18世纪中叶欧洲人构筑的北京印记——《北京志》初探

Impressions of Beijing in the 18^(th) Century by Westerners: Preliminary Research on Description de la Ville de Peking

作为明清帝都的北京在17、18世纪中西文化交流中占有重要地位。来华传教士在华生活多年,对中国的风土人情、社会政治、历史文化等有着独特而深刻的体认,留下了丰富的中西文文献,包括不少在京生活的记录,成为当时西方世界了解北京的珍贵材料,也是研究明清北京与中西文化交流关系的重要历史文献。目前学界更多关注来华传教士的中西文献材料,忽略了同期欧洲学者编撰的专题论著。这批论著利用了传教士中国报道的原始材料,加以专门学科的论证和分析,在某些专题研究上具有较高的史料价值。本文将以1765年在巴黎出版的一部专论北京城的著作:Description de la Ville de Peking(中译名:《北京志》)为研究对象,力图总结和梳理域外汉学视角下18世纪中叶具有独特印记的北京历史地理的人文特征与地域文化。

As the capital city of China in the Ming and Qing dynasties, Beijing played a very important role in the cultural exchange between China and Europe in the 17^(th) and 18^(th) centuries. With years of living in Beijing, Catholic missionaries from Europe acquired a unique and profound understanding of Chinese culture, society, politics, history and so on. Abundant documentations became precious historical material, which helps Western society to obtain better understanding of Beijing in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the cultural exchange between China and the West. The existing researches focus more on the missionary documentations and ignore the research of European scientists. Based on the first-hand data of the missionaries' reports and their professional analysis, these research papers have been proved to have high historical value. Concentrating on a book entitled Description de la Ville de Peking published in 1765 in Paris, this essay attempts to summarize the main humanistic characteristics and local culture from the perspective of Sinology in the 18^(th) century.