从传播西教到传播西学——传教士中文报刊办刊宗旨的演变

From the Communication of Western Religion to That of Western Scholarship——The Changes of Objectives for Chinese Journals by the Missionaries

19世纪,西方传教士在中国创办了大量中文报刊。最初以《察世俗每月统记传》为代表,以宣传宗教,传播教义为目的。至《东西洋考每月统记传》,其办刊宗旨中宗教内容已退居次要地位,传播科学知识成了主要内容。1840年鸦片战争后,传教士办刊的活动有了更大的发展,他们继续调整办刊宗旨与方针,不再以宣传宗教,而完全以传播西学为宗旨。而西学也有了扩大,除了科学技术知识,又介绍了大量西方政治、经济、文化等人文与社会科学的知识。传教士们的这一转变有其深刻的社会与历史原因:其一是为了消除中国人的排外心理,协调与中国人的关系;其二仍然是为了迂回地宣传宗教。

In the 19^th century, the Western missionaries launched many Chinese journals in China. In the beginning, the representative journal ＂Monthly Review in Observing the World＂ aimed to propagandize the religion and the doxy, but later their journal ＂Monthly Review in Visiting the East and West Oceans＂ turned mostly to the communications of scientific knowledge with less content of religion. After the Opium War in 1840, greater changes occurred in the gist of the missionaries＇ journals. They continued to alter the aims and guidelines of their journals, not spreading the religion any more and instead completely transmitting western scholarship including the knowledge of science and technology, and a lot of human and social scientific knowledge in Western politics, economics, culture and etc. There are far-reaching social and historical reasons for such a shift. For one thing, they attempted to eliminate the mind of Chinese people to eject foreigners so as to make harmonious relationship with Chinese. For another, it served the circular communications of religion.