论近代中日大学的知识竞争--对东部亚洲知识版图的长时段考察

Academic Rivalry between Chinese and Japanese Universities:Mapping the Knowledge Landscape in Modern East Asia

中日两国是东亚的重要力量,二者的近代化起步基本同期,但历程迥异。中国大学最初取法于日本,之后则改行美制,逐步与日本大学脱钩并展开激烈竞争。在20世纪30年代,中国大学发展迅猛,并在许多方面逼近甚至比肩于日本名校。但是,终因战争干扰,中国大学的近代化进程被严重阻滞,发展水平和成效总体上仍不及欧美与日本的一流名校。在此进程中,教育发展和大学建设固然有其内在逻辑,但是,二者也深受社会环境、军政变革和地缘政治的影响,而对美关系则是其中一个重要变量。两国大学之争乃是对远东学术中心之争、对知识主导权之争。这一交流与竞争,不仅在当时产生了深刻影响,也对日后东亚的学术图景和地缘政治产生了一定影响。

As two major powers in East Asia,China and Japan started developing higher education around the same time.At first,Chinese universities just learned from their Japanese counterparts,but they later adopted the U.S.higher education model.In the 1930s,Chinese universities became so competitive that they could match,or even outperform,those elite universities in Japan.However,the ensuing war severely hampered the development of higher education in China.Since then,Chinese universities lagged far behind their European,American and Japanese counterparts.The development trajectories of higher education in China and Japan during the first half of the 20th century were very divergent from each other,mostly due to their different historical backgrounds,unique social milieu as well as changing geopolitical dynamics in East Asia.In particular,the two countries’respective relations with the U.S.were a major influencing factor here.The academic rivalry between Chinese and Japanese universities was in fact a competition between these two countries for academic supremacy and dominance during the first half of the 20th century.This rivalry has since continued exerting a profound impact on the knowledge landscape and geopolitical dynamics in East Asia.