文/五花肉

實用與藝術的平衡
——雅俗共賞的唐代“正字”

Balance between Practicality and Art——The Popular“Orthography”of the Tang Dynasty

文/五花肉

漢字Chinese character書法calligraphy正字學orthography規(guī)范化standardization

——顏元孫《干祿字書》

The vulgarized characters should be simple and easy-to-understand……the popular characters should be spread far and long……the orthodox characters should serve as reliable reference.

——張參《五經文字》

Unorthodox characters can be used in informal situations.

——《新唐書·選舉志》

In an imperial competitive examination,the candidates need to take the oral test before the written test, the eligibility criterion of which requires that the candidate make right answers to 18 out of the 20 questions from the Annotation of Explaining Article and Interpreting Words and Zilin(Collection of Words).

作為書法的載體和造型基礎，從殷商至今，有據(jù)可考的漢字歷史已超過三千年，其由異而同、由繁而簡的漫長演進過程就是一部漢字持續(xù)規(guī)范化和標準化的歷史。

The Chinese character,a carrier to convey the spirit of calligraphy,has witnessed a history of over 3,000 years since the Shang Dynasty.The standardization of the Chinese character is reflected in the unification and standardization of the character patterns.

李斯奏請“書同文”

有研究指出，中國歷史上的秦、漢、唐和明清等時期，曾先后出現(xiàn)四次大規(guī)模漢字規(guī)范和統(tǒng)一運動，留下了“書同文”、《熹平石經》、“正字學”運動和“館閣體”等人文盛舉。其間，除了秦代“書同文”以王朝力量強制推行標準字體外，后三次均為官民并舉，而其中唐代“正字學”更被譽為中國歷史上最大規(guī)模的漢字規(guī)范化運動。

清朝狀元館閣體

Researchers have found that there were four grand movements of Chinese character standardization,respectively marked by the“unifying of characters”during the Qin Dynasty,the Stone Carvings of Confucian Classics during the Period of Xiping in the Han Dynasty,the promotion of orthography during the Tang Dynasty,and the adoption of standardized characters for official use during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.The“unifying of characters”during the Qin Dynasty was imposed by the government,yet the latter threemovementshadwongovernmentaland non-governmental supports,among which the promotion of orthography during the Tang Dynasty was hailed as the most prominent in terms of scale.

在那個“公私倉廩俱豐實”的鼎盛時代，人們秉承寬容精神，圍繞確定漢字標準字體，開展了大規(guī)模漢字規(guī)范化學術活動，涌現(xiàn)出“從俗”與“從古”兩個學派?！懊袼着伞鳖佋獙O，久思而著《干祿字書》，從名與實、體與用角度，將漢字字體分為正體、通體和俗體三類，分別用于官文應試、行文記錄和日常生活；“經典派”張參，承詔編篡《五經文字》，明確提出以是否被《說文解字》、《字林》或《經典釋文》等經典收錄為標準，判斷正字與訛字。

顏真卿干祿字書

說文解字

That was an abundant era in which the spirit of tolerance prevailed.There appeared two schools of thought during the standardization movement of Chinese characters—one advocates the vulgarization of characters and the other the return to the classical patterns.The former school was led by Yan Yuansun,who took painsbefore accomplishing the Book of Characters for Officials.It includes three types of characters,respectively for official exams,documenting,and daily life.Zhang Shen,representative figure of the latter school,edited Words from the Five Classics,according to which whether or not a character was correct depended on its inclusion into such classics as Annotation of Explaining Article and Interpreting Words,Zilin(Collection of Words),and Interpreting of Classical Works.

此間，唐王朝還設立弘文館、崇文館、翰林院等機構，對楷書進一步規(guī)劃化、法度化，使之成為官方推行的規(guī)范書體，并列入科舉考試內容。唐代異體字比例大幅下降，為后世漢字進一步統(tǒng)一奠定了良好基礎。

The governments of the Tang Dynasty aimed to standardize and legalize characters by establishing organizations such as Hongwenguan,Chongwenguan,and Hanlinyuan.The official standard was reflected in the imperial competitive examinations.The number of unorthodox characters was slashed,which laid a solid foundation for the unification of Chinese characters.

盡管唐王朝并未將規(guī)范成果以國家法令頒行全國，正字學尚難視同于現(xiàn)代意義上的文字規(guī)范化運動，但恰恰由于這種溫和而不徹底的特性，使人們在廟堂與江湖間，在實用的文字與藝術的書法間形成了完美平衡，唐代涌現(xiàn)出褚遂良、顏真卿、虞世南等一大批政治家兼書法大家。

Despite that the standardizing of characters was not prescribed by law during the Tang Dynasty,the promotion of orthography cannot be called a movement, strictly speaking.Yet,it is the moderate feature of the promotion that strikes a balance between the practicality and art of calligraphy.Thus the Tang Dynasty boasted a lot of great politicians cum calligraphic artists such as Chu Suiliang,Yan Zhenqing,and Yu Shinan.

要須胸中有道義，又廣以圣哲之學，書乃可貴。回首唐代這段洋溢著學問文章之氣、官民共同推進漢字規(guī)范化的生動歷史，我們由漢字及于書法，隱約窺見了“字內功”與“書外工”相輔相成的奧妙，也更加欽佩中華文明母體中蘊涵的兼收并蓄、包容大氣的獨特精神氣質。

The book is of great use only when one is acquainted with moral and philosophical principles.The trace to the glorious Tang Dynasty when both governmental and nongovernmental efforts were made to promote the standardization of Chinese characters proffers us an insight to the mysterious aura of calligraphy which requires at once extensive knowledge and a good command of techniques,as well as the inclusive feature and unique ethos of the Chinese civilization.

（支持單位：上海市標準化研究院）