《西学东渐记》:个人史与留学教育史的交织与融合

My Life in China and America:An Integration of Personal Experience and the History of Modern Chinese Overseas Education

容闳,既是近代中国留学教育的亲历者,也是留学教育的发起者和倡导者:其自传《西学东渐记》从留美学习展开,并将留学教育作为一条核心线索进行回忆与追述。他的个人史在很大程度上就是近代留学教育史的镜像,其人生的起伏恰恰反衬出后者艰难而又曲折的发展历程。这部自传也暗含着容闳的一种期待,希望更多有识之士参与开拓留学教育这一荒芜之地,改变其边缘化的尴尬处境。因此,个人求学、阅世经历与近代中国留学教育发展史的交织与融合,是这部自传最为醒目的特点。

Yung Wing,is not only a witness to the origin of studying abroad in modern China,but also an initiator and an advocate of overseas education.Yung's autobiography My Life in China and America is based on his personal experience of studying in the United States,and recalls the overseas education as a core clue.To a large extent,his personal history mirrors the history of studying abroad in modern China,with the ups and downs of his life reflecting its difficult and tortuous development.At the same time,his autobiography also implies Yung's expectation,appealing to the general public for greater participation in exploring the barren land of overseas education and changing its marginalized situation.Therefore,the most prominent feature of the autobiography is to interweave and integrate the personal experience of studying abroad with the history of the development of modern Chinese overseas education.