During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, with the arrival of Jesuit missionaries, China's academic thoughts were touched. At this time, the western science and technology was about to begin to develop rapidly, while the development of science and technology in China was already very slow, greatly lagging behind Europe at the same time. While spreading Catholic teachings, missionaries also introduced a large number of western science and technology. At that time, some literati and emperors in China accepted the knowledge of science and technology, but their thoughts were basically unaffected. At this stage, the introduction of western learning to the east was interrupted by the ban of Yongzheng and the change of the Vatican's missionary policy to China, but the introduction of western learning on a smaller scale was not completely stopped.
At this time, the introduction of western learning was mainly based on the translation of western scientific works by missionaries and some China people. In 165, Matteo Ricci compiled Gankun Tiyi, which was called "the beginning of the introduction of western learning into China" by the compilers of Sikuquanshu. At that time, the influence on China was mainly in astronomy, mathematics and cartography. Because it was only circulated among a few literati classes, and most of them were hidden in the palace, it was not well popularized.
the second stage
around the middle of the 19th century, westerners began to enter China again and brought new knowledge from the west through various media. As a result of the Opium War and the stimulation of the allied forces of Britain and France, the Qing government began to carry out the Westernization Movement in the 196s, which also prompted the western science and technology to be introduced to China again. At that time, westernization people mainly adopted the attitude of "learning from the middle school, using western learning" to face western learning, but mainly paid attention to advanced western weapons and related equipment transportation, without trying to learn western academic thoughts. Therefore, the introduction of academic thoughts during this period was mainly through the media founded by western missionaries and books translated and introduced for military purposes in westernization institutions.
After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, as China was facing the fate of national ruin, many people of insight began to learn from the West more actively and comprehensively, and a group of thinkers such as Yan Fu, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and Tan Sitong appeared. They learned a lot from the west about natural science and social science, and they also demanded political reform. During this period, a great deal of western knowledge was introduced into China, and its influence was very extensive. Many people accept western learning by translating western books written by Japanese. In the Republic of China, the dissatisfaction with politics further led intellectuals to put forward the idea of "total westernization", which had a great influence during the May 4th Movement. This wave of western learning spread to the east has continued to the present age, but this article mainly discusses it before and after the May 4th Movement.
the media of western learning spreading to the east
foreigners coming to China
Westerners coming to China, including missionaries, diplomats, officials, etc., all have an influence on the spreading of western learning to the east.
Missionaries
Missionaries played a very important role in the wave of western learning spreading to the east in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. At that time, missionaries, mainly Catholic Jesuits (later, Franciscans, Dominicans and other priests), while trying to introduce Catholicism into China, introduced western scientific and technological academic ideas and translated a large number of western academic books. Among them, Matteo Ricci, giulio aleni, Tang Ruowang and others played an important role.
in the 19th century, when western learning spread to the east, Catholic priests traveled around with the opening of ports, and Protestant priests began to enter China. They set up missionary schools and hospitals, set up a press, set up periodicals and translated a large number of books. It has made great contributions to the introduction of western learning. For example, the books and periodicals translated and published by Guang Society hosted by Wei Lianchen and timothy richard are important sources of information for Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and others to understand western learning.
Other foreigners coming to China
In addition to missionaries, many officials and explorers coming to China have also become important media for introducing western learning, such as the influence of general Gordon on the military during the Westernization period in China. Hurd, who presided over the General Tax Department of Customs, had an influence on the introduction of western management system, as well as the introduction of translated books and the earliest western military bands.
China people who went abroad
Travelers, businessmen and diplomats
Many China people traveled to Europe with missionaries in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, but they didn't leave any relevant words in the early days, which had little influence on the introduction of western culture. The earliest record is that Fan Shouyi (1682-1753) went to Rome with four missionaries during the reign of Kangxi, and wrote "Personal Records" (1721 Xie Qinggao, a businessman during the Qianlong period, wrote Hai Lu (182), which recorded European trade, crafts, people's life and world geography.
After the Opium War, more people from China went abroad on their own. In 1849, a businessman named Lin Cheng wrote "A Journey to the West Sea", describing his travels to Europe and the United States. Wang Tao, a famous political thinker in modern times, traveled to Europe in 1867. In 187, he published two books, A Brief Introduction to France and the Discipline of Popularizing Law. Traveling to Japan in 1879 influenced his ideas. In 1876, Li Gui, a businessman, went to the United States to participate in the Expo and wrote a book "A New Record of Traveling Around the Earth", which became the first narrator of China people to travel around the world, and introduced the development of academic science and technology in the United States.
