晚清时期的人与动物关系述评——以牛为个案

A Review Study on the Relationship of Human and Animals in the Late Qing Dynasty A Case Study of Cattle

晚清时期人与动物的关系,学术界研究的很不够。以牛为例,经济方面,晚清国人对牛这一动物最为关注的所在,主要涉及耕牛、出口、捐税、牛奶、牛业管理等方面;文学艺术方面,最主要的是绘画形式,其次才是文学形式;猎奇方面的记载,《点石斋画报》及《益闻录》较为突出;法律方面,多为案件描述,也有法令等内容;外国方面,主要涉及瘟病、交易、比赛、饲养等;动物学及医疗卫生方面,涉及到牛的特征以及饲养方法,牛的瘟病等医疗以及公共卫生等内容。此外,还有制造、学术、政治、哲学、社会等方面的记载。总之,晚清国人对牛的认知,视角多元,内容十分丰富。牛只是一个案例,其他如鼠、虎、兔、龙、蛇等,不胜枚举。人与动物的关系课题,是晚清乃至整个史学应该予以关注和强化的所在。

Research of the relationship of human and animals in the late Qing dynasty is far from ade-quate in the academia. Taking cattle as an example, they played a significant role in various fields during the period of late Qing dynasty ： in economy, cattle were involved in such areas as ploughing land, export business, tax, milk, management of cattle and so on; in arts, there were a large number of works （mainly painting, followed by literary works） concerning cattle; in records of hunting culture, there were Dianshizhai I l l ust rat i ons and R e c o r d s of G o o d S t o r i e s concerning cattle; in law, there were mainly cases related with cattle, and decrees as well; in foreign communication, cattle plague, trade, race and breed-ing were mainly touched upon ; in animal science,there were records of cattle characteristics and breed-ing methods; in medical treatment, there were records of treatment of cattle plague and public health ; in addition, there were records concerning cattle in such areas as manufacture, academic research, politics,and philosophy. Cattle is just one case, and other animals such as mouse, tiger, dragon and snake are also worth studying. Therefore, issues about the relationship of human and animals deserves more atten-tion of historiographical study.