一位在华美国人对辛亥革命的看法--谈福开森的几封家书

1911 Revolution in the Eyes of an American in China John Calvin Ferguson's Point of View

本文阐述了居住在中国的美国人福开森对辛亥革命的看法。辛亥革命期间,福开森在中国已生活了24年,参与了教育﹑政治﹑经济和社会的多种高层事务﹐掌握了比较充分的资讯,立场也比较客观﹐所以他的意见应该有一定的参考价值。据他观察,辛亥革命的中坚分子是清廷遗送的留学生,学成回国却得不到任用﹐导致他们成为反对朝廷最坚定的力量。福开森当时的观察﹐从近年许多历史著作中得到支持的证据。本文所据的材料主要是收藏在华盛顿特区弗瑞尔美术馆的福开森家族文档。

This article reveals the observation on the 1911 Revolution made by an American living in China.During the Revolution,John Calvin Ferguson had lived in China for 24 years and had been involved in Chinese educa tion,politics,economic and social life on high levels.His point of view was valuable because he was objective and amply informed,According to Ferguson's observation,the key players of the Revolution were the returned students originally sponisored by the Qing court.The disillusion caused by their inability to contribute to the betterment of China turned them into hard core revolutionaries.This observation gained posthunous support from recent historical research,The primary sources the author utilized in this paper are mainly the John Calvin Ferguson Family Papers held by Freer Art Gallery in washington DC.