中國在日本建構近代世界觀中的位置

The Place of China in the Construction of Japan's Early Modern World View

長期以來，日本政治、軍事或宗教界精英在形成世界觀的過程中，中國一向扮演了相當重要的角色。然而在日本近代化初期的德川政權時代（1600-1867），中國的角色出現了轉變，這種轉變或許源於下列三個因素：一、明朝政權正式結束；二、日本最初雖然擁抱歐洲，到後來卻逐漸拒絕接觸，並禁止國人出洋交流；三、新儒家思想及相關論述在日本境內逐漸成為顯學。綜觀整個十八世紀，中國對日本世界觀的影響逐漸消退：從「天下」變成僅僅是諸多「他國」之一；這個現象亦有助於形成日本的集體認同。

China had long enjoyed a privileged place in the world view of Japan's political, military and religious elites. That place changed during the early modern Tokugawa (1600-1867) period, owing to several factors: the fall of the Ming dynasty; the prohibition on Japanese traveling abroad; the initial embrace and subsequent rejection of contact with Europe; and the rise to prominence of Neo- Confucianism and related discourses. During the long eighteenth century, China receded in prominence within Japan's worldview, becoming just one of several 'others', a change which both facilitated and accompanied the emergence of a new collective Japanese identity.