中国城记:南京古城 六朝古都

　　Confucian thought opened up people’s minds not only to this philosophy but also to Buddhism and Taoism, both of which would set down long lasting roots in Nanjing. The site of hundreds of temples of worship being built inspired many scholars to turn away from the battles and conflicts that were being fought all over China and look inward to create poetry, prose and literary works that have become classics.

　　“以和为贵、仁者爱人”的儒家思想是博爱南京的最早启蒙，这也是孔子学秦淮河畔，有保存完好的旧时码头说的核心理想。孔子学说对当时的南京文明是巨大的促进，同时，也影响了日后的佛家和道家学说。这后来的两种学派都在南京生根发展。这里数百座供人们参拜的寺庙，弥漫着浓厚的祥云瑞气，感化了许多好战之士脱身于争权夺利的战火和冲突中，而不断地自责反省；同时，也激励了许多学者创作出诗歌、散文和其他文学作品，成为了传世经典。

　　The literature created at that time was a unique mix of both poetry and long form writing or prose. Two of the prime examples are from the scholar Liu Xie and his text Wenxin Diaolong or The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons and Xiao Tong with his text Wenxuan. These writings are an early form of literary criticism where the philosophical ideas and use of words furthered the idea of creative writing in early China. Inspired by this air of discussion perhaps, scholars began to develop the basis for the four tones that serve as the basis for the modern Chinese language.

　　那时创造出的文学作品有着独特的风格，可以说，“丽而不浮，典而不野”。除意境优美的诗歌和散文外，还出现了针砭时事和文风的随笔和评述，这两种典范分别来自刘勰的著作《文心雕龙》和萧统的《文选》，这些作品是文学批评的早期形式。那时的哲学思想和遣词造句，促进了早期中国文人创造性地写作。在这些讨论氛围的影响下，学者们创造出了近代中国语言中阴平、阳平、上声和去声这四声调的基础读法，让“汲来江水煮新茗；买尽青山作画屏”这样的诗句，朗诵起来更富节奏和韵致。

　　Unfortunately, as so often has happened in the long history of Nanjing, the power struggles that have made up the equally long history of China destroyed much of the physical remnants of this time. What did survive, however, are some of Nanjing’s most beautiful and recognizable. One example of these is the large stone sculptures that rise up on the barren land on the outskirts of Nanjing. These remnants from the Southern Dynasties were part of a now vanished yet massive burial tomb construction. One can see the influence of these few sculptures of the later Ming Dynasty that emerged some 1,000 years later.

　　花开花落，很多美好的东西淹没在如烟的往事中，甚至，在历史的教科书里亦难寻踪迹。这座城市漫长的历史中各种力量的斗争，破坏了绝大部分的历史遗迹，这是南京的不幸，也是世界的不幸。能够保留下来的，只有一些凤毛麟角，但这足以证明这座城市往日的辉煌和灿烂的文明了。其中一个例子，就是南京郊区起伏的丘陵上伫立着的巨大石刻。这儿有麒麟、天禄、辟邪、石柱、碑等，这些是来自古代六朝的遗迹，再现了六朝巨大的墓地结构群体。这些雕刻形象生动、气势宏伟，有棱形的石柱和有翼的石兽，反映了中国文化与希腊、波斯文化之间的交流，是中国中古时代石刻艺术的珍品。