06.21 双语：写于2300年前的《楚帛书》如何流落到了美国？

写于2300年前的《楚帛书》如何流落到了美国？

How a Chinese Manuscript Written 2,300 Years Ago Ended Up in Washington

张彦

2018年6月21日

BEIJING — Sitting in an underground storeroom near the Washington Mall is a tiny silk parchment. Written 2,300 years ago, it is a Chinese version of the Dead Sea Scrolls, with text that swirls like the stars through the firmament and describes the relationship between humans and heaven.

北京——在华盛顿广场(Washington Mall)附近的地下储藏室里，有一块小小的丝帛。它书写于2300年前，相当于中国版的《死海古卷》(Dead Sea Scrolls)，上面的文字就像苍穹中旋转的群星，描绘了天人之间的关系。

For decades, the ancient document, known as the Chu Silk Manuscript, has fascinated people seeking an understanding of the origins of Chinese civilization. But it has been hidden from public view because of its fragility — and the uncertain circumstances by which it ended up in the United States.

几十年来，这份被称为《楚帛书》的古老文献一直吸引着想要了解中华文明起源的人们。但由于脆弱易损，所以它一直不为公众所见——而且它一直处在动荡的环境之中，直到最后流落美国。

Now, a prominent Chinese historian and archaeologist has pieced together its remarkable odyssey in a meticulously documented analysis that has caused a stir in the rarefied world of Chinese antiquities and raised broader questions about collectors who profit from pillaging historic sites.

如今，一位著名中国史学家兼考古学家在一份详实的分析报告中梳理出它非凡的旅程。这份报告在中国考古界阳春白雪的小圈子里引起了轰动，还令人们对掠夺历史遗迹获利的收藏家产生了更多质疑。

The 440-page study traces the provenance from tomb raiders who discovered it during World War II, to an antiques dealer whose wife and daughter died fleeing Japanese troops, to American spies who smuggled it out of China and finally to several museums and foundations in the United States.

这份长达440页的研究追溯了《楚帛书》的源流，从二战期间发现它的盗墓者；到一个妻女在逃避日军时遇难的古董商；再到几位美国间谍，他们把它从中国走私到美国，令它在几个博物馆和基金会中辗转。

The findings have put new pressure on the manuscript’s current owner, the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, to return it to China after decades of on-again, off-again efforts to sell it to Chinese institutions. According to people briefed on the discussions, the foundation is now in renewed talks with Beijing and indicated that it was willing to settle for a “finder’s fee.”

这些发现导致帛书目前的所有者阿瑟·M·萨克勒基金会(Arthur M. Sackler Foundation)面临把手稿归还中国的新压力。几十年来，该基金会一直断断续续地试图将该手稿卖给中国的机构。据知情人士透露，该基金会目前正在与北京重启谈判，表示愿意只收取“发现者费用”。

Elizabeth A. Sackler, the foundation’s president, declined an interview request but said in an email, “The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation will continue in good faith to find a way to have the manuscript returned to its country of origin.”

该基金会主席伊丽莎白·A·萨克勒(Elizabeth A. Sackler)拒绝接受采访，但在电子邮件中表示，“阿瑟·M·萨克勒基金会将继续真诚地寻找将手稿归还起源国的方法。”

Donald Harper, a professor of Chinese studies at the University of Chicago, said the story of the artifact, the oldest of its kind, was a reminder of the complex relations between China and the United States over the past century and the continued looting of ancient sites.

芝加哥大学(University of Chicago)的中国研究教授夏德安(Donald Harper)表示，这件古老文物的经历让人们想起中美在过去一个世纪的复杂关系，以及对古代文物的持续掠夺。

“This story resonates when you hear about what is happening in Iraq or Syria,” he said. “What is remarkable here is that we now know exactly what happened.”

“当你听到伊拉克或叙利亚发生的事情时，这个故事就会引起你的共鸣，”他说，“值得注意的是，我们现在知道到底发生了什么。”

That is largely because of the work of Prof. Li Ling of Peking University, a quiet, intense man considered one of the leading scholars on ancient Chinese texts.

这在很大程度上得益于北京大学的李零教授的研究。李零是一个安静、严肃的人，他被认为是中国古代文献研究领域首屈一指的学者之一。

Professor Li, 69, began studying the Chu Silk Manuscript in 1980, working off photographs to decipher its archaic>

69岁的李零从1980年开始研究楚帛书，他利用照片破译楚帛书上的古代文字，后来亲自前往美国研究。大约十年前，他开始调查楚帛书的发掘以及后来发生的事情，他采访了最初的两名盗墓者，查看了堪萨斯城、波士顿、纽约和华盛顿的博物馆里的记录。

Looted art is a delicate issue in any country. But the silk manuscript is of special interest in China because it dates to the crucial Warring States period, when lasting Chinese traditions such as Confucianism and Taoism took shape. It is also important because it offers the earliest descriptions of the gods that Chinese worshiped in that formative period.

