盧觀恒濫祀鄉賢案始末

Outlines of the Lawsuit on the Indiscriminate Elevation of Lu Guanheng to the Ancestral Hall of Local Worthies at Xinhui County

周湘(Hsiang Chou)

《兩岸發展史研究》 5期 (2008/06) Pp. 91-120

摘要

嘉慶二十年到二十一年(1815-1816)發生在廣州府的盧觀恒濫祀鄉賢一案，是廣東外洋行商涉訟案件中比較少有與地方教化相關的個案，由此引起的各方互動，在文獻記載中存在著非常微妙的差異。本文擬通過比對「官」、「士」記載的異同之處，大致勾勒出案件的始末，從中窺探各主要人物發揮的作用。引發案件的「原因」，「階層說」及「地域說」都不能說明事件本身的微妙之處。本文試圖說明，由於史料記載的特點，對於該案件的歷史記憶，是在不同的敍事框架下完成的。因此，對該案件的解讀，難免有各種「模式」的存在，諸如抑商之類的說法，並不能說明事情的原委。而在「商」這一方面說法缺失的情況下，任何的敍事方式，都無法真正說明案件的始末。

關鍵字

盧觀恒 ； 濫祀鄉賢案 ； 歷史記憶

並列摘要

From 1815 to 1816, the lawsuit concerning the indiscriminate elevation of Lu Guangheng, a Hong merchant at Guangzhou (Canton), to the Ancestral Hall of Local Worthies at Xinhui County aroused great emotional disturbances among literati of Guangzhou Prefecture. This case was unique because it centered on the moral edification of a Hong merchant as a role model, and also due to the subtle differences in the narratives of this story presented by various parties. By comparing these narratives, namely those by mandarins and literati who were involved in protests against Lu's elevation, certain details of the story will be sorted out and the roles of those involved clarified. As for the incentives underlying this lawsuit, neither the rhetoric of ”social status” nor that of ”regional identity” is sufficient to reveal the inside story. This paper argues that due to the characteristics of the above-mentioned narratives, the historical memories of legal cases could be shaped according to different rhetorical patterns. The anti-merchant hypothesis is only an expedient pattern, but obviously not sufficient to reconstruct the story. In fact, because of the absence of merchants' narratives, no rhetoric devices can prove capable of fully reconstructing the facts of this story.

並列關鍵字

Lu Guanheng ； indiscriminate elevation to the Hall of Worthies ； historical memory