闽国：10世纪的中国南方王国

by Edward H. Schafer, 薛爱华, 程章灿 (Translator)

本书是薛爱华最早出版的一部汉学专著。闽国（据有今福建省之地）是“五代十国”中的十国之一。从古至今专题研究这个时期的著作并不多，本书可以说是现代学者第一部全面研究闽国史的专著，至今在学术界仍有影响。

本书以10世纪时中国东南沿海的闽国为研究主题，全书采用大历史的视角，从自然环境切入，介绍了闽国的政府和政治结构、编年史、经济、艺术、信仰等诸多方面，不是单纯的闽国政治史，而是社会史、文化史、经济史的结合。在五代十国中，闽国既不强大也不显眼，但在闽地的开发和文化发展史上，闽国的历史无疑是其中最闪耀的篇章，也是我们了解五代十国史的一扇窗口。

Genres: History, China

216 pages, Hardcover

First published July 24, 2006

About the author

An American sinologist and a noted expert on the Tang dynasty. Schafer's most famous works include The Golden Peaches of Samarkand and The Vermilion Bird, which both explore China's interactions with new cultures and regions during the Tang dynasty.

Schafer earned a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1947. He then became a professor of Chinese there and remained at Berkeley until his retirement in 1984. From 1955 to 1968 Schafer served as East Asia Editor of the Journal of the American Oriental Society, and from 1969 to 1984 he held the Agassiz Professorship of Oriental Languages and Literature at Berkeley. He is also known within sinology for his uncompromising belief in the importance of language skills and learning and his differing approach on this subject to John King Fairbank. His publications include over 100 scholarly articles and more than a dozen books.

Also known as 薛爱华

Reviews

[Charlie Ye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive history of the Kingdom of Min written in the tradition of Western historical scholarship, spanning political, cultural, and social history. It provides an exceptionally thorough introduction to the cultural construction, religious origins, and social structures of 10th-century Fujian. It would be wonderful if there were more domestic accounts of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period; unfortunately, since the Song Dynasty, the history of this era has been suppressed by the ideology of “Great Unification”. We are fortunate that a foreign scholar like Edward H. Schafer took such an interest in this subject; as a native of Fujian, I can genuinely feel the author’s deep affection for my hometown. Naturally, the book’s greatest shortcoming is the scarcity of primary sources—one can only conclude that the obsession with “Great Unification” has truly decimated the historical record.

[Lordoftaipo · Rating 5 out of 5]

作為閩僑但不諳治史的人，難得找到這一本關於福建曾經獨立成國的史書，豈不鼓舞。閩國歷史存在大片空白，史述想當然稀少得可憐。但我的出發點就是藉陳迹了解一下昔日風情，果然薛愛華找到不少記載，令後半本書活脫脫就是一本縣志。因為正統史觀，閩國的史稿無以流傳。可不是是幾十年的王朝，天下破事一天十萬樁，是不是要永垂青史才叫不白費工夫？我想答案是否定的。又想找到福建的民族性，史料有限不多揭示，大體我卻想是迷信、勤勉。假如正史獲妥善保存，哪知道此書本來是多豐富。