欧美基督教在张家口:差会、传教士和档案文献

Christianity in Zhangjiakou:Missions,Missionaries and Archives

近代大批欧美传教士来华活动,并在宣教的同时积极参与当地各种社会活动,见证了中国的近代化进程.张家口位于中原汉地和蒙古草原交汇的咽喉,曾是近代以来许多欧美差会组织高度关注的城市之一,在这一专题研究中具有独特的历史地位和学术价值.在前人研究的基础上,本文利用近年来在欧美访学的见闻和新出版的相关工具书,对欧美各地所藏张家口外国差会档案状况进行梳理.这些档案不仅包含了传教士的传教工作情况,也记录了他们所见证的张家口及其周边地区的风貌.本文同时以收藏于英国亚非学院的伦敦会景雅阁档案以及收藏于剑桥大学的大英圣书公会房产档案为例,尝试以来华差会的档案文献切入张家口城市史的研究,探索张家口的文化特性及其近代特殊的历史经验.

An immense force of Christian missionaries entered China in the late nineteenth century. While working to win converts, foreign missionaries were also active participants of the local society and witnesses of the country’s transformation towards modernity. The city of Zhangjiakou(Kalgan), situated on the edge of the Mongolian steppe and China proper, attracted missions’ particular attention and offers unique insights on the study of missionary history. This paper compiles the missionary archival resources related to Zhangjiakou currently kept in Europe and North America based on fieldwork and existing bibliographical studies. They record not only the proselytizing work of the missions but also the social and economic history the missionaries experienced in the city and its vicinities. This paper also looks closely at two case studies: the records of James Gilmour in the archive of London Missionary Society kept at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and a real estate record of the British Bible Society kept in the Cambridge University Library. By examining missionary archives, this papers seeks to open up new possibilities in the urban history of Zhangjiakou to explore the city’s unique cultural characteristics and historical experience.