清末《图画日报》“再造新民”思想初探

Study on the“Recreation of the New Citizen”Thought in the Pictorial Daily of the Late Qing Dynasty

自第一次鸦片战争以来,中国智识阶层对泰西各国的学习可归纳为“器物”“制度”“思想”三个阶段。在全盘西化的过程中,有识之士认为底层民众的蒙昧是中国难以“雄于地球”的重要阻碍之一,“新民”便成为变法图强的题中应有之义。智识阶层借助画报“直观可感”的优势,将文与图的叙事特征有效结合,视民间为主要拟想读者,将尚武、科学等新民思想推广至普罗大众。通过《图画日报》可以管窥清末智识阶层对尚武、科学的推崇与“再造新民”的艰难。

Since the First Opium War,Chinese intellectual class has experienced three stages in learning“techniques”,“systems”and“thoughts”from Western countries.To achieve a complete Westernization,some intellectuals identified the foolishness of the lower classes as a significant barrier preventing China from“rising on the world stage”,and thus making the“new citizens”essential to the reforms aimed at strengthening the nation.Leveraging the visual advantages of the Pictorial Daily,the intellectuals effectively combined the narrative characteristics of text and images,viewing the public as their primary imagined audience,and promoted ideas of martial valor and science among the masses.Through the Pictorial Daily,one can gain insight into the admiration of martial spirit and science by the late Qing intellectuals and the challenges they faced in the“recreation of the new citizen”.