傅蘭雅徵文前的徵文競賽：《萬國公報》傳教士的徵文實踐

Essay Competitions before John Fryer's Fiction Contest: The Development of Essay Contests Organized by Missionaries in The Globe Magazine

傅蘭雅曾在1895年透過《申報》、《萬國公報》以鴉片、時文、纏足為題，發起時新小說徵文活動，學者認為此活動不僅促使新小說前的新小說出版，對於徵文活動本身也多有讚許之詞。本文將在此基礎上，擬利用「晚清期刊全文數據庫」中《萬國公報》檢索之便，並參酌相關史料，期能建立起《萬國公報》上傳教士徵文活動之歷時發展，藉此脈絡化我們對於傅蘭雅徵文活動的解讀。
據研究顯示，早在傅蘭雅之前，藉由李提摩太與林樂知等傳教士的倡導，已透過報刊、學會等資源，為報刊徵文累積豐富的經驗，並在由「教」而「政」的發展趨勢中，朝向以西學與時務作為書院考課的目標前進，過程中不僅有效連結中國高層官員，也與參與科舉的文士階層接軌，為日後康有為、梁啟超主導的「公車上書」奠定堅實的基礎。傅蘭雅徵文活動有待重新詮解與定位。

In 1895, John Fryer launched a fiction contest for new novels through the Shun Bao and The Globe Magazine on the themes of the“three great evils,”opium, the literary examination essay, and foot binding. Scholars contend that this activity not only promoted the publication of new novels before the“New Novels,”but they also praise the essay contest itself. Expanding on this earlier scholarship, this article made use of the digital search function in the“Late Qing Periodicals Full-Text Database”as well as other relevant historical materials to establish the diachronic development of the missionary essay contests over time in The Globe Magazine, so as to contextualize our understanding of John Fryer’s fiction-writing competition.
Research shows that long before John Fryer, missionaries such as Timothy Richard and Young John Allen had accumulated rich experience in holding essay contests by soliciting manuscripts through newspapers, periodicals, and academic societies. In the trend of development from ''religion'' to ''politics,'' they moved towards the goal of taking Western learning and current affairs as the objective of academic examinations. In the process, they not only effectively connected with China's high-level officials, but also with the intellectual class participating in the imperial examinations. They thereby laid a solid foundation for the future petition activities of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao.