<論説>咸豊初年に『夷氛聞記』と『海国四説』を読む : 南京条約後、澳門から省城への「西人」の移動が意味すること (特集 : 移動)

Abstract

一九世紀前半の広州地域社会における有力な指導者梁廷楠は、著名な魏源の『夷艘征撫記』と『海国図志』に対する批判を念頭に、『夷氛聞記』と『海国四説』という二つの著作を、広州入城闘争「勝利」後の成豊初年に刊行した。『夷氛聞記』は、アヘン戦争の本質が清朝政府によって省城広州と澳門(マカオ)の間に間にしつらえられた「間(ま)」の消滅、すなわち澳門(マカオ)から省城広州への外国人の空間的移動の問題にほかならないことを主張していた。一方、『海国四説』は、この「間(ま)」が消滅したときに生ずる、紳士層・天子相互にとっての死活問題を、紳士層の側から論じていた。梁延楠の視点は、アヘン戦争とそれに続くアロー戦争が、澳門(マカオ)から省城広州(入城) 、省城広州から北京城(駐京) 、天子の身体(覲見) へと迫っていく外国人の空間的移動と、それにともなう天子のアイデンティティの危機、すなわち「互市」による「朝貢」の侵犯という、同質かつ連続したプロセスにほかならなかったことを示唆している。

Liang Tingnan 梁廷枏, who was an influential leader of society in the Guangzhou region during the latter half of the nineteenth century, published two works, Yifen wenji 夷氛聞記 (Report on the Alien's Situations) and Haiguo sishuo 海国四説 (Four Discourses on Overseas Countries), during the early years of the reign of Xianfeng (in the beginning of the 1850s) that were timed to the Chinese success of the refusal to allow the British to enter the city of Guangzhou. With the intent of criticizing the famed Yisou zhengfuji 夷艘征撫記 (Conquest and Submission of the Alien Fleets) and Haiguo tuzhi 海国図志 (Illustrated Description on Overseas Countries) of Wei Yuan 魏源 he presented a consistent argument in Yifen wenji and Haiguo sishuo. Yifen wenji argued the essence of the Opium War was the process of the spatial movement of foreign traders from Macao to Guangzhou, in other words, the elimination of the Qing government policy of keeping distance between Guangzhou and Macao. On the other hand, Haiguo sishuo argued the fatal issues facing the literati class 紳士層 and the son of heaven 天子, which would be caused by this elimination of this distance, from the perspective of the literati. Haiguo sishuo was composed of two paired sections: one is "Yesujiao nanru Zhongguo shuo "耶蘇教難入中国説 ("Why the Christianity Cannot Enter China?") and "Heshengguo shuo" 合省国説 ("On the United States")as the section of the literati, and the other is "Lan Lun oushuo" 蘭崙偶説("On the United Kingdom" and "Yuedao gongguo shuo" 粤道貢国説 ("On the Tributary States via the Guangzhou Route") as the section of the Emperor. He pointed out that their own identity as Chinese literati was threatened by Christian proselytizing that accompanied the long-term residence of the foreigners in the Canton factory after the Opium War (as discussed in "Yesujiao nanru Zhongguo shuo"), and if their own identity would not be protected due to the lease of land outside the factory, and the English, who invited military conflicts throughout the world by reason of trade as a national policy and instigated the Opium War (as discussed in "Lan Lun oushuo"), would enter the city of Guangzhou, that might cause the right reason for the existence of the son of heaven, as a figure spreading virtue over the world, to be shaken (as discussed in "Yuedao gongguo shuo") and to be denied by the literati of Guangzhou (as discussed in "Heshengguo shuo"). Liang Tingnan's perspective was nothing other than to indicate that the spatial movement of the foreigners in the Opium War and the succeeding Arrow War, namely the movement from Macao to Guangzhou (the entry of foreign consuls into the city of Guangzhou), from Guangzhou to Beijing (stationing of foreign ambassadors in Beijing), and from Beijing to the body of the son of heaven (imperial audiences with foreign ambassadors), was a continuous process of the same character: plainly speaking, the violation of "tribute" 朝貢 by "trade" 互市, which meant the crisis of identity of the son of heaven.