從亞歷山大與湯姆遜的中國觀察看新科技打破舊想像

New Technology and Past Imagination in Alexander and Thomson’s Observations of China

西方的中國觀察有其變與不變。以18世紀為分界，對照前後西方的中國圖像，可以發現二者存在著極大的差異。這差異是因為18世紀及18世紀以前對中國的認識主要透過文本及物品上的圖像輾轉構築中國想像，所獲得的中國想像，其實是選擇過的中國想像，也就是西方主觀想像的中國，再從中擷取材料表現中國。18世紀末及19世紀西方對中國的觀察，因直接接觸而跳脫前期僅透過資料間接觀察中國。雖然同樣面對現實世界的中國，可是在亞歷山大(William Alexander, 1767-1816)畫筆下的中國與湯姆遜(John Thomson, 1837-1921)鏡頭中的中國，卻有著截然不同的風貌。造成這差距的是觀察者，是記錄工具。但二者的作品卻有著共同處，就是西方的眼睛。將西方的中國觀察置放在歷史脈絡之下，更容易瞭解其與西方社會的聯結，而非斷裂單獨存在。既已見到現實世界的中國，畫面上的中國圖像卻又存在著差異，正是文化對異文化的想像，因不同的媒介而產生變化；而觀看方式的改變，帶來解釋權的轉移。

The West has long observed China. Some of the observations have changed over the centuries, while others remain unchanged. The 18th century can be a watershed for the West’s observations of China: two contrasting images of China can be seen before and after the century. Prior to the late 18th century, the West’s understanding of China was mostly an imagination constructed through written materials and images imprinted on objects. Actually, this was a subjective, selective imagination, through which Western artists had found inspirations to express their ideas about China. However, increased direct contacts with China transformed the West’s observations of the country in the late 18th and the 19th centuries. Then, the West came face-to-face with the real China. However, very different landscapes could be seen through William Alexander’s (1767-1816) paint brush and John Thomson’s (1837-1921) camera lens. Although the observers and the recording tools they chose contributed to the vastly different styles, their works have one thing in common: the Western viewpoint. Putting the West’s observations of China in the historical context, we can realize easily how they can be connected to the Western viewpoint: the artists saw the same China but brought up with different images of it. This is an evidence that one culture‘s imagination with another can be very different in different media. And different imagination of China can result in different ways of reading it.