| Since modern times,a large number of westerners have come to China with their own purposes and missions,either because they are invited,or because they travel,or because they do business,or because they preach.Their future experiences in China have been recorded in various forms,leaving many precious historical materials.This paper takes the correspondence between L（?）bbeke,a German officer employed to carry out military reform in China,and his family during his life in Nanjing as the basic historical data,and supplements the other relevant historical materials of the same period as a case study,so as to construct the memory of Nanjing at that time from the perspective of westerners,present the various forms of Nanjing in the late Qing Dynasty,and examine and analyze his understanding,take Nanjing as a place to peep into the whole society of the late Qing Dynasty.The first part of the article mainly explores the deep motivation of L（?）bbeke’s visit to China after the Sino-Japanese War.L（?）bbeke’s employment in China benefited from the Qing government’s thought of "learn from Germany".Germany’s victory in the Franco Prussian War deepened the Qing government’s understanding of Germany’s military advantages to a certain extent,gradually rose to the mainstream and occupied a dominant position in the process of military modernization in the late Qing Dynasty.After the Sino-Japanese War,the upper class of the Qing Dynasty further deepened their understanding of westernization and innovated in the military towards the trend of compiling and training new armies,reforming military examinations and building western style military schools.Against this background,as a senior German officer,L（?）bbeke was invited to China.The second part focuses on the city of Nanjing under L（?）bbeke’s impression.According to L（?）bbeke,the level of urban modernization in Nanjing,devastated by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement,is still in its infancy.Under the background of the changes of the times in the late Qing Dynasty,the sluggish state of Nanjing compared with other cities at that time can be reflected through the urban appearance,bureaucratic society and people’s life of Nanjing.The third part mainly shows that under the influence of the modernization civilization brought by the opening of the country and the influx of westerners,the feudal elements here began to fade gradually.Especially after the Sino-Japanese War,the pace of Nanjing’s modernization reform and modernization construction accelerated significantly.The modernization of Nanjing’s communication industry,the construction of new military and western style schools,and the changes of social customs seen in L（?）bbeke’s letter are the intuitive embodiment and powerful evidence of Nanjing’s modernization.The fourth part mainly explores the tendency of L（?）bbeke’s Chinese image,analyzes and judges the authenticity of L（?）bbeke’s various views and information.Mainly through the combination of L（?）bbeke’s letters,from both subjective and objective aspects.This is the key of this study,and it is also an important measure to measure the value of L（?）bbeke’s letters.The conclusion will summarize the memory of Nanjing in L（?）bbeke’s eyes,summarize the breadth and depth of L（?）bbeke’s letters,analyze some problems reflected behind them,and point out the practical significance of this study. |
