18-20世纪初西方视野中的中国休闲生活

Westerners' View on Chinese's Leisure Life from the 18th Century to the Early 21st Century

18世纪起,西方进入中国的人数陡然增加,他们身份各异,但基本上都是以"他者"的眼光居高临下地审视这个古老国度,他们的游记、报告难免会带着种族中心主义的烙印。但即便他们所打造的"西洋镜"只是一面变形的哈哈镜,也还能照出一些我们中国人习焉不察的地方。来华西方人对当时中国人的休闲方式有比较细致地观察,无论对上层社会还是底层大众的娱乐活动都有生动地描述。在他们看来,中国各阶层普遍缺乏休闲时间,中国人没有日常休息日,休闲时间主要集中在新年等传统节日。中国的公共休闲空间总体上是破旧、肮脏、嘈杂的,而且基础设施相当落后;半公共休闲空间和私人休闲空间则是新奇、陌生和神秘的。中国人的休闲生活存在诸多制约因素,除了时间、金钱、设施的匮乏外,最主要的问题是心理因素和社会因素的制约。这些因素对女性休闲权益造成的影响尤为显著。西方人对中国休闲生活的观察和分析,直到今天依然还有催人反思之处。

Since the 18 th century,westerners entering China have increased sharply. Despite their different identities,they basically view this old nation from a commanding position as " others". Therefore,their travelogue and reports inevitably have stigma of racism. But even though their descriptions about China involve a lot of prejudice and misinterpretation,they reflect some facts that we are too accustomed to notice. Westerners who came to China have relatively careful observation of Chinese's leisure modes then and they vividly describe the recreational activities of both upper class and bottom class. In their opinions,all classes of Chinese generally have no leisure time or rest days and their leisure time is mostly traditional holidays like the spring festival. Besides,public leisure spaces of China are old,dirty and noisy with poor infrastructure while semi-public and private leisure spaces are novel,strange and mysterious. There are many restrictive factors in Chinese's leisure life. Apart from the lack of time,money and facilities,the most important problems are the psychological and social constraints. These factors have a particularly significant impact on the leisure rights and interests of women. Some points of westerners' observation and analysis of Chinese's leisure life deserve our reflection until today.