留学生与中国文化的海外传播——以20世纪上半期为中心的考察

Overseas Chinese Students and the Spread of Chinese Culture Abroad: Focusing on the First Half of 20th Century

在20世纪上半期的中西跨文化交流中,中国留学生凭借其深厚的中西学素养和文化自觉意识,实际承担起更多应属于政府层面的中国文化传播任务:向国外广泛译介中国著述与作品,用外语独立创作中国题材的文学与文化作品,以外文书写为载体进行中国问题的学术研究,为西方汉学界提供汉语言及中文文献资料与研究上的直接帮助,以大量的人际交往和丰富的社会活动展现中国人的精神面貌和文化精神。中国留学生以其介绍、研究、传播中国文化卓有成效的努力,成为中学西传的重要媒介,其工作也成就了中国文化海外传播近百年史上的一段重要历程。这一现象的出现,既是20世纪上半期中国留学教育大发展、人文社科留学生负笈海外的产物,也和两次世界大战后"西方中心论"广受质疑、中国文化再受青睐的文化大背景密不可分。

In the cross - cultural communication between China and the West in the first half of the 20th century, Overseas Chinese students, by virtue of their deep accomplishment in both Chinese and Western learning as well as cultural consciousness, actually took the role of the government in transmitting Chinese culture. They translated Chinese works into foreign languages, created works about Chinese literature and culture in foreign languages, conducted academic researches on Chinese issues in foreign to Western sinological circles with Chinese language and Chinese resources and languages, provided assistance showed the spiritual outlook of Chinese people by interpersonal communication and social activities. The overseas Chinese students thus became the significant medium in spreading Chinese learning to the West. The emergence of this cultural phenomenon was not only the outcome of development of Chinese education for studying abroad, but also closely related to the cuhural background that the west - centrism was widely questioned but Chinese culture was popular again after the two world wars.