The Study On Chester Holcombe’s Perception Of Chinese Image In The Real Chinaman

Chester Holcombe,American diplomat,came to China in 1869 and he had stayed in China for sixteen years.The Real Chinaman he wrote had a comprehensive analysis of all hierarchies of Chinese society in late Qing Dynasty.Chester Holcombe attempted to describe unimaginable Chinese model and social customs in occidentals’ eyes objectively with an outsider’s perspective.Based on the image theory of comparative literature,the dissertation analyzes Holcombe’s perspective of Chinese image from both Chinese regime and life.Chinese regime includes political institution,judicial system and educational status.Holcombe believes that although Chinese regime had survived for over four thousand years,it was almost invariable.National political system was based on patriarchal rule in Chinese families.Moreover,national order was the extension of family order.Chinese political system was not completely despotism,which revealed democracy because of limitation of morality,officials selection and supervisory mechanism,local self-government.Chinese judicial system had a long history and perfect mechanism.However,it was very difficult to put good concept into effect in the actual operations.As a result,torture,corruption and injustice were common occurrences.Chinese education emphasized the importance of ethic,aiming to making people obey to the rulers.The content of Chinese education was very monotonous and obscure,which included incorrect religious thought and feudalistic superstition and lacked modern scientific knowledge.Chinese life involves Chinese religion,family life and ritual customs.Holcombe thought that Chinese people was heavily influenced by Confucianism.They paid attention to present life.Compared to the west,they were lack of religious enthusiasm obviously.Holcombe didn’t speak highly of Taoism and Buddhist.He considered that the Confucian classics were illogical and fragmented.Holcombe believed that ancestor worship played avery important role to maintain family and social stability.He pointed out filial piety had both positive and negative effect.He criticized the phenomenons of male superiority to female,tedious etiquette,geomancy and so on.Under the background that demonizing China was becoming mainstream in America in the later of 19 th century,being aware of limitations of the prejudice,Holcombe tried to evaluate China objectively.He pointed out the shortcomings of Chinese peoples while he noticed the outstanding moral characters of Chinese people.The criticism from Holcombe focusing on Confucianism,which reflected his fundamental flaw in understanding of Chinese culture.The reason lied mainly in the influence of West-centrism and differences between Chinese and American culture.The Real Chinaman should be used for reference to solve the practical problems of modern China,which enlightens us that it should be completely abandoned that judging foreign countries by domestic model and transforming others by our own standards in the cultural communication between China and the West.The key to promoting Chinese cultural into the world is to find shared values and principles with an open and inclusive perspective.