莫理循《中国风情》一书中所反应的清末西南社会

Southwest Society in Late Qing Dynasty Described in Chinese Local Customs by Morrison

1894年2月至5月,澳大利亚人莫理循在中国西南进行了长达三个月的旅行,著成《一个澳大利亚人在中国》(中译本名为《中国风情》)一书,引起西方社会的关注。该书从客观的视角,真实地记录了晚清四川和云南两省的社会政治、经济和军事状况,诸如鸦片的普遍种植、官吏的颟顸腐败、乡土社会的凋敝、边疆军备的废弛、传教士和外籍人士在西南的事工、民众对现代化设施的破坏等等。莫理循还在书中提出诸多发人深省的问题,对认识晚清西南社会乃至中国社会都有启发意义。

Australian Morrison traveled in southwest China from February to May in 1894, and then pubhshed a book An Australian in China （translated into Chinese Local Customs）, which aroused a great concern in western countries. The book records authentically the political, economic and military conditions in both Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in late Qing Dynasty. It covers wide opium plantation, office holder depravity, business languishing, national defense abandonment, foreign missionary＇s activities, and mass destroy to modem facilities, which call for deep thought and help us to know the southwest society and the whole country in that era.