吹皱春水:明清笔记对西器东传的关注与书写

The Attention to and Writing of the Spread of Western Artifacts to the East in the Notes of Ming and Qing Dynasties

明清笔记弥补了中国传统官史在记载西器东传过程中的缺失和不足,后者将主要篇幅用于政治及其制度的记载,而前者却因其随意和猎奇的特点,将西洋物质文明传入中国的历史做了较为广泛的记录,体现出明清时期西洋物质文明在中国的渗透状况。明清笔记对西洋器物的记载,因作者所处时间、空间和社会环境不同而有明显的差异。明清笔记作者及其所载事主对西器的认识虽各不相同,但仍能从整体上反映出国人对西洋物质文明,经历了一个从保守自傲到虚心接受,再到"师夷长技"的发展过程。当然,部分国人在接受西洋器物时也产生了"崇洋媚外"的观念。

The notes in the Ming and Qing Dynasties make up for the lack of Chinese traditional official history in the record of the spread of Western material civilization to the East.The official historiography mainly records the politics and political systems,while the former made a lot of records of history of the introduction of Western material civilization into China because of its characteristics of random and seeking novelty.There are different records of the Western artifacts in the notes of the Ming and Qing Dynasties due to the different time,space and social environment of the authors.Although the authors and the parties concerned had varied opinions on the Western artifacts,it can still reflect the attitude of Chinese people toward Western material progress,which experienced a process from self-pride to acceptance,and then to learning from the foreigners.Of course,some Chinese people also developed the concept of“worshiping foreign things”when accepting Western artifacts.