“保国”以“保天下”:《劝学篇》文明-国家重建的筹划

“Protecting the Civilized World” via “Protecting the State”:The Civilization-State Rebuilding Project in Zhang Zhidong’s The Only Hope of China

张之洞的《劝学篇》是观察中国现代政治思想演进的重要窗口。以往的研究,要么多从旧与新或顽固派与改良派立场的两端出发来勾画《劝学篇》作为过渡时代思想作品的"居间性"整体品格,要么多在现代民族-国家的目标或现代法权体系的理想这些规范视野启发下,讨论其具体政治与文教筹划的得失,《劝学篇》独立的理论特征往往遭到忽视。只有回到《劝学篇》的本文和内在理路,深描其辨分中西的战略意识,分析其捍卫中国"天下-国家"体系的文明逻辑,品评其设学堂、改科举的文教筹划,凸显其"保国"以"保天下"的理论进路,《劝学篇》所提出的中国文明—国家重建战略的整体思想特征才能够得到深入揭示。

Zhang Zhidong’s The Only Hope of China(《劝学篇》) provides a significant horizon for us to observe the evolution of Chinese modern political thought. However, the two mainstreams in the current literature, either depicting The Only Hope of China as a transitional work between the old and new ages, the Dead-hard Conservatives and Reformists, or evaluating the pros and cons of its political and educational programs according to the norms of modern nation-state, failed to grasp the theoretical feature of The Only Hope of China itself. Turning back to the text and inner logic of The Only Hope of China, this article describes its strategic insight into the distinction between China and the West, analyzes its civilizational logic of protecting the Chinese "civilized world-state" system, comments on its educational program of introducing the school system and reforming the imperial examination system, and highlights its theoretical approach of "protecting the civilized world" by "protecting the state". Only through this analysis, the features of the Chinese civilization-state rebuilding strategy in The Only Hope of China could be illuminated.