<論説>清末中国の文明観転換と自己認識 (特集 : 文明)

Abstract

清末知識人は、中国文明を唯一の文明と見る文明観から転換し西洋文明の優位を認める過程で、どのように新たな自己認識を形成したのだろうか。従来この問題は、主に日清戦争後の国民性認識として論じられてきた。しかしそこに見られる中国人の保守性、消極性、怠惰性、虚偽性、卑屈性、利己性等の強調は、一八七〇年代後半から八〇年代の先進的知識人における文明観転換の中で、郭嵩燾、王韜、張徳彝、鍾天緯、鄭観応などにすでに見出せる。注目すべきは、一八七〇年代半ば以降、『万国公報』に掲載されたアレン、ファーバーら宣教師の漢文著作では十九世紀西洋の否定的中国認識をふまえた中国国民性批判が展開され、それが知識人に広く流布していたことである。こうした宣教師と知識人の中国国民性批判を比較検討すると、知識人が宣教師の著作から強い影響を受けていたことがわかる。西洋近代が生んだ否定的中国認識を継承する宣教師の中国国民性批判が、伝統的中華意識に代わる新たな自己認識を強力に方向付けたのである。

Through their encounter with Western modernity at the end of the Qing Dynasty (mid 19th century - early 20th century), Chinese intellectuals shifted their traditional perspective on civilization that had seen Chinese as the lone civilization but now recognized the superiority of Western civilization, which was understood as different from Chinese civilization. How then did they formulate this new self-awareness in the process of comparing themselves to the West? Conventionally, this new self-awareness is thought to have been addressed after the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) by Yan Fu 厳復 and Liang Qichao 梁啓超 in studies critical of the national character. In fact, however, a new self-awareness critical of the national character appeared during the shift in perspective on civilization prior to the Sino-Japanese War. The purpose of this paper is to follow the process of renewed self-awareness among Qing Dynasty intellectuals, clarifying the commonality seen therein while considering the relationship between self-awareness and missionary discourse, and also clarifying how the formulation of a new self-awareness accompanied the shift in perception of civilization in Qing-dynasty China. The original idea of a new self-awareness seen in the criticism of the national character after the Sino-Japanese War had already begun to appear among some intellectuals, such as Wang Tao 王韜, Zhang Deyi 張徳彝, Zhong Tianwei 鍾天緯, and Zheng Guanying 鄭観応, in the latter half of the 1870's to the 1880's, in the shift in perspective on civilization triggered by the acceptance of Western information and the dispatch of diplomats to the West. Their self-awareness was strangely similar in that it portrayed Chinese people in a generally negative light, highlighting their conservativeness, negativity, laziness, proclivity for falsehoods, subservience, and selfishness. What is noteworthy here is that just prior to the formulation of this new self-awareness by intellectuals, the missionaries had characterized the Chinese people and wrote in Chinese criticizing the Chinese people as conservative, negative, lazy, having a proclivity for falsehoods, being subservient and selfish based on the negative view of China formed by Western modernity that had been built up by thinkers from Montesquieu to Hegel. Moreover, Young J. Allen's Zhongxi Guanxi Lüelun 中西関係略論 and "Zhi'an Xince" 治安新策 (published in Zhongdong Zhanji Benmo 中東戦紀本末) regarded as the representative Chinese language missionary works, and Ernst Faber's Zixi Cudong 自西徂東, which was published in Wanguo Gongbao 万国公報, were circulated from the latter half of the 1870's onward, Zixi Cudong and Zhongdong Zhanji Benmo as individual books were popularized wholeheartedly by the Guangxuehui 広学会 among bureaucrats and intellectuals from the end of the 1880's until around 1900. Based on the above, when conducting a comparative examination of the self-awareness of Chinese national character found in the Chinese language works by missionaries and those that followed written by intellectuals, in particular Zhongxi Guanxi Lüelun and Zhong Tianwei's "Yu Cheng Xizhi Shu" 与程禧之書, Zixi Cudong, and Zheng Guanying's Shengshi Weiyan 盛世危言, "Zhi'an Xince" and Liang Qichao's "Zhongguo Jiruo Suyuan Lun" 中国積弱遡源論，in each case considerable similarity is seen between the content of the Chinese national character being criticized and the specific examples. From the remarks of the intellectuals and associated materials, we can also see that they were deeply involved with the missionaries and their works. Based on this, it becomes obvious that the criticisms of the Chinese national character by Allen and Faber had a profound effect on Zhong Tianwei, Zheng Guanying, and Liang Qichao's awareness of the Chinese national character. Additionally, we can assume that such awareness of the national identity gradually spread among a broader range of intellectuals due to the popularity of Chinese-language translations of the missionary's works. In the process of the shifting perspective on civilization, Qing-dynasty intellectuals were faced with the formidable task of formulating a new selfawareness. At that time, the earlier criticism of the Chinese national character expressed by the missionaries had a strong influence on how the intellectuals, who were seeking an alternative to the traditional Chinese awareness, shaped their self-awareness. This line of thinking enables us to understand for the first time the mysterious similarities found in the new self-awareness of intellectuals.