清末文字改革:民族主义与文化运动(上)

在民族主义思潮的主导下,中国人为了解决在"万国"竞争格局下的民族生存和发展问题,越来越急迫地开展了自救性质的民族振兴运动。民族振兴主要是政治问题,是政治运动,但它在初期确实是把中国人对民族生存与发展问题的探索,推向在文化领域兴起革新运动的外在动力;而当近代文化革新运动由不自觉而渐自觉、由表及里而指向本体,或者说当文化革新运动由从属于政治运动而逐渐发展为相对独立的文化本体的革新运动,尤其是进入民族新文化的建设、涉及民族文化内涵的兴革阶段时,两种文化选择便摆在中国人面前:是追随西学进一步向"西"走、指向"欧化主义"甚至是"世界主义"?还是在"万国"竞争的世界、在民族危机的当下坚持文化创新中的民族性,提倡文化的民族精神并强化民族认同及凝聚力?这是当时中国人在开展文化革新运动中必须认真思考和回答的问题。清末语言文字改革运动正集中体现了中国近代文化运动始终摆脱不了的民族生存与发展问题的巨石压迫这一历史特征,反映了中国近代文化运动从以民族主义为外在动力逐渐深化为以民族主义为内在灵魂的历史进程。

Language Reform in Late Qing Dynasty:Nationalism and Cultural Reform

Leading by trends of nationalism,in order to settle national survival and development problem under the pattern of fierce competition across countries,the Chinese unfolded a self-rescue national revitalization campaign.National revitalization is principally a political issues and a political campaign,but it really was the outside driving force of earlier movement for culture reform in modern China.As this movement gradually turned to conscious from unconscious,to the inside from the outside pointing to culture itself,especially in the stage of developing national culture and during the reform related to the concept of national culture,the Chinese had to make a choice:following the west learning to becoming "western" which was so-called westernization-ism or cosmopolitism,or insisting on nationalism and national spirit,enhancing national cohesion in culture creativity That was a key question the Chinese must answer with serious thought when they were campaigning for culture reform.The language reform was just the concentrated expression of this hard process or conflict.