THE HISTORY OF THE WARRING STATES IN THE LIGHT OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS IN CHINA

由于几年前考古发掘发现的两份古代记录，现在可以更清楚地了解中国的战国历史。其一是在马王堆出土的《战国纵横查书》的绢本手稿；其二是出土于水湖地的秦国竹板上记载的《变年记》。本研究利用这一新的手稿证据来考察《史记》的编纂过程及其作为战国史料来源的可靠性。研究表明，以编年史形式记述战国时期的《变年记》最好被理解为秦国的产物，或者更准确地说，是秦书来源的产物(这里称为《秦志》)。与《史记》相比，后者的《战国年报》基本上是正确的。进一步的结论是，《史记》的后半部分保留了相当独立于秦国之外的《曹志》，作为对《史记》叙事进行考证的独立资料来源，本研究利用《史记》对《史记》中的《战国史家》和《战国列传》材料的结构进行了考证。分析表明，从广义上讲，《史记》的材料来源可分为两类：一类是被冠以《战国志》标签的《史记》，其内容集中在年表上；另一类是记事类，用《战国志》一词来描述。本文所做的考证工作，应能为评价战国中国地区的特点提供依据，而学者们对这一问题的研究还相对较少。

It is now possible to understand more clearly the history of the Warring States period in China thanks to two ancient records recovered by archaeological excavations not many years ago. The first of these is the manuscript, written on silk, of the Chan-kuo tsung-heng-cha shu, recovered at Ma-Wang-tui; the second is the Pien-nien-chi, recorded on bamboo slats originating in the ancient kingdom of Ch'in which were unearthed at Shui-hu-ti. The present study makes use of this new manuscript evidence to consider both the process by which the Shih-chi was compiled and its reliability as a source for the history of the Warring States.Examination indicates that the Pien-nien-chi, an account of the Warring States period in chronicle form, is best understood as a product of the Ch'in kingdom or, to be more exact, of Ch'in sources (here termed "the record of Ch'in"). A comparison of this work with the Shih-chi shows that the "Chan-kuo nien-pao" of the latter is substantially correct. One further conclusion is that the latter half of the "Chao-shih-chia" chapter in the Shih-chi preserves, in part, a "the record of Chao" that is quite independent of the Ch'in kingdom.As an independent source providing a check on the narrative of the Shih-chi, the Chan-kuo tsung-heng-cha shu has been utilized in the present study of elucidate the structure of the "Chan-kuo shih-chia" and "Chan-kuo lieh-chuan" materials in the Shih-chi. Analysis indicates that, broadly speaking, the source materials from which the Shih-chi was built up fell into two categories: one pyte, which has received the label "Chan-kuo chi-nien", concentrated on chronology, while the other provided a narrative of events and is described by the term "Chan-kuo ku-shih".The sort of textual examination undertaken in the present study should provide a basis for evaluating the characteristics of different regions in the China of the Warring States, a question to which scholars have as yet devoted comparatively little research.