從淡巴菰到返魂香
——讀《中國(guó)煙草史》有感暨淺談19世紀(jì)末前煙草在中國(guó)的流變史

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爺爺是個(gè)老煙民。我自小和他生活過(guò)一些歲月。

在那些隨著時(shí)間沉淀而模糊的記憶中，少許的幾個(gè)片段卻愈發(fā)清晰起來(lái)。其中，就有我給爺爺裝煙點(diǎn)煙的鏡頭。

鏡頭中那煙葉是黃褐色，皺皺的縮成枯長(zhǎng)的軀干，散發(fā)出莫名的香氣。爺爺叫它“葉子煙”。當(dāng)爺爺講話講得有點(diǎn)多了，或是想休息一下的時(shí)候，他就用自己布滿皺紋的手掌把一片葉子搓成圓棒狀長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)短短的一截，我負(fù)責(zé)把這一截插進(jìn)那些或大或小或長(zhǎng)或短的煙嘴里，用煤油打火機(jī)點(diǎn)燃。

而后，爺爺靠躺在被汗水染黃的躺椅上，吧嗒吧嗒的聲音給那煙卷的一明一暗打著拍子。

大概是被那股熏人的莫名香氣迷住了，我打小就以為，這土黃土黃的東西就是咱自家土生土長(zhǎng)的。

這個(gè)印象持續(xù)了大概有30來(lái)年。中間間或聽說(shuō)過(guò)，煙草其實(shí)是舶來(lái)品，原產(chǎn)地是美洲?？梢膊辉趺戳粢膺^(guò)。直到前幾天，看了一本叫《中國(guó)煙草史》的書。

My grandpa is a habitual smoker. I have lived with him for some years since I was a child.

In those memories that blur over time, a few fragments become clearer.Among them, there was the scene of me loading tobacco and lighting it for grandpa.

I remembered, the tobacco leaves were tan, wrinkled and shrunk into withered and long trunk, giving off an inexplicable aroma. Grandpa called it “Yeziyan” (tobacco of leaves). When Grandpa had talked a little more or wanted to have a rest, he rubbed a leaf into a long or short, round stick with his wrinkled palm. I would insert this into those big or small, long or short cigarette holders and lighting it with kerosene lighters.

Then, grandpa laid on the couch dyed yellow with sweat, smoked the pipe and smacked his lips with rhythmed flickering of the lit pipe.

Probably I was fascinated by the strange fumigating aroma, I had thought since I was young that this yellowish thing was our indigenous produce.

This impression had lasted for about 30 years.From time to time, I have heard that tobacco is actually imported and its origin is America. But I never really noticed. Until a few days ago, I read a book calledThe History of Tobacco in China.

煙草，真真切切是舶來(lái)品，的的確確來(lái)自美洲。

讀著皇甫秋實(shí)的譯文我才發(fā)覺(jué)，爺爺抽的葉子煙，和煙草進(jìn)入中國(guó)初期的形態(tài)是很相近的。在書中，煙草在1550年之后的某個(gè)清晨，乘著西班牙人的大船從菲律賓呂宋島等地抵達(dá)福建的泉州漳州一帶。它們藏身于那些西班牙或是菲律賓裔的水手掛在胸前或者腰間的煙袋里，長(zhǎng)著和我小時(shí)候看到的差不多的樣子，散發(fā)著和我小時(shí)候聞到的差不多的味道。

在書中，班凱樂(lè)介紹了四條“煙草入華路線圖”，分別是早至16世紀(jì)中期的菲律賓—福建泉州、漳州—廣東、江浙一帶的菲律賓路線；16世紀(jì)末的日本—朝鮮—東北和蒙古東部的日本朝鮮路線；16世紀(jì)末17世紀(jì)初的印度、緬甸—云南—成都—甘肅—蒙古的印度路線和歐洲（英國(guó)或荷蘭）—俄羅斯—新疆—甘肅的歐洲路線。

爺爺是云陽(yáng)人。這個(gè)長(zhǎng)江邊的小鎮(zhèn)，曾經(jīng)一度是湖廣填四川的水路要津。爺爺本身也很可能是那場(chǎng)大遷徙中移民的后代。

班凱樂(lè)在講述中國(guó)卷煙生產(chǎn)、消費(fèi)和貿(mào)易的擴(kuò)張這一部分時(shí)特地指出，移民對(duì)于煙草的種植和消費(fèi)進(jìn)入中國(guó)西南腹地的重要性。

Tobacco was truly imported, and it did come from America.

