对兵器作为西周质剂标的的考辨

兵器是否为西周质剂标的,可否在市场中交易,学界存有分歧。根本原因在于《周礼》与《礼记》中与此相关的记载不相一致。本文从古籍文本入手,联系西周时期的社会生活状况,剖析《周礼》与《礼记》中所称"市"的含义,作为一种小宗买卖物即"小市"的兵器,确是西周质剂标的之一,但其流通领域相当有限,只限于为奴隶主贵族而设的"大市",而在为一般商贾与平民而设的"朝市"与"夕市"中,兵器不能交易。

A Study on Military Weapons Worked as Targets of Zhiji in Western Zhou Dynasty

There has been divergence in academic area on whether military weapons which used to be the targets of Zhiji(a kind of contract for a transaction) and on whether they could be transacted in markets,which chiefly resulted from the fact that they have been differently described in Zhouli and Liji.This paper,with evidence from ancient texts,attempts to analyze the meaning of "the Markets" mentioned in Zhouli and Liji by relating them to social life in Western Zhou Dynasty.Military weapons exchanged in small transactions,namely "the Small Markets",were veritably the targets of Zhiji in Western Zhou Dyasty.However,military weapons were restricted to circulate in "the Big Markets" set up for slave owners and aristocrats.They were not transacted in "the Morning Markets" or "the Evening Markets",which had been set up for ordinary merchants and paupers.