晚清政论中的“病国”隐喻与中医思维——以《东方杂志》政论为例

The “Sick Nation" Metaphor and TCM Thinking Mode in Political Comments in Late Qing Dynasty:With Political Comments in The Eastern Miscellany as Examples

在以《东方杂志》为代表的晚清报章政论文中,把晚清中国比作一个"病人",并以中医诊断方式来观察和分析其病情,是一种非常流行的言论现象。这种"病国"隐喻代表了众多主张立宪改良的知识分子对晚清中国的一种非常普遍而独特的想像方式,与中国文化传统中的中医思维密切相关。但是,以中医思维为典型体现的传统思维方式重视感悟和意会的特点,却使作者们在鼓吹立宪改良这项充分向西方靠拢的"现代性"事业时,常常陷入一种看似滔滔不绝而实际上却"辞不达意"甚至"理屈辞穷"的尴尬境地,体现了中国近代知识分子在中西文化交流和现代化进程中普遍存在的一种言说困境。

Comparing China to a ＂sick person＂ is a very popular discursive phenomenon in the political comments in late Qing Dynasty, especially in such magazines as The Eastern Miscellany, where China then was analyzed and diagnosed in the manner of TCM （Traditional Chinese Medicine）. This ＂sick nation＂ metaphor represents a widespread but unique way of imagining late Qing China in the minds of many Chinese intellectuals standing for constitutional reform, and is closely related to TCM mode of thinking. But those writers failed to find the proper words to express themselves, or even worse, failed to find the needed words to justify themselves, when they were advocating the modem cause of constitutional reform to imitate the West. This speech technique implies a vivid and exemplary dilemma popular among the modem Chinese intellectuals involved in the process of modernization and Chinese -Western cultural communication.