掠夺来的艺术品在任何一个国家都是个敏感话题。但是，楚帛书对中国有着特殊的意义，因为它可以追溯到至关重要的战国时期，儒家和道家等流传久远的中国传统都是在那个时期形成的。此外，它的意义还在于其中有对那个形成时期中国人崇拜神祗的最早记载。

Professor Li said he wanted to restore the document’s history. “I wanted to make this object live again,” he said, “to resurrect it through archaeological means.”

李零表示，他想还原手稿的历史。“我想让这个东西活过来，”他说，“通过考古手段复活它。”

Memorializing Two Martyrs

1942年，在中国中部城市长沙的郊区子弹库，盗墓者有了一个惊人的发现：一座完整的坟墓，里面有一把剑、一个鞘，以及一份因年久已经发黑的帛书。

1944年6月的湖南省长沙市。楚帛书就是被盗墓贼在这里发现的。

1944年6月的湖南省长沙市。楚帛书就是被盗墓贼在这里发现的。 GEORGE ALEXANDERSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

In 1942, tomb raiders in the Zidanku suburb of the central Chinese city of Changsha unearthed a remarkable find: an intact tomb that included a sword, a scabbard and a silk document, blackened with age.

缅怀两位殉难者

According to Professor Li’s research, the thieves sold the loot to a local dealer, who mounted the silk on paper and displayed it in his shop. It was purchased less than two years later by an antiquities dealer and amateur historian named Cai Jixiang.

根据李零的研究，窃贼把赃物卖给了当地的一个商人，那名商人把帛书装裱在纸上，放在自己的店里展示。不到两年后，一位名叫蔡季襄的古董商和业余史学家买下了它。

Mr. Cai would later write that he was struck by the age of the silk, which measured about 14 by 18 inches, and suspected it was from the Warring States period. He hoped to study it and perhaps resell it.

蔡季襄后来写道，这份帛书的年代之久远令他震惊，当时的帛书大约长18英寸、宽14英寸，他猜测是战国时期的东西。他想研究一下，或许再卖出去。

But Changsha was at the center of Japan’s last-gasp offensive to defeat Chinese forces in World War II. Mr. Cai and his family joined the crowds streaming out of the city. Before fleeing, he rolled up the manuscript and put it into an iron tube.

但长沙是日本在二战中打败中国军队的最后一搏的中心。蔡季襄和家人加入了从这座城市逃走的人群。在逃走前，他把手稿卷了起来，放进了一个铁管里。

Japanese troops caught the family on an island where they had sought refuge. A witness from that era, whose account Professor Li helped republish, described how an officer tried to rape Mr. Cai’s wife, who broke free and threw herself into a pond. One of their daughters also got away and jumped into the waters, where the two drowned in each other’s arms.

日本军队在这家人避难的岛上抓住了他们。据那个时代的一名目击者称，一个军官试图强奸蔡季襄的妻子，她挣脱了，跳进了池塘。他们的一个女儿也挣脱了，跳进水中，母女俩在水里相拥着淹死了。李零再次发表了这位目击者的陈述。

Mr. Cai escaped with his four remaining children to a nearby mountain town. As he tried to “cope with these manifold disasters,” he later wrote, he turned to the manuscript, “hoping to focus my mind.”

蔡季襄带着剩下的四个孩子逃到附近一座山城。他后来写道，由于“困处愁城，百无聊赖”，他开始研究手稿，“爰加董理，厘定次序，附以考证”。

Unable to consult other scholars or even basic reference books, Mr. Cai still managed to puzzle out most of its>

尽管无法咨询其他学者，甚至无法查阅最基本的参考书，蔡季襄还是设法弄明白了手稿中的大部分内容。他发现它讲述了人类如何对待命运和死亡——这正是他内心深处思考的东西。

He wrote an essay with his conclusions, drew a precise map of the Zidanku site and, to explain why he had done all of this, added a friend’s detailed account of the suicides of his wife and daughter.

他写了一篇带有自己结论的文章，画了一幅子弹库遗址的精确地图，为了解释他为什么要做这些事情，他还加上了一个朋友对他妻女自杀过程的详细描述。

A local printer published the work in 1945.

