The Representation Of The Train As A Western Artifact In The Views Of Intellectuals In Late Qing Dynasty

The train as one of the most important Western artifacts represented in the Late Qing Dynasty intellectuals’ texts,implies the experience of multiple modernities caused by the collision between the traditional China and the modern West.There are many profound psychological reasons of social culture behind the complex attitudes to railways of the Late Qing Dynasty intellectuals.The Late Qing Dynasty intellectuals,which had been abroad,were the first one to perceive the impact of modernity brought by train.Based on it,this paper attempts to analyze the change of aesthetic approach and the "shock"experience of Chinese caused by train.What’s more,this paper explores how the trains disorganized the Acquaintances Society of China,how the experience of time-space compression and the ways of timing reshape Chinese sense of time.Through the above discussion,this paper shows how the trains inflect the traditional China and how China transform and absorb the influence creativity.