Because of the Westernization Movement, the Qing government sent officials Bin Chun and others to inspect 12 European countries in 1866, and wrote Notes on Taking a Ride. From 1868 to 187, Manchu Zhigang made his first official mission to Europe and the United States, and he wrote The First Envoy of Tessie. In addition, Zhang Deyi, a student of Tongwen Museum who visited Bin Chun in his early years, has traveled to Europe many times since then, and has written seven books, * * *, which describes the academic culture of European society more deeply.
after the establishment of foreign envoys in Guangxu period, more important officials and intellectuals went to Europe and America to write travel notes, and because the envoys stayed longer than ordinary travelers, they could have a deeper understanding of western thought and culture. Among them, Li Hongzhang (who wrote The Diary of Hiring Europe and America), Guo Songtao (who wrote The Diary of London and Paris), Liu Xihong (who wrote The Personal Record of Ying Yong), Li Shuchang (who wrote The Western Magazine) and Ceng Jize (who wrote The Diary of Ambassador to the West and the Diary of Ambassador to Britain and France) had a great influence on China's ideology and culture. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the traffic between China and foreign countries was wide open, and going abroad became a very common phenomenon, so I won't go into details.
international students
The students studying in China in modern times began after the Opium War. The early international students, mostly students from missionary schools in Hong Kong and Macao, went abroad for further development. Rong Hong, who went to Yale University in the United States in 185, and Huang Kuan, who went to Edinburgh University in the United Kingdom in 1848, were one of the representatives of the early international students. Yung Yung felt the lack of social culture in China during his study, so after returning to China, he hoped that more people would go abroad to study western things. Under his proposal, the Qing government finally selected the first batch of young children to study in the United States in 1872, and the second batch followed the next year. After graduating from high school, they mainly studied western military and industrial technology. Although they were recruited back by the Qing government, which changed its policy in 1881, they were not interested in the West.
On the other hand, since 1875, students from Fujian Shipyard and Beiyang Naval Academy have been sent to study in European countries, which contributed to the study of the western navy in the late Qing Dynasty. However, Yan Fu, the most famous of them, had a great influence on the introduction of other western learning instead of military.
compared with the fact that during the Westernization Movement, the number of overseas students was mostly official and the number was small and sporadic. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, there was a wave of studying in Japan at first, and a large number of students studying in Japan who were sponsored by the government and went by the people themselves appeared, which was of great help to learning western learning from Japan. In addition, after 19, the number of international students studying in the United States increased greatly because the United States returned part of boxer indemnity as funds for studying in the United States. When studying in France, around 1912, Li Shiceng, Cai Yuanpei and others launched the work-study program, which enabled many people to stay in France. These large numbers of foreign students are directly exposed to the western education, which enables them to introduce western learning into China more directly. In 1915, a group of foreign students at Cornell University founded the China Science Society and Science magazine, which played an important role in systematically introducing and introducing western scientific ideas to China.
Media
The media is a way to spread the western learning acquired by a few intellectuals to more people quickly. In the process of western learning spreading to the east in modern times, the most important media are books, periodicals, newspapers and so on.
publication and circulation of books
the translation and writing of western books is a very important medium for the spread of western learning to the east. For various published books and introductions, see the following list of books and related contents of various disciplines. Here, the publication and circulation of books are mainly discussed.
during the spreading of western learning to the east in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, although a large number of books co-authored and co-translated by priests and literati appeared, these books failed to get the attention of the general society at that time and failed to enter the well-developed commercial publishing industry in the late Ming Dynasty. Therefore, although western books were printed and published, they were mainly circulated among a few interested literati classes.
since the beginning of the 19th century, it was the western church organizations that first began to publish a large number of western books. For example, in 1843, the British missionary Maddox founded the Mohai Library in Shanghai. Mohai Library published a number of books about western politics, science and religion, such as The New Testament, A Brief Introduction to Great America, A New Collection of Natural History, Botany, Generation of Micro-products, and Algebra. It also published the Chinese periodical Liuhe Congtan, which was the most important publishing organization for translating and introducing western learning during the Daoxian period. In addition, it was an important westerner in the early period.
since p>1887, Guangxue Society, composed of missionaries and foreign businessmen, has been another important publishing institution of western learning. It has published and translated a large number of books on politics, science and technology, history, geography and law, especially since 1895, which has become an important source of ideas of reformists such as Kang Youwei.
another important translation and publishing organization was established by the Qing government under the promotion of the Westernization Movement. Among them, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau in Shanghai, which was established in 1865, translated the most books, especially in science and technology, and Tongwen Museum in Beijing had the greatest influence on books on public international law, chemistry and law. In addition, Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, Kaiping Mining Bureau, Tianjin Machinery Bureau, Shanghai Cantonese Pavilion, Guangzhou Tongwen Pavilion and other institutions have translation and publishing institutions.
