告诉世界一个“真实的”中国——对20世纪初W.E.盖洛系统考察中国人文地理的评述

A Critical Appraisal of Geil's Human Geographic Writings of China

美国旅行家盖洛在 2 0世纪初数次来华考察中国的人文地理 ,着重研究和考察了长江流域、长城、1 8行省省会和五大名山 ,对长城烽火台和嘉峪关以西的城墙有过重要的发现 ,并且用相机记录了处于重大历史转折时期的有关中国文化、民俗、社会各界人物和自然地理风景的大量图片资料 ,同时还收集了众多拓片、方志和通俗文学的文本。他的一系列著作和研究成果应该引起我国学术界的关注和重视。

William Edgar Geil, an American human geographer, visited China several times in the early 20th century, doing investigation and research of the Yangtze Valley, the Great Wall, the 18 provincial capitals and the five sacred mountains. His extensive explorations bore fruitful results, which include the discovery of the beacon towers and the Tibetan loop in the Great Wall, thousands of photos about Chinese society in general at a critical turning point of history, and the collection of various maps, local annals, ink rubbings, proverbs and the texts of popular literature. Important as he is, Geil has been little noted, even less studied. Based primarily on his four books about China, this paper attempts to evaluate comprehensively Geil's contributions and limitations, with an emphasis on the former.