中土传说对西域世界的重新构建——以西域枣的仙道化过程为中心

对西域珍异物产的渲染与神化是中土对西域世界重新构建的一个重要组成部分。枣子从西汉时期即已成为仙人食物,随着秦汉以后对超世仙境的探求重点从东方濒海地区转向塞外西域,仙道食物中的枣子也经历了从中土枣到西域枣的演变。在西域植物大量引入中土这一历史背景下,中土士人在西域枣优良品性、命名及生长特点的基础上经过夸饰、附会,使得西域枣获得了仙境果品的奇异特性,西域地区本身所具有的神秘性在西域枣的仙道化过程中起到了极其关键的作用。

Reconstructed World of the Western Regions in the Legend of Inland China——Taking the Deification of the Jujube from the Western Regions as an Example

Exaggerated rendering and apotheosis of rare products from the Western Regions is always an important segment of the reconstructed world of the Western Regions by inland China. In the Western Han Dynasty, jujube was already regarded as a fairy food in China, but as the focus of fairyland search moved from the eastern coastal areas to the Western Regions after the Qin and Han dynasties, the cultivation place of jujube moved from inland China to the Western Regions too. Along with the large-scale import of the plants from the Western Regions, the intelligentsia of inland China overstated the superior characteristics, classification and growth behavior of the jujube from the Western Regions and strained their interpretation to it, endowing the jujube with the fantastic features of fairy fruit. In the deification of the jujube from the Western Regions, the mystique of the Western Regions played a significant role.