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2023/24 School of Chinese Research Student Seminar

他者之所見——西方傳教士的明清易代書寫

Observations of the Other: Western Missionary Writings on the Ming-Qing Transition

Abstract:

明清更迭是中國歷史上最深刻的朝代變革之一。在大量文人退仕撰史的同時，在中國的另一特殊群體——歐洲傳教士也在書寫這場中國的鉅變。他們受宗教使命的驅使來到中國，親眼目睹了王朝的興衰起落。他們以拉丁語或其他西方語言撰寫的作品體現出有別於中國史家的獨特觀察。這些作品在清政權定鼎不久後於歐洲出版，促進了歐洲對帝制中國認識與理解的重大轉變。

本研究主要考察歐洲傳教士關於明清更迭的各類書寫，包括專著、相關年報、書信和回憶筆記。研究將分析這些傳教士作品的寫作背景與具體文本，對比其與同時期中文記載，重點關注不同敘述的真實性和可能的主觀成分。我還將從跨文化的角度進一步討論這些傳教士敘述對史學史研究的意義。

The Ming-Qing transition is one of the most profound dynastic changes in Chinese history. While Chinese literati buried themselves in recording this transition, a special group of people in China—European missionaries—also wrote about the drastic changes in China. These people, who came to the Middle Kingdom for an evangelical purpose, had personal witness of the downfall and rise of the dynasties. Their writings (in Latin and European languages) reflected a viewpoint different from that of Chinese historians. Moreover, they had their works published in Europe not long after the founding of the Qing regime, thus contributing to a big shift in European knowledge and understanding of imperial China.

This study examines a variety of European missionary writings on the dynastic change, including monographs, annual reports, letters, memoirs, etc. It presents contextual and textual analysis of these missionary works in comparison with contemporary records of Chinese literati, with a particular concern about the authenticity and subjectivity among different narratives. I will further discuss the historiographical implications of these missionary narratives from a cross-cultural perspective.