晚清域外游记城市公共空间书写的现代性意义

The Modern Significance of the Writing of Urban Public Space in the Overseas Travel Notes in the Late Qing Dynasty

作为城市整体空间结构的重要组成部分,城市公共空间体现出城市的重要特色。鸦片战争后,踏出国门的晚清国人拥有了更多体验域外现代城市的可能性,他们在域外城市中观察到大量具有开放、共享性质的公共空间,感受到这些场所为民众的公共生活、娱乐提供了选择的多样性。晚清域外游记书写的域外城市公共空间体验成为助推晚清国人获得现代性体验的重要途径之一。晚清域外游记在带给游历者愉悦身心体验的背后,凸显的是比较中西差距后产生的危机感,这让他们对何为现代文明有了直观清晰的认知,也促使他们对中国的现状进行反思。游历者把自己的文化欲望投射到域外城市空间的建构上,既是通过他者来言说自我,又为通向外界打开视窗。他们的域外游历被打上了深深的现代性体验印记,反映了中国式现代化意识起步阶段的真实状况。

As an important part of the overall spatial structure of the city,the urban public space reflects the important characteristics of the city.After the Opium War,Chinese in the late Qing Dynasty who went abroad had more possibilities to experience the overseas modern cities.These tourists observed a large number of open and shared public places in the overseas cities,and felt that these places provided diversity of choices for people’s public life and entertainment.The experience of urban public space written of the overseas travel notes in the late Qing Dynasty became one of the important ways to promote the people of the late Qing Dynasty to experience modernity.Behind the pleasant physical and mental experiences brought by the overseas travel notes in the late Qing Dynasty,the crisis consciousness generated by the comparison of the gap between China and the West was highlighted.The crisis consciousness enabled them to have an intuitive and clear cognition of modern civilization,and also prompted them to reflect on the current situation of China.They projected their cultural desires onto the construction of the urban public space,not only expressing themselves through others,but also opening a window to the outside world.Their extraterritorial travels have been deeply imprinted with modern experiences.This just reflects the real situation in the initial stage of Chinese modernization consciousness.