After reading Huangfu Qiushi’s translation, I realized that grandpa’s tobacco of leaves was very similar to the early form of tobacco into China. The book says, tobacco arrived in the regions of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou of Fujian province one morning after 1550 in a Spanish ship from Luzon Island, Philippines and other places.They were hidden in cigarette bags hung on the chest or waist by Spanish or Filipino sailors. Those bags looked similar to what I saw when I was a child and smelled similar to what I smelled when I was a child.

The book says, Carol Benedict introduced four“routes of tobacco entering China”, namely,the Philippine route of Philippine—Quanzhou and Zhangzhou of Fujian Province to Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces as early as the middle of the 16th century; the Japan-North Korea route of Japan—North Korea—Northeast China and eastern Mongolia in the late 16th century; the Indian route of India, Burma—Yunnan—Chengdu—Gansu—Mongolia, as well as the European route of Europe (UK or Holland)—Russia—Xinjiang—Gansu at the end of 16th century and early 17th century.

My grandpa is from Yunyang, a small town along the Yangtze River, which was once the water route and key post for population migration from Huguang to Sichuan. My grandpa himself may well be the offspring of immigrants during the great migration.

Carol Benedict specially pointed out the importance of immigrants to the cultivation and consumption of tobacco in the hinterland of southwest China when he talked about the expansion of China’s cigarette production, consumption and trade..

移民的腳步將煙草的種子帶出福建，撒在中國(guó)華南、西南、西北等地的丘陵地帶。1793年至1794年，陪同馬戛爾尼出使中國(guó)的愛尼斯·安德遜在使團(tuán)經(jīng)過(guò)山東時(shí)曾經(jīng)注意到，“中國(guó)人對(duì)這種植物的種植和制造達(dá)到很高程度。煙草種類之多亦非世界各國(guó)所能比擬?！?/p>

很快，一些質(zhì)地優(yōu)良、加工精細(xì)的煙草獲得了卓越的口碑，繼而樹立起自己的品牌——“17世紀(jì)，在漳州種植的‘石碼’煙草被很多人認(rèn)為是世上最好的煙草。18世紀(jì)，‘石碼’煙草首先被‘蒲城’煙草取代，然后被‘永定’煙草取代。”品牌的聲譽(yù)帶來(lái)的是豐厚的利潤(rùn)：道光時(shí)期，在永定加工的條絲煙的售價(jià)超過(guò)了一千貫。其他地區(qū)生產(chǎn)的較低檔次的煙草，價(jià)值在一百至兩百貫之間。

到18世紀(jì)末19世紀(jì)初，煙草已經(jīng)滲透到中國(guó)各個(gè)階層民眾的日常生活之中。不僅出現(xiàn)了專門銷售煙草的商行，在一些農(nóng)村集市和偏遠(yuǎn)村莊，甚至出現(xiàn)了出租煙袋，使消費(fèi)者可以當(dāng)場(chǎng)吸煙的流動(dòng)煙販。

The tobacco seeds followed the immigrants’footsteps out of Fujian and spread in the hilly areas of south, southwest and northwest China. From 1793 to 1794, Ennis Anderson, who accompanied George MaCartney on his mission to China, noticed when the mission passed through Shandong, “the Chinese have grown and manufactured this plant to a fairly high level. The varieties of tobacco are not unmatched by those of other countries in the world.”

Soon, some fine quality and fine processing tobacco won excellent reputation, and then set up their own brand –“Shima” tobacco planted in Zhangzhou in the 17th century was considered by many people to be the best tobacco in the world. In the 18th century, the“Shima” tobacco was first replaced by the “Pucheng”tobacco and then by the “Yongding” tobacco. The reputation of the brand brings about great profits:during Daoguang dynasty, the price of the tobacco tow processed by Yongding was priced at more than 1,000 copper coins. The lower grade tobacco produced in other regions was worth between 100 and 200 copper coins.

By the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, tobacco had penetrated into the daily life of Chinese people of all walks of life. There were not only businesses specializing in selling tobacco, but also cigarette peddlers who rented cigarette bags and allowed consumers to smoke on the spot in some rural markets and remote villages.

