacts participated in civilizational formation through multiple narrative pathways, but also substantiates new materialism's paradigmatic innovativeness for Chinese cultural heritage studies. This interdisciplinary exploration provides methodological references for ancient artifact research while offering enlightening implications for contemporary cultural heritage's ''dynamic interpretation'' and value reevaluation.