《新国纪行》与1871年旧金山工业博览会

Journey to the New Nation and San Francisco Industrial Exhibition in 1871

细川润次郎(1834—1923)是日本明治时代到大正时代的一位重要人物。他不仅精通西学和汉学,而且积极参与宪政和教育改革。1871年他曾带领使团代表日本参加由旧金山工业公会举办的第八届工业博览会和美国东部的农事博览会。他的汉文日记《新国纪行》的主要部分详细记载了他在旧金山参加博览会(8月8日至9月9日)和在当地探访考察美国工农业新技术和产品的情况。通过对细川润次郎日记的仔细研读,结合旧金山工业公会的博览会报告,以及早期旧金山英文报纸的报道,我们可以了解到中日参加这一次小型世博会的不同经验及对后来的影响。

Hosokawa Junjirō(1834-1923)was an important figure from the Meiji era to the Taisho era in Japan.He was not only proficient in western learning and sinology,but was also an active participant of constitutional and educational reforms.In 1871,he was appointed by the Japanese government to present at the Eighth San Francisco Industrial Exhibition organized by the Mechanics’Institute of San Francisco and the Agriculture Exhibition on the east coast of the United States.His diary Journey to the New Nation,written in Chinese,documents his activities at the exhibition in San Francisco,which ran from Aug.8 through Sept.9,as well as his other visits around the Bay Area.He also wrote about his discoveries of new industrial and agricultural technology.Through close reading of his diary,combined with the report from the Mechanics’Institute and early San Francisco newspapers,we can understand the different experiences that China and Japan had in presenting this exhibition and their impact on the future.