赛(金花)瓦(德西)公案辩正

近现代关于赛金花的传闻非常多,特别是她与八国联军统帅瓦德西的关系,大体上存在着三种相互矛盾的说法。根据丁士源的《梅楞章京笔记》、瓦德西的《拳乱笔记》等诸多历史文献的相关记载,可以断定赛、瓦二人并无发生艳情之可能性,其事乃出于赛本人的编造,加上当时新闻传媒的炒作以及文艺作品的虚构,因此不具有历史真实性。同时,赛金花以卑贱之身劝阻联军暴行的传说故事虽非史事,但也反映了当时民众对满清政府的嘲讽态度。抗战期间夏衍等编演《赛金花》话剧,是从积极方面发挥了赛金花故事的社会意义。

The Romance between Pearl Buck and Alfred von Waldersee

Stories about the China-born Pearl Buck abound in the modern times,particularly about an alleged romantic relationship between her and the Allied Supreme Commander in China in 1900-1901,the German field marshal Alfred von Waldersee.According to Ding Shiyuan’s Notebooks of Meileng Janggin and Waldersee’ Notes about the Boxer Insurgency,we can safely conclude no romance could have arisen between the two.The story is Pearl Buck’s fabrication and embellished and promoted by tabloid journalism of the time.However,although the legend of a white woman attempting to mitigate Allied troops’ atrocities has no historical basis,it does reflect public sarcasm against the Qing government.Xia Yan’s dramatic adaption Pearl Buck,staged during the Sino-Japanese War,exploited the implications of the romantic story in a socially positive way.