从“桃花源”到“乌托邦”:《大同书》关于理想社会的构想

From “The Peach Blossom Spring” to “Utopia”:Datong shu and Transformation of the Chinese Imaginations of the Ideal Society

前近代中国人的理想社会具有无为、无治、崇尚“天然”的特征。“桃花源”可以视作其中具有代表性的典范,与西方占据主导地位的“乌托邦”传统存在一些根本差异。《大同书》是中国思想史上第一部系统的乌托邦作品。在康有为的观念中,大同世界被视作一个细密论证、精心撰构的规划与治理方案,是管理人员在全面掌握信息的基础上,进行理性规划和计算推导的结果,是“人为的”,而非“天然的”。这一转变反映出中国近代思想基本取向的变化。

Chinese imaginations of the ideal society during the pre-modern era were replete with the tendencies of inaction,laissez-faire and respecting“nature”. A typical example of such Chinese imaginations,“The Peach Blossom Spring” was inherently different from the“Utopian”tradition dominant in the West. As far as its writing style is concerned,Datong shu( The Great Harmony) by Kang Youwei was the first book that systemically discussed “Utopia” in the intellectual history of China. According to Kang,a world of“great harmony”is based on sophisticated and fine-tuned planning and governance solutions. Based on the assumption that administrators can gain sufficient information on the reality,Kang believed that“the great harmony”could only be possible with rational planning and calculations. In Kang’s view,“the great harmony”is essentially man-made as opposed to“natural”. Kang’s view is a testament to the fundamental changes of the trajectory of modern Chinese intellectual history.