提前奏响的挽歌:一个同时代美国外交官眼中的晚清洋务运动

An Elegy Ahead of Time:the Westernization Drive in the Eye of A Contemporary American Diplomat

19世纪后期美国驻华海军武官薛斐尔评论洋务运动的一封公开信,基于亲身观察,对洋务运动之重器物而轻制度与文化的宗旨、其军事改革的不彻底性、列强对此运动的虚伪态度和李鸿章对洋务运动的贡献及其观念上的严重局限做了公开、全面、深刻和直言不讳的评述和批判。证之于当时及后来之历史和文献,此信堪称开中外对洋务运动和李鸿章的系统客观评价之先河。

This study is a systematic review of an open letter about the Westernization Drive by Shufeldt,an U.S naval attachéin China in the late 19 th century.Based on his observation,in the letter Shufeldt has made an open,comprehensive,deep and straightforward description and criticism of the tenet of the drive,i.e.,valuing technology instead of institution and culture,the lack of thoroughness in the military reform,the western powers’ hypocritical attitude toward the drive,Li Hongzhang’s role in this drive and the severe limitations in his ideas.With historical developments and relevant literatures at that and later time in evidence,it is hard not to regard this letter as the forerunner in the history of systematic and objective evaluations of the Westernization Drive and Li Hongzhang in China and overseas.