镜与影：西方视野下的中国形象及其变迁

在文化交流的过程中,西方视野里的中国形象成为西方自身的一面镜子。透过这面镜子,西方看到的不仅是充满异国风味的梦境,而且也看到自己的影像。因而形象基本上有两种类型:乌托邦形象,是作为一种异己力量质疑现存秩序,期望对自身文化传统和社会现实进行调整;意识形态形象,是按照本国价值观塑造的,通过主观整合异国的现实来符合本国群体的认知,以维护和整合本国社会秩序为目的的象征模式。本文反观西方社会对中国形象的认识变迁,解析这两种功能在不同历史背景下的不同表现。

Mirror and Reflection:Chinese Image in Western Perspective and Its Change

In the exchanges between different cultures,the image of China has become a mirror in the western eyes.Through the mirror,the western world sees not only its own reflection,but also an exotic dream land.The images generally fall into two categories: the utopian ones that question the established system as an alien force so as to make adjustment in western cultural tradition and social reality,the ideological ones that are symbols based on western value system which reconcile the facts of China with the domestic collective recognition to maintain the current system.The function of each kind is foregrounded in its corresponding historical period.