《瀛寰志略》与《海国图志》之比较

在1840年到1861年之间中国人写成的22种有关介绍世界历史地理的书籍中，影响最大的是魏源的《海国图志》和徐继畲的《瀛寰志略》。就两书的比较而言，写作动机的不同决定了内容的不同取舍，而内容的不同取舍又决定了两书的不同特点，即《海国图志》以博见长，《瀛寰志略》以精取胜。但无论是《海国图志》的以博见长，还是《瀛寰志略》的以精取胜，实际上都有它们的合理性，也都实现了自己的写作宗旨和目的。我们很难笼统地在它们之间分出谁优谁劣。作为中国最早“睁眼看世界”的历史地理书，《海国图志》和《瀛寰志略》中对世界大势作了比较全面的介绍，它们的介绍具有较为全面，重点突出，新知识、旧观念这样三个特点。除它们所共同具有的这些特点外，在“睁眼看世界”方面，《瀛寰志略》有三点要优胜于《海国图志》：一是对传统的华夷观念的突破；二是对西方民主制度的介绍；三是对工商业在整个国民经济中重要地位的认识。如果说《瀛寰志略》之优长在“睁眼看世界”的话，那么，《海国图志》之优长则在提出了“师夷长技以制夷”的主张。所谓“师夷长技以制夷”，用今天的话说，就是学习西方列强的长处，用来抵御西方列强的侵略。鸦片战争后“师夷长技”亦即学习西方成了时代的主题或历史潮流，《瀛寰志略》通过对世界大势较为全面系统的介绍，使国人对西方有所了解和认识，从而为他们提供了产生向西方学习之要求的可能性，但《瀛寰志略》本身并没有包含向西方学习的内容；而《海国图志》提出的“师夷长技”的主张则开启了近代学习西方的新潮流。这一新潮流曾支配晚清社会和思想界达数十年之久。

A Comparison between Brief Introduction of the World Over and Illustrated Annals of Overseas Countries

Chinese people wrote 22 kinds of books to introduce history and geography of the world from 1840 to 1861. Among these books, Illustrated Annals of Overseas Countries written by Wei Yuan and Brief Introduction of the World Over written by Xu Jiyu were the most influential. The difference of writing motive decided their different contents, and their contents decided their different characters. The former was erudite, while the latter was quintessential. However, their characters were actually reasonable, and both represented the authors＇ intents. So, it＇ s too hard to tell which is better or worse. As to the earliest set of books looking out of the old China, both of them introduced the world＇ s events, and the introduction was general, with outstanding key point and with new knowledge but old opinion. Except for this common feature, Brief Introduction of the World Over was better in the ＂looking out of the old China＂ aspect. It broke through the traditional China-foreign idea, introduced democracy system of West countries, and recognized that industry and commerce was very important in the whole national economy. The strongpoint of Illustrated Annals of Overseas Countries was that it advocated ＂learning foreign technology to resist their aggression＂. After the Opium War, ＂learning foreign technology＂ became the subject matter of that age and the historical trend. Although Brief Introduction of the World Over acquainted Chinese people with West and offered them the opportunity for learning from West, the book didn＇ t contain that content. The preposition of ＂learning foreign technology＂ put forward by Illustrated Annals of Overseas Countries starled the new flow to learn from West, which had dominated the society and thinking public of late-Qing Dinasty for decades.