洋务时期国人对近代国际局势与国际公法的比附

Analogy in Chinese Understanding of Modern International Situation and of Public International Law in the Period of Westernization Movement

晚清时期,以洋务官员和早期维新思想家为代表的先进人士普遍认为近代国际局势与春秋战国极为相似。与此同时,他们还从规范、创始人、文本、价值等方面对中西国际法进行逐一比附,强调春秋战国时期存在与近代国际公法非常相似的中国古代国际公法。在对中西古今国际局势和国际法律的比较与研究中,国人重新解读中国传统历史文化,有意识地将有效的传统智识资源转化为积极的近世外交观念,构建起立足于中国历史文化之上的新型对外观念、外交战略和行为方式,展现了中国近代外交转型的内在机制。当时繁杂多元的比附议论,表面上是重现"历史现场"和寻求情感适应及应对策略,实质上是继"天朝上国"梦幻崩溃之后中国对自身的国际角色和国际地位的重新建构。它体现了近代中国面对"西方中心"挑战的主动回应和本土努力。

In the late Qing Dynasty,it was widely believed among the elites—the westernized officials and early reformers—that the modern international situation and public international law had bore a strong resemblance to the circumstances during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period. They reviewed the Chinese history and culture and transformed the traditional intellectual resources into positive ideas of diplomacy,constructing a set of new diplomatic strategies and revealing the inner logic of modern China's diplomatic transformation. It seemed that such analogy between China and the West in late Qing Dynasty was made only to restore the history and looking for tactics,but in fact,it's more of an attempt of modern China to reconstruct China's role in the world after the dream of 'Celestial Empire' failed,responding to the challenges posed by the Western world.