允禟西洋密码字档案初探

Study of the Western Character Code Created by Yuntang

康熙帝之子允禟曾使用西洋文字仿比满文创造密码字以传递信息,此行为被清廷列入其二十八款大罪之中。通过新发现的允禟案罪证档案可知,允禟西洋密码字是一套使用拉丁字母转写满文并拼写汉语的文字转写方法,其设计同时兼顾字音和字形两方面,颇具特色,亦有不少疏漏。作为目前所知最早由中国人创制的满文转写体系,允禟西洋密码字是清初中西文化交流的缩影。至于允禟使用西洋密码字所写之书信,内容实为家庭事务。清廷借此罗织罪名时,则绕过内容,着力批判其行为立意,造成了实际内容与违碍意义间一种“虚实之间”的微妙感。

Yuntang,the son of Emperor Kangxi,created a code by mixing western characters and Manchu language.The Qing government included the use of this code to send messages as one of the 28 accusations against Yuntang.An inspection of the newly discovered file of Yuntang’s case,has found that the code system transliterated Chinese using Manchu and then transliterated Manchu language to Latin characters.The design of this code system considered both the sound and shape of the characters.The code was quite distinctive but also had many defects.As the earliest known transliteration of Manchu created by Chinese people,the western character code created by Yuntang was an example of cultural communication between East and West in the early Qing Dynasty.As to the content of the coded letter,it only discussed family matters.Nevertheless,when the Qing government charged Yuntang it bypassed the content and focused on criticizing the intention of his behavior and created a subtle sense of“between the virtual and the reality”regarding the content of the letter and the meaning of the violation.