| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 2005: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 2004: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
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| Research Abstract |
In a previous paper entitled "A Study of the Western Experiences of the First Envoys to Britain during the late Qing Period and the Changes in their Views of the World," the representative researcher discussed the changes in the recognition of the Western world among three members of the first party of Chinese envoys to Britain-Guo Songtao (1818-91), Liu Xihong (date of birth and death unknown), and Zhang Deyi (1847-1919). The aim of that study was to clarify how the traditional view of civilization among Chinese intellectuals in the late Qing Period was transformed into a new view in which they began to see Western civilization as being different in nature from Chinese civilization. In the course of the discussion, it was made clear that the transformation of the view of civilization was more apparent in the case of Zhang Deyi, one of the new intellectuals who had received the new education, than was the case with the other two envoys. In the present paper, we have attempted to deepen
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the previous study by focusing on the forward-thinking intellectuals of the Yang Wu・generation and analyzing the changes in their views of civilization. Like Zhang Deyi, they were born around the time of the Opium Wars, grew up in the midst of Yan Wu Yun Dong (the Westernization Movement) and later had direct experience of the Western world in their careers as diplomatic envoys. As major actors who finally promoted the transformation of Chinese views of civilization, they introduced a new recognition of the Western world, which was to become the foundation for the subsequent reformation movement that arose after the Sino-Japanese War. Our analysis has focused specifically on Xue Fucheng (1838-94), a traditional intellectual, and Zhong Tianwei (1840-1901), one of the new intellectuals who had received a Western education and was engaged in the translation of western publications, and examined their views on comparisons between Chinese and Western civilization. We have paid particular attention to the differences between the two intellectuals in terms of their respective psychological distances from traditional Chinese values and the depth of their understanding of Western society. In so doing, we have clarified the characteristics of the transformation of Chinese views of civilization at the end of Qing Period. In addition, we have shed light on the fact that the transformation of these intellectuals' views of civilization was influenced to a considerable extent by the arguments and particularly the criticisms that were put forward against Chinese civilization by Western missionaries and published in the Wan Guo Gong Bao and other magazines from 1870s onward. Overall, we believe that this study has made a certain contribution to the progress of research into Chinese recognition of the West during the Yang Wu Yun Dong period, which is among the less studied fields in the realm of modern Chinese thought. Less
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