17、18世纪的中西“年代学”问题

Some Issues Concerning "Chronology" in the 17^(th) and 18^(th) Centuries China and the West

16世纪末 ,耶稣会士罗明坚、利玛窦等人向读者介绍了《圣经》“年代学”。《圣经》“年代学”按照“亚当族谱”定历史 ,宣称世界历史一共“五千五百五十年” ,所有民族 ,包括中国人 ,都是犹太人的后裔。这个“年代学” ,以及附属于该学说的“自西徂东说”、“中国人种西来说” ,在中国引起不同反应。更有兴味的是 ,1 7、1 8世纪的在华耶稣会士从儒家经典中察觉 ,中国历史有“四千年”的文明史 ,而夏、商、周三代之前的史前历史应该更长 ,远远超过《圣经·创世纪》的“年代学”。在华耶稣会士写信回国 ,要求按照中国人的记载 ,修订欧洲的“年代学”。伏尔泰最终按中国年代学确立了近代历史观 ,从中可见中国的儒家历史观对于欧洲 1 7、1 8世纪历史学的重要影响。

Towards the end of the 16 th century, such Jesuits as Luo Ming-jian and Matthew Ricci recommended the 'Bible chronology' to the reader, which narrates history according to the 'Pedigree of Adam Clan',and declares that the world had a history of five thousand five hundred and fifty years, and all the nations of the world including the Chinese, are the posterity of the Jews. This chronology and its related doctrines of 'From West to East' and 'the Migration of the Chinese from the West' were responded differently in China. What's more interesting is that the Jesuits in China in the 17 th and 18 th centuries came to know from Confucian classics that China had had a history of civilization of 4,000 years and pre-Xia, Shang and Zhou history should have been much longer, going farther back than what was recorded in the 'Chronicle'. The Jesuits in China wrote back, demanding a revision of the European 'Chronicle' in line with Chinese records. Voltaire finally established the modern conception of history according to the Chinese chronicle. This indicates the great influence of Chinese Confucian conception of history on the study of history in the 17 th and 18 th century Europe.