“走向世界”的中国人及其新闻观念:关于19世纪报纸的一种叙述

Going to the World and Generated Ideas of Journalism:A Narrative of Chinese Newspapers in the 19th Century

本文通过观念史和知识社会学的路径,考察了19世纪一部分中国人对于现代报纸的认识和理解。与传教士和外国商人等"自西向东"的办报者不同,一部分中国人在"走向世界"的过程中主动地发现了现代报纸,作出了相应的观察和叙述,并形成了他们的新闻观念。清廷派遣的使臣直接接触过西方的报纸,他们看到了报纸具有"内外通情"和"上下通情"的功能,是一种代表民意的"公论",是议会制度运作的重要环节,亦是西方国家"富强之本原";身处通商口岸的中国知识分子,则将报纸看作是重新参与政治的"庶人之清议",是"通今"之术和一种治国之道。源自西方的关于报纸的新知识和新观念,在与中国传统知识和思想对接中产生了冲突与紧张。经过对新知识和新观念的改造,最终形成了"中体西用"框架下的新闻观念。

Adopting the method of ideas history and sociology of knowledge, this paper explores how a part of Chinese intellectuals realized and understood modem newspaper in the 19thcentury. Different from foreign missionary and merchant, the founders of Chinese modern newspapers, some Chinese intellectuals had been actively discovered, read, observed, described modern newspapers and formed their ideas of journalism. These Chinese intellectuals can be divided into two categories, early envoys of the Qing Dynasty and intellectuals in treatyport cities. Some early envoys directly observed western newspapers, and they found newspapers had functions to communicate internal and external, communicate upper and lower. They also realized that newspapers can represent public opinion and be an important part of parliamentary system, so newspaper was considered to be an essential of state prosperity. The intellectuals in treatyport cities took newspaper as plebeian＇s principled criticism, which could help them to participate politics again, so newspaper was considered to be a skill of erudite and informed, and a way to rule a country. Although the conflict and strain emerged when integrating western new knowledge and ideas of modern newspaper into Chinese traditional knowledge and ideas, Chinese intellectuals remoulded the new knowledge and ideas of newspaper and formed their ideas of journalism under the frame of ＂Chinese learning for fundamental principles and Western learning for practical application＂.