工业革命时期英国扫烟囱儿童的命运

Young Chimney Sweeper during the Industrial Revolution in England

扫烟囱男孩是工业革命时期英国一个特殊的童工类别,它是近代英国房屋建造观念变化以及英国人生活方式变化的产物。这些儿童人数虽不众多,但其苦难却特别深重。他们的历史折射出当时英国社会的特殊心态:普通大众的厌恶和同情,人道主义者的关注和改革,上流社会的漠然。最终,经历了一百多年的斗争,利用儿童扫烟囱的做法被立法禁止,但这段历史仍值得我们去反思:如何改善和救助现代社会中变相的扫烟囱儿童的命运?

Young chimney sweeper was a special kind of child labor in 18th and 19th century in England. It was rooted in the changes of modern British conceptions of building constructions and British living styles. The number of the children involved was not as huge as the child labors in factories, but the sufferings they underwent were especially horrible. We could see the reflections of English social mentalities from the destinies of these children： the combining moods of dis- gust and sympathy of common people when seeing them, concern and reforming attempt of compassionate humanists and the indifference of the upper class who owned the most complicated chimneys which inevitably demanded the young chimney sweeper to clean. After one century＇s efforts, it was finally prohibited by legislation to use little boys to climb chimneys in 1875. The story of this group of children comes to an end. But we still need to consider how to rescue the chimney sweepers in disguised form and improve their lives in our modern society.