Private publishing houses in China started from the Commercial Press, which was established in 1897. Due to commercial considerations, their publication attaches great importance to popular knowledge introduction and new textbooks published in line with the promotion of new education. At the same time, because their publishing houses have branches and sales outlets all over the country, they have made great contributions to spreading new knowledge of western learning to the wider public. Zhonghua Book Company, which was established in 1912 to compete with business, also played a similar role.
With regard to the circulation of books, in addition to bookstores of bookstores, various libraries also began to be promoted during the Reform Movement, hoping to change the traditional situation of China's official collection of books without proper circulation. At the earliest, reformers set up societies all over the country and opened their books to the public for borrowing. In addition to traditional academic books, many western books were added to the collection. The public library will be set up in 192 by the Qing government, and the first large public library was established in Hunan in 195, with a large collection of western books. Later, the provinces were gradually established. By the time of the Republic of China, public and private libraries were more developed, which played a significant role in spreading new knowledge to the people.
Periodicals
As magazines and newspapers are published regularly, they play an important role in spreading the latest western knowledge compared with books. In the first stage of the spread of western learning to the east, there was no periodical.
most of the periodicals in the early late Qing dynasty were church periodicals. The earliest Chinese periodical was The Monthly Biography of Examining Secularities, which was founded by Ma Lixun, a British Jesuit priest, and Mi Lian in Malacca in 1815. Although it was not published in China, many of it spread to China. In China, the Monthly Biography of Oriental and Western Examinations, which was founded by Dutch priest Karl Gützlaff in 1833, introduced western culture, news and literature. In the following decades, missionaries set up various periodicals one after another, but most of them did not last long (five years is a long time) and their circulation influence was also small. In 1853, James Legge and Maihuatuo founded "Far away from home" in Hong Kong. In 1854, American missionary Margot founded chinese and foreign gazette in Ningbo. In 1857, the Mohai Library published the Chinese periodical Liuhe Congtan. In 1862, English Jesuits founded Miscellaneous Notes on China and the West in Shanghai. Lin Lezhi, an American cleric, founded the New Newspaper of the Church of China in 1868 (renamed the World Bulletin in 1874), which introduced all kinds of western knowledge extensively. It lasted for a Young John Allen had a large circulation. It was an important medium for spreading western learning in the late Qing Dynasty. In 1872, China Wen Jian Lu, published by Kyoto Shi Hospital in Beijing, was the earliest periodical in Beijing. In addition, John Fryer (formerly known as John Fryer), an Englishman, founded Gezhi Compilation in Shanghai in 1876, which was the first scientific periodical and had a great influence on the introduction of western scientific knowledge.
Stimulated by the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, a large number of periodicals created by Chinese people sprang up, which were mostly used to publicize western political thoughts and academics. The earliest periodicals included Wan Guo Bao, founded by Kang Youwei in 1895 (with the same name as that created by Lin Lezhi), Strong Journal, founded in 1896, and Current Affairs, founded by Liang Qichao in the same year. The circulation and influence of these periodicals far exceeded those of early church periodicals. After the Qingyi newspaper was founded in Yokohama, Japan in 1898, it was stopped by fire in 191, and the Xinmin Cong newspaper was founded. At the same time, the revolutionaries had the People's newspaper in Japan. The argument between the two newspapers aroused readers' enthusiastic participation in political affairs and their understanding of many western political, economic and social theories.
The success of the Revolution of 1911 reduced the upsurge of political periodicals in the late Qing Dynasty. The New Youth, founded in 1915, represented a new kind of periodical whose main purpose was cultural discussion. The New Youth and other similar periodicals had a great influence on the introduction of western ideas in the Republic of China.
Newspapers
Although compared with periodicals, newspapers are mostly reported and commercial in nature and lack in-depth knowledge, they are helpful to spread western knowledge and news widely because of their quick publication time and large circulation. Among the influential newspapers, the earliest is the Shanghai New Newspaper, which was founded in Shanghai by British businessman Pickwood in 1861. Its contents include not only news and business news, but also the introduction of western science and technology. In 1864, chinese and foreign gazette, A Catalogue of Recent Events and the Chinese version of Dechen Xibao were published in Hong Kong. Later, Ernest Major, another western merchant, founded Shenbao in 1872, which became an important newspaper in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. Although its content was mainly news and anecdotes, it also included reports on western thoughts and news, as well as discussions on the contact between Chinese and Western cultures in readers' contributions (notably the debate between railways and geomantic omen). In 1874, Wang Tao founded the Circular Daily in Hong Kong-the first in the world.