传教士与十九世纪下半叶西方动物分类知识在华传播

Christian Missionaries and the Introduction of Western Taxonomy of Animals in Late Nineteenth-Century China

本文以动物分类知识为线索考证了19世纪下半叶在华传教士编撰的多部动物学文献的底本。在此基础上,本文分析了诸文献反映了何种发展水平的西方动物科学,并总结了传教士在华传播西方动物学的特点和规律。本文认为,传教士的动物学文献向中国输入了1859年以前较为先进的西方动物学知识,但对于1859年后受到进化论影响的动物分类体系没有任何介绍。传教士长期作为传播西方动物知识的唯一渠道,导致在进化论影响下产生的自然分类法没能更早传入中国。

This article examines the systems of animal classification as a clue to identify the source texts of the zoological works compiled by Christian missionaries in China in the late nineteenth century.The article further analyzes the level of development of Western zoology and taxonomy reflected in these Chinese zoological texts and explores the patterns of translating and spreading Western scientific information demonstrated in the missionaries’ works. This article argues that the missionaries’ zoological literature reflects many advanced findings and theories in zoology and taxonomy before 1859, but these works, up to the end of the nineteenth century, deliberately avoided introducing any “natural” animal taxonomy systems influenced by evolution theory. The missionaries’ long-term role as the only channel for the dissemination of Western sciences delayed the introduction of evolutionary theory and the postDarwinian zoology and taxonomy into China.