李明《中国近事报道》对伏尔泰的影响

The Influence of Louis Le Comte's Nouveaux Mémoires Sur L'état Présent de la China on Voltaire

明末清初,传教士纷纷来华,他们将其在华的所见所闻著书立说,对18世纪欧洲的启蒙思想家们产生了巨大影响。法国耶稣会士李明的《中国近事报道》即是这样一本著作。此书对许多欧洲启蒙思想家都产生过影响,其中包括法国著名启蒙思想家伏尔泰。在伏尔泰关于中国礼仪之争的态度、开明君主专制思想及对中国文化的崇拜方面都受到李明此书的影响。

During the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty,many missionaries poured into China.They wrote books of their thoughts on what they had seen and heard in China,which exerted great influence on European enlightenment thinkers of the 18th century.French Jesuit Louis Le Comte's Nouveaux Mémoires sur létat présent de la Chinahad influenced the famous French thinker Voltaire.His opinions of the Chinese rite controversy and enlightened despotism,and his admiration for Chinese culture were largely from Louis Le Comte's book.