建立新事業──晚清的百科全書家

Late Qing Encyclopedists: Establishing a New Enterprise

從一九○○年之後，我們看到一個非常明顯的西學「普及化」的趨向，這個普及化的趨向，除了表現在「開民智」或下層社會啟蒙運動外，也可以從一九○○年代大量出現的教科書和百科全書窺見端倪。這篇文章打算對這些百科全書的作者和內容，做一個概括式的介紹、分析。大致上，我將這些編纂者分成四個類型：（一）外交官與上層士紳，（二）維新派，（三）留日學生，（四）新型文人。在每個類別下，我挑選了一、兩位資料較詳備，又具有代表性的作者，作比較深入的討論。最後，我則試著將這些百科全書家放在一個較寬廣的歷史脈絡下，對西學的傳遞和積累過程，作一個概括的分析。由於處在發展階段，這些百科全書的格式、內容游移而難以精確統一的界定。同樣的，編纂者的身分、認同也頗為岐異。不過，這些人雖然在政治信念、專業訓練和立身謀生的技能上各自不同，卻共同為晚清的知識分子開闢了一片嶄新而醒目的新疆域，並藉著一套新的書寫類型，為近代中國建立了另一種可能的啟蒙之道。他們充分掌握了時代動向和市場需求，一方面總結了前此的西學知識，一方面也為五四時代的科學、民主、男女平權，和西方物質文明的優越性等新思潮，作了發凡奠基和潛移默化的工作。

From the 1900s onward, we can observe a clear trend toward the ''popularization'' of Western learning in China. This process is seen not only in what I have called the tum-of-thecentury movements to ''bring knowledge to the people'' and ''enlighten the lower classes,'' it is also apparent in the many textbooks and encyclopedias which flooded print markets beginning in the 1900s. This article aims to give a general introduction and analysis of both the authors/compliers and contents of these encyclopedias. In this paper, I divide encyclopedia compilers into four general groups: (1) diplomats and gentry elites; (2) reformers; (3) students in Japan; and (4) new-style literati. Although differences exist between these groups, there are also points of overlap, and some compilers even simultaneously belong within two or three of the categories. From each group, I have chosen one or two representative figures about whom we can find relatively complete and detailed materials, and have undertaken in-depth discussions about them. Ultimately, I hope to place these encyclopedists within a broader historical context as part of a larger analysis regarding both the transfer and accumulation of Western learning and the regional networks formed by intellectuals during the late Qing. Because the encyclopedias discussed in this article were compiled when the encyclopedia-form was still in its developmental stages, they evince shifting formats and contents, which make precise and/or general definition impossible. Similarly, the statuses and identities of encyclopedia authors/compilers are far from homogenous. However, despite differences in the political beliefs, levels of professional training, and career choices of these encyclopedists, they, as a group, inaugurated a new field of inquiry and activity for late Qing intellectuals, and the new book-form they produced created another possible path to enlightenment in modem China. With a thorough grasp of social trends and market demands, encyclopedists summarized Western learning of the past and established a deep, lasting, and ultimately invisible basis for new tendencies in thinking about science, democracy, gender equality, and the superiority of Western material culture which were to become popular during the May Fourth era.