Europe's Understanding And Enlightenment On Chinese History And Culture In The Late Ming And Early Qing Dynasties

The history of Sino-Western contact has a very special significance in the period of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.Although cultural communication between China and the West has been continuous in history,the first shock has actually occurred in this period.The aim of this paper is also based on the related influences and understandings brought about by the exchange of Chinese and Western history during this period.There are many works that reflect the cultural exchanges between China and the West during this period.Cultural exchanges involved are also very wide.Both China and the West have conducted various studies on the situation of cultural exchanges between China and the West.Many of them involve the influence of historical and cultural exchanges.These studies show us the historical context of the cultural exchanges between Chinese and Western history,and also lead us to think about: What characteristics do Chinese and Western historical cultural exchanges show in this period? What are the deep reasons for these characteristics? This is exactly the focus of this research.During the first period of Chinese and Western,the main media in the Sino-Western exchanges were trade,Western missions and Catholic missionaries.Among them,the Catholic missionaries represented by the Jesuits were the most important.With the strength of Europe increasing,the religious forces in Europe have also expanded to the rest of the world.Driven by devout religious enthusiasm,the missionaries have come to the distant and mysterious East.In the face of China's long-standing traditional culture,their original worldview and values will inevitably be affected.How to reconcile the contradictions and conflicts of the Eastern and Western cultures in the convenience of carrying out the missionary work.This is a problem that any missionary who came to China at this time must face.In particular,how to eliminate the contradiction between China's long history and the history depicted in the Bible,the missionaries made various attempts in their missionary activities,trying to introduce Chinese historical culture to the West to cause the understanding of the East and West.This work is of course for the purpose of better carrying out their missionary work,but objectively promotes the exchange of Eastern and Western historical culture.The historical knowledge of China introduced by them has become the most important way that Europeans understand China at this time.After Chinese historiography brought by missionaries spreads into Europe,it has had a profound impact on Europe.At that time,some progressive Europeans,in their understanding of China,keenly searched for ideological resources against traditional old forces,and used this as a weapon to fight with tradition.They enthusiastically eulogized China and considered that this country with a long history represented beauty and civilization.Voltaire,Quesnay and Leibniz are famous representatives in this respect.However,some people have a negative attitude towards China.In their view,China is self-sufficient and lacks progress.It is a backward and conservative country.These two opposite attitudes reflect that the Europeans' understanding of China's historiography at this time is basically based on a selective understanding,Summing up the influences of Chinese historical culture on the West during this period,it is mainly reflected in these three aspects: it enriched the history of Europe and shaken the historical view of Christian theology;it strongly promoted the Europeans to get rid of the imprisonment of theological thoughts;and it inspired the European thinkers at that time to promote the progress of Europe.Summarizing the culture exchanges between Chinese and Western history during this period,although the two sides have certain understandings,they are far from the true fusion.The Chinese historical culture has not actually had a substantial impact on Western historical culture.The distant distance is one of the reasons that cannot be ignored.The estrangement caused by such long-distance isolation cannot of course be eliminated in a short time.Tracing back to history,the basis for exchanges between the two sides is very weak.Especially during this period,the exchanges between the two sides show obvious unidirectional characteristics.Once the setbacks occur,the exchanges between the two sides will encounter great obstacles.Later,The etiquette conflict proves this.In addition,there are also shortcomings in the media of communication between the two sides.Due to these limitations,the Jesuits are difficult to objectively reflect the original appearance of Chinese culture.Although they have made great contributions to the exchanges between China and the West,it is clear that they can not do this alone.As recipients,European thinkers also have their shortcomings: although they have a strong interest in Chinese history,they have no intention or ability of careful understanding and absorption of China's historical culture because of their selective and purposeful research attitudes and their own theoretical flaws.Thus they does not really understand China's historical tradition and historical features.merely focusing on the shallow surface of China's historical understanding,Besides these reasons,I hold that the fundamental factor lies in the huge gap that may exist between Chinese and Western historiography.The Sino-Western historiography has developed independently for a long time,and each has its own independent understanding basis and tradition.It is not overnight If they want to truly form mutual recognition and blending.Looking back at the history,we can recognize that,first of all,the communication between different cultures is irresistible.In spite of the difficulties,the exchange of Eastern and Western cultures has never stopped,and the active side has gained more profits.Second,the exchanges between different cultures are complex and lengthy processes.The example of cultural exchanges between Western and Western history during this period just reflects this.From this understanding,we must have a full estimate of the difficulties that different cultures may face.Finally,we need to take the initiative to go out.It is precisely because the communication between different cultures is unstoppable but complicated and long,which requires us to take the initiative to go out in cultural exchanges and take the initiative in cultural exchanges.