庚款留美缘起问题再探

Reconsiderations on the Making of Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship Program

关于庚款留美计划的缘起,美国学者认为是罗斯福政府无条件的自发之举,是正义、公正使然,退款用于兴学则是中国政府出于感激自主作出的决定。中国学界大致有两种观点:一是美国主动提出说,二是梁诚首倡说。本文认为,庚款退还问题应放在中美两国的外交格局,以及作为债权国的美国的战略利益和作为债务国的中国的不同国力下来考察,国家利益的代表者们只是参与博弈的一分子,任何个人难以独自发挥决定性的作用。

In American academia, the making of Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship Program was considered as the spontaneous decision of Theodore Roosevelt administration without precondition and the independent choice of Chinese government for appreciation. In Chinese intellectuals, there were two viewpoints： one is the USA supported the program actively, and the other is Liang Cheng promoted it firstly. It is argued in this article that, the program should be judged within the international situation in that time, especially the state interests of the USA as the creditor country and the national strength of China as the debtor country. The spokesmen of different country were only part of the game in making the program, and could not play the key role.