矿产新知识的形成、传播与近代直隶煤铁矿开发的肇始(1863～1874)

From Discourse to Action:The Commencement of the First Modern Mining Project in China(1863-1874)

中国煤铁矿业的工业化始于1874年李鸿章的直隶磁州煤铁矿开发计划,虽然1881年开平煤矿的投产才使得该计划得以实现,但它是首个基于中国矿产资源的科学认知而由晚清洋务官员实施的计划。19世纪六七十年代来自西方的地质学家和传教士开始对直隶矿产资源进行科学考察,但由此形成的矿产资源新知识主要流传于西方学术界。本文通过挖掘1863至1874年间与直隶煤铁矿资源相关的中外文献,系统还原这些最早的科学知识是如何产生,并通过何种途径在中国传播而最终导致李鸿章磁州煤铁矿开发计划的出台的。研究表明,直隶矿产新知识源于19世纪60年代庞培利等地质学家的考察,后因韦廉臣等传教士的兴趣和努力而得以在中国传播,但真正使这种理论知识向中国人的实用性知识转变并直接传递给洋务官员的,则主要是英国商人亨德森的工作。

The Chili Chizhou coal and iron mining project proposed by Li Hongzhang in 1874 was the first modern mining project based on a scientific understanding of mineral resources in China.During 1860s-1870s Western Geologists commenced scientific expedition in Chili province,and the earliest knowledge about Chili mineral resources was produced.In this article,the historical process of the production and transformation of the earliest scientific knowledge of Chili s mineral resources in 1860s and 1870s and its influence on the promotion of Li Hongzhang s mining project is uncovered through a systematic study of extant historical materials,including some newly discovered.This study demonstrates that the earliest scientific knowledge of Chili mineral resources was produced by Raphael Pumpelly in the 1860s,arousing interest among missionaries in China such as Alexander Williamson,whose activities had promoted the transfer of knowledge about mineral resources from Western academic circles into China.However,it was James Henderson,a British merchant who played a key role in transforming theoretical knowledge into practical knowledge,who directly initiated Li Hongzhang s first modern mining project in 1874.