日志
西方人怎么看待和亲
热度 4 |
Edward Gibbon 的《罗马帝国消亡史》可谓英语文学的典范。丘吉尔读了 Gibbon 就成了英语大师。我一般是某个时候会拿出 GIBBON 看看。经常看得大笑。
今天读到的是描述匈奴历史的一段。关于汉高祖刘邦在被匈奴白登围困、不得不用陈平的计策才得以逃出，GIBBON写道【The emperor Kaoti, a soldier of fortune, whose personal merit had raised him to the throne, marched against the Huns with those veteran troops which had been trained in the civil wars of China. But he was soon surrounded by the barbarians; and, after a siege of seven days, the monarch, hopeless of relief, was reduced to purchase his deliverance by an ignominious capitulation. 】
关于高祖之后，GIBBON写道：【The successors of Kaoti, whose lives were dedicated to the arts of peace, or the luxury of the palace, submitted to a more permanent disgrace. They too hastily confessed the insufficiency of arms and fortifications. They were to easily convinced that, while the blazing signal announced on every side the approach of the Huns, the Chinese troops, who slept with the helmet on their head, and the cuirass on their back, were destroyed by the incessant labour of ineffectual marches. A regular payment of money and silk was stipulated as the condition of a temporary and precarious peace; and the wretched expedient of disguising a real tribute under the names of a gift or subsidy was practised by the emperors of China as well as by those of Rome. But there still remained a more disgraceful article of tribute, which violated the sacred feelings of humanity and nature.... The Tartars are an ugly and even deformed race; and while they consider their own women as the instruments of domestic labour, their desires, or rather their appetites, are directed to the enjoyment of more elegant beauty. A select band of the fairest maidens of China was annually devoted to the rude embraces of the Huns; and the alliance of the haughty Tanjous was secured by their marriage with the genuine, or adopted, daughters of the Imperial family, which vainly attempted to escape the sacrilegious pollution. The situation of these unhappy victims is described in the verses of a Chinese princess, who laments that she had been condemned by her parents to a distant exile, under a barbarian husband; who complains that sour milk was her only drink, raw flesh her only food, a tent her only palace; and who expresses, in a strain of pathetic simplicity, the natural wish that she were transformed into a bird, to fly back to her dear country, the object of her tender and perpetual regret.】
部分翻译：【中国把向匈奴人进贡美化成礼物与补助，这与罗马帝国是一样的。但中国还有一项更为耻辱的供奉，它违背了神圣的感情与人性。。。这些鞑靼人很丑甚至是变形的。一方面他们把自己的女人当成家务劳动的工具，另一方面，他们的欲望或者说他们的口味倾向于享受更为优雅的美女。每年，一群精心挑选的美貌中国未婚女子被奉献给匈奴人粗鲁的拥抱 
... 这些不快乐的牺牲品的状况在一位中国公主的诗中有着描述：一个蛮子丈夫，酸奶是唯一的饮料，生肉是唯一的食物，帐篷是唯一的宫殿，带着朴实的悲伤，她表达了一个自然的愿望，变成一只鸟，飞回她亲爱的故乡，那是她柔弱而永远遗憾的对象。】
... 这些不快乐的牺牲品的状况在一位中国公主的诗中有着描述：一个蛮子丈夫，酸奶是唯一的饮料，生肉是唯一的食物，帐篷是唯一的宫殿，带着朴实的悲伤，她表达了一个自然的愿望，变成一只鸟，飞回她亲爱的故乡，那是她柔弱而永远遗憾的对象。】GIBBON的历史非常详实，即使今天能在里面挑出点毛病也算发现了。他写的往往带着一些调侃的东西，虽然没有文献依据 （比如上面这个匈奴粗鲁的拥抱），但仔细想想也是必然的历史事实。
罗马帝国与中国对匈奴的进贡是类似的，但中国奉献美女则是更为耻辱。然而直到今天，中国历史还把这种进贡美化成民族团结的和亲。一种观点认为，奉献美女之后，下一代匈奴单于将具有部分汉人基因，但从历史看，更多是失败的例子。
发表评论 评论 (7 个评论)
- 回复 中西部网客
- 这种和亲历史现象无非是当时中国避免和北方少数民族发生战争的一种外交手段，不少是少数民族首领有意攀亲巴结的主动行为。并没有什么好感到不快的。
（不少国人也不一定知道）事实上历史上更多的是当时北方，及西域小国单于主动把王子送到中国长安一辈子当人质。疆独等民族分裂份子往往有意回避这一令他们感到耻辱的历史事实。
- 回复 岳东晓
- 当年高祖去世，匈奴要吕后改嫁单于，固然是文化差异，但对汉朝却是大辱，而又不得不忍着。和亲是打不过是的委屈政策，这是事实：强迫柔弱的女子充当盾牌。至于小国交付人质，不能抵消大国的屈辱。
中西部网客: 这种和亲历史现象无非是当时中国避免和北方少数民族发生战争的一种外交手段，不少是少数民族首领有意攀亲巴结的主动行为。并没有什么好感到不快的。
（不少国人 ...
- 回复 中西部网客
- 不全是小国送人质到中国，当匈奴为汉朝所败而渐趋衰微之时，他们也遣送人质到中国。所有中国历史上的人质都是单方人质——以保证臣服与效忠。从没有中国王子被遣送到匈奴为人质的历史记载。汉朝和乌孙的和亲则完全是为了夹击匈奴的一种手段。
岳东晓: 当年高祖去世，匈奴要吕后改嫁单于，固然是文化差异，但对汉朝却是大辱，而又不得不忍着。和亲是打不过是的委屈政策，这是事实：强迫柔弱的女子充当盾牌。至于小 ...
老毛子当年只要有机会，就给所有国家领导人及亲属，特别是共产国际的领导人，配备俄罗斯少女做夫人，此种＂和亲＂，并非示弱，而是变相控制它国的一种手段。
- 回复 岳东晓
- 人质一般是高价值的男性。这与供奉美女是不同的。
中西部网客: 不全是小国送人质到中国，当匈奴为汉朝所败而渐趋衰微之时，他们也遣送人质到中国。所有中国历史上的人质都是单方人质——以保证臣服与效忠。从没有中国王子被遣 ...
