传教士与中国音乐:以苏维廉为例

Missionary Pragmatism and Chinese Music:The Case of William Edward Soothill

19世纪来华的传教士绝非一个观念上统一的、在时间和空间上都没有变化的群体,对待来华的传教士不应一概而论,而应具体分析。以苏维廉为例,他在五声音阶、旋律、工尺谱等方面都有不同于其他一些传教士的看法。此例说明,在中西文化交流的过程中,有些传教士不仅是西学的传播者,也是中国传统民间文化的吸收者。

The subject of cross-cultural interactions has been much talked about in recent years. But historians of East Asia mostly content themselves with focusing on discerning the influence of the West on indigenous cultures. One of the themes I explore in this essay is how some Christian missionaries, as carriers of Western culture, were conditioned by their pragmatism and chose to respond to the needs of their converts by either appropriating indigenous cultural traditions or working toward a Sinification of Western knowledge in their mission work.