《中國(guó)煙草史》是一部?jī)?yōu)秀的學(xué)術(shù)著作，獲得美國(guó)歷史學(xué)會(huì)2011年度費(fèi)正清東亞研究獎(jiǎng)就是一個(gè)最好的證明。不過(guò)或許是本書的目標(biāo)讀者是那些對(duì)于中國(guó)煙草史有一定甚至很深了解和研究的人士，像我這樣對(duì)煙草知之甚少的初級(jí)讀者，關(guān)于煙草最初進(jìn)入中國(guó)時(shí)國(guó)人使用煙草的方式和形態(tài)，以及可以更生動(dòng)直觀地說(shuō)明煙草中國(guó)化過(guò)程的煙草名稱的流變，在書中卻難以找到。

比如，關(guān)于國(guó)人最初如何使用煙草的文字，班凱樂(lè)的敘述中幾乎沒(méi)有。在川床邦夫的筆下，我找到了簡(jiǎn)單的兩句——明末姚旅《露書》中記載“呂宋國(guó)出一草，曰淡巴菰，一名醺。以火燒一頭，以一頭向口，煙氣從管中入喉，能令人醉，且可辟瘴氣?！?/p>

這種狀態(tài)，其實(shí)和煙草的發(fā)源地美洲的原住民們差不多：這種東西被當(dāng)時(shí)的印第安人稱作“達(dá)巴科”（Tobaco）。

The History of Tobacco in Chinais an excellent academic work, and winning the 2011 John King Fair-bank Center for East Asia Research Award of the American Historical Association is the best proof.However, perhaps the target readers of this book are those who have a certain or even deep understanding and research on Chinese tobacco history, while for junior readers like me who know little about tobacco, the way and form of tobacco used by Chinese people when tobacco first entered China, and the evolution of tobacco names that could more vividly and intuitively explain the process of tobacco localization in China, are hard to find in the book.

For example, there are few words about how the Chinese originally used tobacco in Carol Benedict’s narration. In Kunio Kawadoko’s work, I found two simple sentences--Lu Shuwritten by Yao Lv in the late Ming dynasty “Luzon kingdom produces a grass, named Danbagu, or Xun (tipsy). burning one end and putting the other end to the mouth, smoke goes into the throat from the pipe, which can make people drunk and dispel miasma.”

This description is actually similar to that of the native Americans, the birthplace of tobacco,which was called “Dabake (Tobaco)” by the Indians at that time.

一個(gè)“淡巴菰”，一個(gè)“達(dá)巴科”，這兩個(gè)讀音接近的詞中間會(huì)不會(huì)有關(guān)系呢？在書后的注釋中，班凱樂(lè)為我們揭曉了謎底——“淡巴菰”是西班牙語(yǔ)煙草（el tabaco）的音譯。該詞源于泰諾語(yǔ)。這種語(yǔ)言為大安德列斯群島上的阿拉瓦克印第安人所使用。

果真，“淡巴菰”就是“達(dá)巴科”。

那么，“淡巴菰”是怎么變成“煙草”的呢？據(jù)川床邦夫在《中國(guó)煙草的世界》中的簡(jiǎn)單統(tǒng)計(jì)，煙草在中國(guó)曾經(jīng)有過(guò)三十多個(gè)名字。俯瞰這些名稱的流變，也可一窺這個(gè)“新奇本草”在中國(guó)的引進(jìn)和本地化的過(guò)程。

最初，根據(jù)音譯，煙草被叫做“淡巴菰”“淡把姑”“淡芭菰”“淡莧菰”“淡肉果”“打姆巴古”“擔(dān)不歸”“丹白桂”等。從后兩者可明顯看出，譯者試圖從意義和美感上來(lái)“裝飾”這種越來(lái)越受歡迎的“草狀物”。

另外，還有些名稱在今人看來(lái)，可能一下子不大好理解。比如“煙酒”“醉仙桃”“延命草”等等。不過(guò)通過(guò)姚旅和卡薩斯的描述不難看出，煙草有令吸食者“醉”的功效，同時(shí)還有鎮(zhèn)靜、祛乏甚至消除饑餓的“神奇”。這實(shí)際上是因?yàn)闊煵葜心峁哦∷哂械脑黾有呐K速度和升高血壓并降低食欲的功用。

除了上述三個(gè)名稱，煙草還因?yàn)橥庑魏童熜У木壒时还谝浴昂诶匣ⅰ薄敖痣u腳下紅”“黑于莵”等現(xiàn)在看來(lái)稀奇古怪的名號(hào)。

1638年，在一本名為《食物本草》的書中，出現(xiàn)了“煙草”一詞，7年后的1645年，“煙草”這個(gè)如今國(guó)人耳熟能詳?shù)脑~匯出現(xiàn)在《食物匯言》一書上。這是“煙草”的第一次出現(xiàn)。此時(shí)，煙草進(jìn)入中國(guó)已經(jīng)快有一百年了。從這個(gè)詞的構(gòu)成上就可以看出，這是對(duì)這種植物在使用時(shí)候燃燒冒煙的偏中性描述。

A “Danbagu” and a “Dabake”, how could these two words with similar pronunciations not have any connection? In the notes at the back of the book, Carol Benedict revealed the answer to the riddle, “Danbagu” is a transliteration of Spanish word for tobacco (el tabaco), which comes from the Taino language. This language is used by Arawak Indians in the Greater Antilles Islands.

