亲历、见证与记忆:庚子事变中的几个“小人物”

Experiences,Witnessing and Memories:Several Ordinary Chinese during the Boxer Rebellion

本文讨论的庚子事变中的三个“小人物”——金四喜、郑殿方、傅景涛,无一例外具有教民身份,属于社会边缘群体,亲历与见证了事变,也因缘际会,被推至历史前台。他们一度托庇于使馆,然后不同程度地介入战争状态下隐秘渠道的信息传递过程,对于战时交涉、使馆解围各自发挥了作用。他们的行动一度跨越了国别界限,特定时代的极端环境下看似“例外”的个人选择,显示了“社会机制的失灵”。这些“小人物”有过非常的行动,但始终无法自我表述,关于他们的历史记录,几乎全部出自他者。由各色“记忆”拼合而成的某一“形象”,可以验证特定时代重心所在,同时折射不同人群的观念立场。追寻“小人物”的线索,很可能找到打开“大历史”门户的锁钥。

This paper concentrated on three ordinary Chinese during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, namely, Jin Sixi, Zheng Dianfang and Fu Jingtao. All of them were Chinese Christians and lived at the margin of society. As the witnesses of the chaos at the time, they unintentionally left their imprint on history. They took shelter in a foreign embassy at one time and were to various extents involved in transmitting information underground during the war. Consequently, they respectively played a role in mediation and rescuing the embassy from the siege. Their actions transcended the China versus Foreign dichotomy. As “exceptional” personal choices under very extreme circumstances, their actions indicated the failure of relevant social mechanisms. These ordinary Chinese did some extraordinary things, but they were not able to tell their stories on their own.All the historical records about their deeds were written by others. By piecing together all relevant historical records,researchers can re-create their full images, through which we can understand the focus of a specific time and the standpoints of different social groups. Stories of ordinary people may be the key to understanding the magnificent aspects of history.