Tao Tien-yi
We try to examine the work Yen t'ieh lun with two questions: the information supplied by this source and the reliability of these information.
(a) Information: Yen t'ieh lun was the record of a court conference which took place in 81B.C. The subjects discussed in the conference cover very wide range: political, economical, military, foreign relations, social, intellect etc. It supplies valuable data on Han China. (b) Reliability of these information: After close examination, we can be assured that 1. being the actual record of the court debate, Yen t'ieh lun supplies us with first hand information. 2. the copy of this work in our hand today did not suffer serious corruption during its two thousand years of transmission. We can recommend Yen t'ieh lun as a highly reliable and valuable first hand source in the study of the Han period.
This article is based on lectures used to teach a course on Chinese historical sources in 1968. The author is most grateful to the Institute of History and Philology for the opportunity to publish these materials.
Keywords: Yen t'ieh lun, historical sources, records of conferences, Han dynasty, government monopolies
陶天翼
美國夏威夷大學歷史系
我們試從兩個角度去檢查鹽鐵論這份史料，（甲）它所提供的資料；（乙）這些資料的可信性。
（甲）資料：鹽鐵論是公元前八十一年的一次朝議的記錄，會中所討論的問題牽涉極廣，包括政治、經濟、外交、軍事、社會、思想等等問題，提供瞭解前漢很多可貴的資料。（乙）可信性：經深入的檢查，（一）鹽鐵論確實是這次會議的記錄，不是道聽塗說的傳聞或是虛構的故事，是第一手史料。（二）這份記錄經桓寬整理成書，兩千年以來流傳迄今，內容沒有受到很大的變動，這兩點確定以後我們可以推薦鹽鐵論是一份研究前漢極有價值的可信的第一手史料。
本文取材於一九六八年所授一門中國史料課裡的講稿，承史語所允與發表，謹致最深的謝意。