Indeed, “Danbagu” is “Dabake”.

So, how did “Danbagu” become “tobacco”?According to Kunio Kawadoko’s simple statistics inThe World of Chinese Tobacco, tobacco once had more than 30 names in China. Looking at the changes of these names, we can also see the process of introducing and localizing this “novel herbal medicine”in China.

At first, according to transliteration, tobacco was called “Danbagu”, “Danmigu” “Danrou-guo”, “Damubagu”, “Danbugui”and “Danbaigui”, etc… From the latter two, it can be clearly seen that the translator tries to “decorate” this increasingly popular “grass like thing”in terms of meaning and beauty.

In addition, there were still some names that, in today’s view, may not be easily understood at once. Such as“Yanjiu (alcohol and tobacco)”, “Zuixiantao (peach that can make celestial being drunk )”, “Yanmingcao (life-prolonging grass）” and so on. However,through the description of the Yao Lv and Casas, it is not difficult to see that tobacco has the effect of making the smoker “drunk”, while it has calm effect,dispel fatigue or even the “magic” effect of mitigating sense of hunger. This is actually because nicotine in tobacco has the function of increasing heart beats,raising hypertension and reducing appetite.

In addition to the above three names, tobacco has been dubbed “Heilaohu (Black Tiger)”, “Jinjijiaoxiahong (Golden Rooster with red Feet)” and “Heiyutu (Black Rabbit)” which sound pretty weird today.

In 1638, the word “Yancao (tobacco)” appeared in a book called “Dietary Chinese Material Medica”.Seven years later in 1645, the word “Yancao (tobacco)” now familiar to Chinese people appeared in the book “Collection of Expressions for Food”. This is the first appearance of “Yancao (tobacco)”. At this time, tobacco had been into China for nearly 100 years. As can be seen from the composition of the word, this is a neutral description of the burning and smoking of this plant when it is used.

有趣的是，這兩個(gè)稱呼分別出現(xiàn)在兩本對(duì)食物進(jìn)行介紹的讀物中，可見當(dāng)時(shí)的人，對(duì)煙草的定性和分類。

此外，煙草還有“煙茶”“妖草”“南蠻草”“綠南草”等從朝鮮、日本漂洋過(guò)海而來(lái)的名字，這些名字也佐證著當(dāng)初煙草入華的“朝鮮路線”。

在之后的幾百年中，煙草一詞或因其準(zhǔn)確簡(jiǎn)便，利于傳播而戰(zhàn)勝了其他稱呼。相較而言，我更喜歡之前和之后陸續(xù)出現(xiàn)在文人詩(shī)詞和筆記中的一些稱呼，比如姚旅在《露書》中提到的“金絲熏”，《粵志》中的“金絲草”，1661年沈穆在《本草洞詮》中的“相思草”。

在眾多名稱中，有一個(gè)因?yàn)閭髡f(shuō)更顯神奇?！睹饭扰脊P》記載，“淡巴國(guó)有公主死，棄之野，聞草香忽蘇，乃共識(shí)之，即煙草也，故亦名返魂香。”異國(guó)公主，聞香返魂，神奇而浪漫。

Interestingly, the two names appeared in two books about food, showing the characterization and classification of tobacco by the people of that time, .

In addition, tobacco also has the names of“Yancha”, “Yaocao”, “Nanmancao” and“Lvnancao (Green South Grass)” imported from Korea and Japan, which also support the “Korean Route” of tobacco entering China in its early days.

In the following few hundred years, the word“tobacco” probably won over other titles because of its accuracy, simplicity and ease of dissemination.In comparison, I prefer some names that appeared in literati’s poems and notes before and after, such as Yao Lv’s “Golden Smoke” mentioned in Lu Shu,the “Golden Grass” in Yue Zhi and “Xiangsicao(acacia grass)” in Shen Mu’sFull Interpretation of Materia Medicain 1661.

Among the many names, one is more magical due to a legend.Meigu Notes Selectionrecords that “after the princess in Danbagu kingdom died, her body was abandoned in the wild, when she was waken up by the fragrant smell, and the surrounding people found out it was the fragrant grass, tobacco, which later got its name of resurrecting grass.” The exotic princess, who resurrected and was waken up to the smells of tobacco, which is really magical and romantic.