港大中文學院

香港大學中文學院  X《香港大學中文學報》 School of Chinese, HKU X HKU Journal of Chinese Studies
名家講壇系列  ∙ 第二講  Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series #2

「e文獻學」的濫觴——從西安碑林藏金代府學學產碑談起
Digital Philology in Practice: A Study of the Xi’an Stele of Jingzhao Prefectural School Property in the Jin Dynasty

Abstract:

中國古代常可見以「間」或「半間」計數建築，近透過資料庫的檢索，察知《續修四庫全書》本的陸增祥編《八瓊室金石補正》，收錄西安碑林藏金明昌五年(1194)《京兆府提學所帖碑》釋文，而此碑刻上所載的近200處地舍學產首次出現0.75間的零頭。在瀏覽並對照網上早期流傳的一種《續修四庫全書》電子檔後，赫然發現釋文之PDF檔竟有119個字與紙本原書不同（遭人竄改？），「典海」「雕龍」「鼎秀」及「書同文」所錄入的此碑，亦各有76-344個誤字。e時代在面對石刻、拓片、釋文、PDF檔、資料庫等文本的訛誤時，該如何較平衡地去掌握大數據滋生的機遇與侷限？本研究讓我們有機會重新理解古代租稅資料中的畸零「間」數與「㭬」數。

The terms of jian 間 or ban-jian 半間  have been often used in architectural measurement in ancient China. In recent search of databases, I noticed that the Xuxiu Siku quanshu (Supplemental Series for the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries) edition of Lu Zengxiang’s Baqiongshi jinshi buzheng (Supplemental Corrections to Metal and Stone Inscriptions from the Eight-jade Hall) contains an illustration of the 1194 Stele of Jingzhao Prefectural Office of Education at the Xi’an Steles Forest. Notably, the fractional unit of 0.75 jian appears for the first time on the stele inscription about approximately 200 educational properties. By comparing it with a formerly circulated digital version of the Xuxiu Siku quanshu, I found that the PDF version of the illustration contains 119 discrepancies (possibly intentional falsification?). Furthermore, transcriptions of this stele in the Dianhai, Diaolong, Dingxiu, and Shutongwen databases exhibit a range of 76 to 344 erroneous characters. In this Information Age, how should scholars navigate the opportunities and limitations of big data when they confront errors across varied textual sources such as stone carvings, rubbings, illustrations, PDF versions, and databases? This study allows us to refresh our understanding of the fractional jian and zhuo 㭬 measurements in the taxation documents in history.

About the Speaker:

黃一農教授自美國哥倫比亞大學物理系獲得博士學位，曾在美國知名大學擔任天文學家，1987年任職於台灣清華大學歷史研究所至今。2006年他被選為臺北中研院人文組院士，也曾獲荷蘭萊頓大學首屆「胡適漢學訪問講座教授」、香港大學及香港理工大學榮譽教授、北京中國科學院名譽研究員、北京中國藝術研究院名譽高級研究員等榮譽。主要研究領域包括中國科技史、中歐文化交流史，軍事史、偽科學及大數據。

Professor Huang Yi-Long received his Ph.D. in Physics at the Columbia University, U.S.A. He worked as an astronomer before he went to teach in the Institute of History at the Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, in 1987. He was elected as an Academician in the Academia Sinica in 2006. He has been conferred as the Chair Professor and the Honorary Professor at Leiden University, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Senior Research Fellow at Chinese National Academy of Arts. His main research areas include History of Chinese Science, China-Europe Cultural Exchanges, Military History, Pseudo-science, and Big Data.