恐惧与敬仰:蒙元时期西人游记中的中国印象

Fear and Admiration: China Impression Recorded in Westerners Travelogues during Mongolian Invasion and the Yuan Dynasty

《马可·波罗行纪》中的东方印象书写存在着敬仰与焦虑杂糅的复杂情绪。这种复杂的东方印象,始于蒙元时期西方人对三次蒙元西征的直观感受。三次蒙元西征使西方人形成了对东方的恐惧印象,而蒙元帝国的建立又与西方集体记忆中的"赛里斯"神话与救世主信仰相嵌合,这带动了恐惧印象向敬仰情绪的转变。西方对东方的敬仰日益成为主流,但在敬仰的主流印象中恐惧传统却并未完全消失。在《马可·波罗行纪》前后的西人东方游记中,恐惧与敬仰的交织构成了西人东方印象的主调。

The Travels of Marco Polo contains complex feelings of admiration and anxiety about oriental impression. This complex impression began in the direct experience of westerners from three invasions by the Mongolians and the Yuan Dynasty. These invasions caused the impression of fear among westerners. The establishment of Mongol Empire was embedded with the Western collective memory about the ＂Seres＂ myths and beliefs of the Savior, which led to change from fear impression into admiration. The western admiration of the East gradually become the mainstream, yet the fear tradition never completely disappeared in this mainstream. In the westerners＇ travelogues about the East before and after The Travels of Marco Polo, the interwoven feelings of fear and admiration had made the keynote of the westerners＇ impression of the East.