近代以来西方世界关于长城形象的演变、记述与研究——一项“长城文化史”的考察

The Evolution,Description and Study of the Modern Western World's the Great Wall Image: a Study about “the Cultural History of the Great Wall”

"大航海时代"以来,西方传教士、使团、探险家陆续进入中国,对长城印象深刻,将之视为中国文明的象征,不断记述与研究,逐渐廓清西方世界关于长城的神话想象,而勾勒出愈来愈清晰的长城形象。近代时期中国在西方国际地位呈现巨大沉浮,长城逐渐从优秀而开明的中华文化的象征,沦为封闭而落后的中华帝国的代名词。19世纪中叶以来,汉学家从历史与文物的角度,对长城的深入考察与研究,则再次扭转了西方长城的负面形象。近代西方世界关于长城的知识谱系与观念变迁,根源于国际政局变迁与文化思潮变化,并影响了中国人对于长城的认知与评价。这一事实典型地体现出由于地位突出,西方对长城认识、记忆与评判,已成为一种文化现象。相应,对长城的研究,可以从文化史的角度,揭示出其主观性的一面。这一研究可概括为"长城文化史"。

Western missionaries,mission and explorer entered China in succession since the 'age of discovery'. They were impressed by the Great Wall and treated her as a symbol of Chinese civilization. The Great Wall's image was out of the myth and gradually became clear because of more and more description and study. In modern times,China hadbeen gradually falling behind the West,the Great Wall was no longer a symbol of excellent and open Chinese culture,but a representative of the closed and backward Chinese Empire. A lot of sinologists investigated and studied the Great Wall from the perspective of history and heritage since the middle of nineteenth Century. As a result,the negative image of the Great Wall was reversed.The concept's change about the Great Wall in the modern western society was rooted in the changes of international political situation and cultural trends,which influenced the Chinese people's cognition and evaluation of the Great Wall. This fact reflects that the Great Wall is a cultural phenomenon due to her prominent position. Accordingly,the subjective side of the Great Wall could be revealed from the perspective of cultural history.This study can be summarized as 'the culture history of the Great Wall'.