“异域之眼”中的晚清镜像——以琉球汉文笔记《北上杂记》为研讨中心

“Eye of Foreign Countries” in Late Qing Dynasty: Taking Going North Miscellanea as the Research Object

晚清琉球文人蔡大鼎曾为救亡图存之国事密使北京,其间所作《北上杂记》一书记录了同光时期,以北京地区为主要描写对象的社会生活史。其以"异域之眼"而作汉文笔记,所记上至庙堂朝贡,下至贩夫走卒,事无巨细,过眼而录。尤其是一些为正史所忽略的事件,譬如普通佣工阶层的薪资状况,民间医药行业的竞争关系等。在晚清中国风雨飘摇之际,蔡大鼎仍对宗主国表现出倾慕的心态,这种慕华意识的背后反映出中琉宗藩关系的惯性维系以及琉球小国外交的艰难处境。蔡氏笔下的晚清镜像呈现出文学描写与历史真实之间的背离,是日本武力发动"球案"之际中琉关系张力的一种实录性呈现。

Cai Dading, a Ryukyu official of the late Qing Dynasty, was sent on a diplomatic mission to Beijing for saving the nation from subjugation. During his stay in Beijing, he wrote Going North Miscellanea, which detailed the social life of Tongzhi Guangxu period of Beijing. The "exotic eyes" of Cai Dading covered almost everything he saw, from official events to things related to lower class. He wrote specifically about the wages of ordinary workers, and the competition of the folk medicine line of Beijing. In the tottering late Qing China, Cai Dading still showed admiration to suzerain state, which indicated that the suzerain-vassal relation between China and Ryukyu still existed and Ryukyu was in a difficult situation. The mirror image of the late Qing Dynasty in Cai’s work shows the divergence between the literary description and the historical reality. It is a kind of realistic representation of the tension between China and Ryukyu when Japan launched the Ryukyu Case.