鸦片、贸易与文明:托马斯·德·昆西的中国想象

Opium,Trade,and Civilization:Thomas De Quincey on China

英国浪漫主义作家德·昆西对中国的想象始于鸦片催发的梦呓,继而发展为东方学式的批判和对英帝国的辩护,这恰恰体现了维多利亚时代中国观的转变:从浪漫想象到征服教化。本文结合两次鸦片战争期间英国对华扩张的历史,以德·昆西对中国贸易和文明的评述为例,探讨文学想象如何与东方学传统和殖民实践形成历史"共谋",成为英帝国"教化"中国的手段。本文将中国形象视为一种"知识",着力分析古典学、政治经济学、启蒙哲学等现代观念如何被纳入全球化的知识生产体系,用于论证种族和文明差异,从而为帝国辩护。

Thomas De Quincey,recognizing the British Empire as an 'armed negotiator ',considered Qing China as an Other to be tamed,disciplined and civilized. For him,China remained less an exotic Oriental place than the next stop of British imperial expansion. This paper seeks to understand De Quincey's idea of China as a product of colonialism,Orientalism and Enlightenment values. It examines how De Quincey 's critique of Chinese civilization drew support from the knowledge and practice of bourgeois civility,constitutional democracy and classical political economy. De Quincy cited and followed up those writings by British diplomats,Sinologists and translators,and his critical responses to the Opium War contributed to the pedagogy of British imperialism in China.