洁净的危险——论19世纪美国传教士书信传记中的中国人特性书写

The Danger of Purity:On the Writing of Chinese Characteristics in the Letters and Biographies of American Missionaries in the 19th Century

传播基督教福音的使命感和征服异教国度的雄心使美国传教士更执着于单向度的观看,中国形象在他们的叙述中被"他者化",沦为了二元思维模式中"他者的景观"。19世纪来华美国传教士书信传记作品中的相关记述显示,从身体到灵魂,基督教话语中的洁净隐喻被纳入到对异教徒的形象塑造中,由此来证明中国人道德水准低下,而且已成为其悲惨生活的根源;中国人只有在基督教文化的干预下洗心革面、重塑灵魂方能得救。传教士对中国人负面人格的呈现,目的在于为批判异教徒的精神信仰树立标靶。但是这种形象塑造背后的动力机制却导致了传教士主观诉求与客观现实的历史性偏离。

With the mission to conquer the heathen world,the American missionaries were so immersed in the dualistic thinking mode that they attached to one dimensional sighting.China in their narration became the"Other",or the spectacle of the"Other". In the letters and journals from American missionaries’ biographies in 19 th Century,the metaphor of purity was applied to the representation of Chinese characteristics to prove their morality inferior,which had caused their miserable lives,and their soul would not be saved without interference of Christian culture. The missionaries’ writing on Chinese negative personality established a target to criticize the heathen culture,while the motive power behind such imagination eventually led to the historical distortion of the objective reality in China.