阿拉丁是个中国人--《一千零一夜》的中国形象与文化误读

The Image of China in One Thousand and One Nights and Its Misunderstanding of Chinese Culture

《一千零一夜》的总体框架故事、卡麦尔·扎曼与布杜尔公主的故事以及阿拉丁神灯的故事的主人公身份都是中国人,这几个故事中的中国与中国人形象总体上是积极的和善意的,其背后的原因在于:一、中国与阿拉伯在古代历史上基本没有重大的军事冲突;二、阿拉伯世界距离中国遥远,让阿拉伯人对中国产生一种朦胧美;三、中阿在古代存在一定的交往,特别是汉唐时代有不少的商业交往,这也让部分阿拉伯人了解到中国的物产丰富、经济发达。另外一方面,这些中国形象也在一定程度上反映了阿拉伯人对中国文化的误读与想象,具体表现在对婚礼习俗、宫廷礼仪、帝王专制等方面,这些文化的误读与想象本质上是阿拉伯自我对中国他者的一种投射。

We can find that the protagonists in several stories of One Thousand and One Nights-the mainframe story,the story of Kamal Zaman and Princess Budur and Aladdin,and the Magical Lamp-are all Chinese.The images of these Chinese protagonists are mostly positive.The reasons for this are as follows:1)There was no major military conflict between ancient China and the Arab world;2)The long distance between China and the Arab world somewhat created a"veiled beauty"of China from an Arab perspective;3)Exchanges between ancient China and the Arab countries,especially commercial exchanges under the reign of the Han and Tang Dynasties,formed the image of China as a rich and economically developed country in some Arabs’minds.On the other hand,the image of China among Arabs has to some degree represented a misunderstanding and imagination of Chinese culture,including its wedding customs,etiquettes in the royal court and imperial despotism,to name but a few.This article argues that the misunderstanding and false images of China are quintessentially a projection of Arab identity onto"the other"in China.