1945年，当地一个印刷厂出版了这本书。

华盛顿史密森学会的阿瑟·M·萨克勒画廊的一个展览。楚帛书保存在这里。

华盛顿史密森学会的阿瑟·M·萨克勒画廊的一个展览。楚帛书保存在这里。 JASON ANDREW FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Shanghai Intrigue

上海方面的兴趣

Two years later, Mr. Cai traveled to Shanghai to sell some of his antiques. Japan had been defeated, but China was gripped by civil war and hyperinflation, and he was desperate for money.

两年后，蔡季襄去上海出售部分古董。日本战败了，但中国陷入了内战和恶性通货膨胀，他迫切需要钱。

In Shanghai, he met an old acquaintance, John Hadley Cox, a 34-year-old American who had worked for the Yale-China Association in the 1930s.

在上海，他遇到了老相识柯强(John Hadley Cox)。柯强是美国人，当时34岁，30年代曾为耶鲁—中国协会(Yale-China Association)工作。

Mr. Cox was now a key officer in the Office of Strategic Services, the American military intelligence service that preceded the C.I.A. Even before the Japanese surrender in 1945, Mr. Cox had been sent to Shanghai to collect intelligence.

当时，柯强是中央情报局(CIA)设立前的美国军事情报机构战略情报局(Office of Strategic Services)的一名重要官员。早在1945年日本投降之前，他就被派往上海搜集情报。

He was also an amateur historian and art collector. According to correspondence discovered by Professor Li, Mr. Cox asked to buy the silk manuscript after reading Mr. Cai’s book. The two struck a deal: Mr. Cox made a $1,000 down payment and promised $9,000 more upon resale.

柯强同时也是业余史学家和艺术收藏者。根据李零教授发现的通信，柯强在读了蔡季襄的书后要求购买这份帛书。两人达成一项协议：柯强先付了1000美元定金，承诺转售后再付9000美元。

Within days, Mr. Cox contacted another American military intelligence officer who flew the silk and other items to the United States, taking them through customs as Chinese antiques, “value unknown.”

几天后，柯强与另一名美国军事情报官员取得了联系，后者经常将丝绸等物品空运到美国，将它们作为“价值未知”的中国古董通过海关。

It was not illegal in the United States at the time to import looted art, but China prohibited the export of excavated antiquities, which were considered state property.

当时，进口掠夺来的艺术品在美国并不违法，但中国禁止出口出土文物，因为它们被视为国有财产。

“It’s fair to say it was smuggled out of China,” said Lai Guolong, a professor at the University of Florida who specializes in Chinese antiquities laws. “It’s just that China was too weak to do anything.”

“可以说，它是被走私出中国的，”佛罗里达大学(University of Florida)专门研究中国古董法的来国龙教授说，“只是中国当时太弱小了，什么也做不了。”

In the United States, Mr. Cox — who went on to pursue research into ancient China and donated some of his other holdings to the Freer Gallery in Washington, and his alma mater, Yale — offered the ancient manuscript to numerous museums.

在美国，柯强继续研究古代中国，并将自己的其他一些藏品捐给华盛顿的弗里尔美术馆(Freer Gallery)以及他的母校耶鲁大学(Yale)。他向许多博物馆展示了这份古老的手稿。

None seemed to grasp its historic value — and it was too dark and fragile to dazzle crowds and patrons.

似乎没人理解它的历史价值——它太暗淡、太脆弱，无法吸引公众和资助人。

A few months after making the deal, Mr. Cai asked for the silk back. In one letter to Mr. Cox, he even offered to return the $1,000 deposit.

成交几个月后，蔡季襄要求退还楚帛书。在写给考克斯的一封信中，他甚至提出退还1000美元的定金。

But Mr. Cox, who had left the O.S.S. and was working odd jobs, appears to have ignored the request. After Mr. Cai managed to get friends visiting the United States to pester him, Mr. Cox finally replied with a vague promise to sell the manuscript or return it. But he never did.

但柯强当时已经离开了战略情报局，干些零工，他似乎对这一请求置之不理。在蔡季襄设法让去美国的朋友催促他之后，他终于含糊地答应卖掉手稿或归还它。但他没有这样做。

After the Communists took power in China in 1949, diplomatic ties with the United States were cut, making it impossible for Mr. Cai to reach Mr. Cox.

