“大学”之名与中国近代大学起源考辨

The Evolution of the Concept of “Daxue” and the Origin of Chinese Modern University

古代"大学"概念是对于所有古代高等教育机构及其制度的统称,并不存在一个冠名为"大学"的实体机构。明代传教士艾儒略首次将其作为西语"university"的汉语对译词,从此"大学"概念就开始具有西方"university"的含义,而"university"却是东方原来没有的新事物。晚清时期清政府起初兴办的"大学",无论冠以何种名称,都是欲仿照西学体制而建。按照近代"大学(university)"概念去理解,中国近代第一所大学应该是1895年清廷创办的北洋大学堂,但也不能忽视1898年举办的京师大学堂在近代大学起源期的重要意义。至于教会大学中最早起始于1882年的登州文会馆,由于教育主权问题,是不能作为中国近代大学起源来看待的。

The concept of ancient ＂daxue＂means the ancient higher education institutions and their system,without the entity organization with the name of＂daxue＂.In Ming Dynasty,the missionary Julius Aleni first translated the ＂university＂into ＂daxue＂in Chinese.When exploring the origin of modern Chinese university,it should understand the transformation of ＂daxue＂.In the late Qing Dynasty,the Qing government followed the western system to set up the universities,so the first Chinese modern university was＂Beiyang University＂founded in 1895.Peking University founded in 1898 was an important case in the origin period of Chinese modern universities.The earliest church university ＂Tengchow College＂founded in 1882 was not the origin of Chinese modern university,because it was held by the foreign church and violated of educational sovereignty.