卫旧与求新——论慈禧太后的二元价值取向

Defending the Old and Pursuing the New——On the Dualistic Value Orientation of Empress Dowager Cixi

在新旧更替的中国近代史上,掌握中国权柄近半个世纪的慈禧太后,一方面受传统的影响既深且远,固守传统成为其自觉的惯性价值取向;另一方面其本身处于新旧交替的漩涡中,受新观念、新思潮、新事物的冲击同样巨大,对新事物的现代追求又成为其不自觉的价值取向。这两种价值取向在慈禧身上的深刻体现,既为中国近代社会的推陈出新破除了锢闭,但也阻碍了中国近代社会由传统走向现代的步伐。

In the modern history of China with replacement of the new and old,Empress Dowager Cixi mastered the Chinese authority for nearly half a century. On the one hand,she was deeply affected by the tradition and it was the inertial value orientation that led her to tenaciously defend tradition. On the other hand,the period of the transition from the old to the new like a vortex,caused great impact on her about the new perceptions,new trend of thoughts and new things. And pursuing the new has also naturally become her value orientation. These two kinds of value orientation have found the ultimate express in the empress,both for the metabolism of the modern Chinese society and the hindrance of transition from traditional souety to modern souety.