《曼德维尔游记》里的中国——“普遍史”视角的考察  

China in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville:A ‘Universal History’ Perspective

作　　者：刘招静[1] Liu Zhaojing

机构地区：[1]上海大学文学院历史学系,讲师。上海200444

出　　处：《世界历史》2019年第1期140-154,160,共16页World History

摘　　要：中世纪欧洲的著作《曼德维尔游记》以"普遍史"为总的思维框架,将东方的中国塑造成一种多面形象:东方的中国与基督教世界因"诺亚"而同渊源,但也因"诺亚三子"之异而彼此本质上有别;东方的中国的"汗"是上帝意志的践行者;东方的中国承担基督教世界赋予的"圣地拯救者"的角色,拥有至高无上的财富、技艺与国力。这一形象的多面之间并不矛盾,而是恰恰反映了基督教世界自我认知与诉求的内在逻辑:一方面,基督教世界在信仰上自居于主体地位;另一方面,它又需要在自身之外寻求最强大的拯救圣地的力量。曼德维尔的东方的中国"惊异之事"叙述正符合寻求这种拯救力量的逻辑,因而不应被视作"东方主义"式叙事;而其"归化"(domestication)策略也因此在使用上有其限度。曼德维尔的叙事表明,中世纪基督教欧洲的"世界历史"观以圣地为世界中心,以上帝创世而非"史前时代"为起点,以信仰而非我们的"求真"目标为目标。以"普遍史"为视角考察曼德维尔的中国叙事,不仅可以增进我们对中世纪欧洲"世界历史"观的认知,更可以更新我们对曼德维尔笔下的东方的中国形象的认识。The Travels of Sir John Mandeville took ‘universal history’ as its conceptual framework within which Mandeville portrayed China as a pluralist image. China shared the same ‘Creation’ story with the Christendom and maintained links with it. But, as far as Christian faith is concerned, China was fundamentally different from the Christendom. In terms of wealth, arts, and political and military power, however, China was the most remarkable country that can stand as the saver of the Holy Land. It was not self-contradictory among many facets of China s image. On the contrary, this really not only reflected the fact that the Christendom put itself in a dominant position in the sense of faith, but also that it needed to resort to China as the most powerful support in the outside world. Such a fact does not support the previous opinions which assert that the parts of Mandeville s travels in China is an ‘Orientalist’ narrative and Mandeville s ‘domestication’ of China is used throughout his narrative. The ‘universal history’ adopted by Mandeville is the medieval ‘world history’ which considered the Holy Land the center of the world, believed the ‘Creation’ story-instead of ‘Prehistory’ which was applied in world historiography-as the starting point, and took the Christian faith-instead of ‘Seeking for Truth’ which was the pursuit in historiography-as its object. From the perspective of ‘universal history’, it can deepen the understanding of medieval idea of ‘world history’ and also reshape the view of China s image demonstrated in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville .

关 键 词：曼德维尔游记 世界中心 中国 普遍史 世界历史观 

分 类 号：K091[历史地理—历史学]