1949年共产党在中国掌权后，与美国的外交关系被切断，蔡季襄无法再与柯强取得联系。

In 1964, desperate for money, Mr. Cox sold a cache of his collection that included the manuscript at an unknown price to a collector, J.T. Tai, acting on behalf of one of America’s most famous arts patrons: Arthur M. Sackler.

1964年，出于对金钱的渴求，柯强将自己的一批藏品（包括这份手稿）以未知价格卖给了收藏家戴润斋(J.T. Tai)，后者是代表美国最著名的艺术赞助人阿瑟·M·萨克勒(Arthur M. Sackler)购买的。

李零教授去年年底在北京大学的办公室外。

李零教授去年年底在北京大学的办公室外。 BRYAN DENTON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

‘The Most Valuable Find’

萨克勒通过将麦迪逊大道的原则应用于制药业而发家致富。他和两个弟弟一起向一系列机构慷慨捐款，资助哈佛大学(Harvard)、普林斯顿大学(Princeton)和史密森学会(Smithsonian Institution)的美术馆，这个家族成了亚洲艺术的代名词。

Mr. Sackler had made his fortune by applying the principles of Madison Avenue to the pharmaceutical industry. Along with two brothers, he donated lavishly to an array of institutions, endowing galleries at Harvard, Princeton and the Smithsonian Institution, making the family name synonymous with Asian art.

根据李零的研究，萨克勒在戴润斋的公寓里查看子弹库出土的手稿后立即买下了它。出售价格尚未披露，但记录显示，戴润斋一直要价50万美元。

According to Professor Li’s research, Mr. Sackler bought the Zidanku manuscript immediately after examining it in Mr. Tai’s apartment. The sale price has not been disclosed, but records indicate that Mr. Tai had been asking for $500,000.

萨克勒被它古老的历史所吸引，后来称它是自己最重要的藏品。

Fascinated by its antiquity, Mr. Sackler would later call it the most important item in his collection.

“最珍贵的发现”

阿瑟·M·萨克勒是美国最著名的艺术赞助人之一。慷慨的捐助让他的家族成为亚洲艺术的代名词。

阿瑟·M·萨克勒是美国最著名的艺术赞助人之一。慷慨的捐助让他的家族成为亚洲艺术的代名词。

But Mr. Sackler also appeared troubled by its provenance. He wrote Mr. Cox and others involved in its smuggling out of China, asking for details of its ownership. The letters, which Professor Li published along with his study, make clear that Mr. Cox was not the owner but had been acting on behalf of Mr. Cai.

但萨克勒似乎也对它的来源感到不安。他写信给柯强和其他参与将其偷运出中国的人，询问有关其所有权的细节。李零把这些信件同他的研究成果一起发表了。它们清楚地表明，柯强不是帛书的所有者，只是代表蔡季襄行事而已。

Perhaps because of these concerns, Mr. Sackler never displayed the piece in his museums. Instead, he held it back in a private family foundation, and he often expressed a desire to return it to China.

兴许正是因为这些担忧，萨克勒从未在自己的博物馆里展出过这件藏品。他将其放在一个私人家族基金会里，并经常表达把它归还给中国的意愿。

Twice, he almost did. During a visit to China in 1976, he planned to make a grand gesture by returning it to a senior Communist Party official, Guo Moruo. But Mr. Guo was ill, and the meeting never took place, Mr. Sackler later wrote.

有两次，他差点就成功了。在1976年访问中国期间，他计划做出一个大动作，将帛书归还给中共高级官员郭沫若。但萨克勒后来写道，郭沫若当时病了，两人的会面未能举行。

According to accounts uncovered by Professor Li, Mr. Sackler also made plans in the 1980s to donate it to a new museum in Beijing. But he died in 1987, before the museum opened.

李零发现的记录显示，萨克勒还在80年代制定了将其捐给北京新建成的一家博物馆的计划。但他于1987年去世，当时该博物馆尚未开馆。

The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation later tried to sell the silk to the Hunan Provincial Museum, but negotiations broke down over the price, according to people familiar with the talks. More talks are expected in the coming months, this time with the central government in Beijing.

据熟悉情况的人介绍，阿瑟·M·萨克勒基金会后来试图将帛书卖给湖南省博物馆，但双方在价格上没有谈拢。预计接下来几个月会有更多的谈判，这次是与北京的中央政府谈。

Professor Li has had the chance to inspect the manuscript only once. It had been neglected so badly that mold had grown on it.

李零只有一次有机会查看手稿。它未得到妥善保管，以致表面发了霉。

“I hope it can come back to China,” he said. “Maybe just for a visit.”

“如果它能够回到中国最好，”他说。“最起码给大家看一看。”