近代中国对西方慈善演艺活动的早期参照

Early Reference of Western Charitable Performances in Modern China

自从五口通商之后,中外之间在慈善演艺领域也开始有所交流。在清政府主动或者被迫向西方国家派遣的使节当中,已经有一些人对西方的慈善演艺活动有了比较感性的认识,这些认知对于国人了解西方的慈善演艺活动具有一定的现实意义。当时来华的外国人当中,也可见积极开展的慈善救济活动,其中的重要方式就是慈善演艺,并以西洋器乐音乐会为主。此间,以上海为代表的通商口岸,因为其独有的环境基础,使得蕴含近代性因素的慈善演艺活动萌发。相关的慈善演艺活动,与当时国人出洋游历获得的有关见闻一道,在近代为中国人感知乃至发展慈善演艺提供了参照物。

Since the opening of the Treaty Ports,there had been attention given to charitable performances in the field of philanthropy between China and foreign countries.The Qing government,either voluntarily or under pressure,dispatched envoys to Western countries who gained some perceptual knowledge of Western charitable performing arts activities.These perceptions were of great significance for the Chinese people to understand Western charitable performance,but they did not prompt the idea of integrating charity with entertainment.The ideas brought back by the envoys travelled abroad did not impact the charity performances in China.However,foreig-ners who came to China,with their inherent concept of philanthropy combined with entertainment,actively carried out charitable events in China in times of need,and one of the important ways was charitable performances,particularly Western instrumental music concerts.During this period,Shanghai,being a representative commercial port,has a unique environment because of the concessions which allowed charitable performing arts activities with modern factors to flourish,providing a necessary frame of reference for the emergence of charitable performances in China.