中国电王：科学、技术与晚清的世界秩序想象

Chinese King of Electricity:Science,Technology and the Imaginary World Order in Late Qing

本文以《电世界》为中心,对晚清科幻小说中的世界秩序想象进行了深入考察和评析。本文认为,《电世界》中的电王是晚清小说中塑造得最成功的科学家形象,代表着中国传统的"圣王崇拜"在科学乌托邦主义兴盛时期的复活,对我们理解中国现代科学观和科学家观具有指征意义。而在世界秩序重构这个方面,不同于树立中国霸权的镜像式重构,《电世界》和《新野叟曝言》都试图借助先进科技超越民族主义,但最终仍呈现为世界主义与民族主义的缠绕,正是这种情结成就了文本的情感强度和思想深度。

Centering upon Electrical World, this paper makes an analysis of the imaginary world order in late Qing science fiction.This paper argues that the ＂King of Electricity＂ in Electrical World is the most successful literary image of scientist in late Qing fiction. This figure signifies the revival of traditional Chinese worship of sage-ruler in the heyday of sci- entific utopianism, and has representative significance for our understanding of modern Chinese view of science and scientist. Concerning the remaking of world order, unlike the mirror-image-remaking that aims for China＇s hegemony, both Electrical World and A Rustic＇s Idle Talk： New Tales seek to transcend nationalism through advanced science and technology, but turn out to be entangled between cosmopolitanism and nationalism, and it is such an complex that defines these texts＇ emotional intensity and depth of thought.