元朝时期西方人的“中国观”

The China of Others:Westerners’View of China in the Yuan Dynasty

元朝是东西方大交流的时代,蒙古人的征战以及蒙古四大汗国的建立,使得东西方在蒙古人建立的秩序下开始互相了解,这也是西方人“发现”中国人的时代。当时的教皇、国王派出了正式的使节,意大利的城邦国家的商人也陆续前来中国经商,使得当时中国的很多信息被传到了欧洲,逐渐勾勒出西方人对中国人的初步认知体系,形成了西方人的“中国观”。元朝时西方人的“中国观”依旧包含了此前他们对中国人的一些虚无缥缈的传说,他们很多论述还是用一种传奇故事的方法来阐述;但随着他们对中国认识的深入,欧洲人在对比自身不足的情况下,对中国还是有了一些客观的认识,甚至有些认识是非常深刻的,这连中国人自己也没有意识到。

The Yuan Dynasty was a time of great communication between the East and the West.The Mongol wars and the establishment of the four Mongol Khanates opened up the East and the West began to understand each other under the order established by the Mongols.This was also the time when Westerners“discovered”the Chinese.At that time,the Pope and the king sent official envoys,and businessmen from Italian city-states also came to China for business one after another.As a result,a lot of information about China at that time was spread to Europe,which gradually outlined the initial cognition system of the Chinese people in the West and formed the"view of China"in the West.The“Chinese view”of the Westerners in the Yuan Dynasty still contained some mythical legends about the Chinese people before,and many of the discussions were elaborated in the way of legendary stories.However,with their deeper understanding of China,Europeans still have some objective understanding of China,even some understanding is very profound,the Chinese themselves are not aware of.