略论晚清汉学的兴衰与变化

晚清时期,兴盛于乾嘉年间的清代儒学主流学派－汉学－尽管走上衰落的道路,但这种衰落并非直线性地下降,而是经历了一个较长的曲折变化的过程。自鸦片战争到中日甲午战争长达半个多世纪的时间里,汉学依然是中国学坛人多势众、著述丰富、分布广泛的强势学派,居于学界“老大”的地位。晚清汉学家们秉承乾嘉宿儒治学传统,在经学、小学、音韵学等领域开展深入研究,取得显著成就,甚至在某些方面直驾乾嘉而上。晚清汉学因处于与乾嘉汉学完全不同的社会环境,形成“实”、“通”、“变”的历史特征,并随着中国传统社会发生根本性的变化而实现着自身的新旧更替。晚清汉学既沿袭了传统儒学的许多消极因素,也包含着其中的积极成分,对中国近代社会文化产生了复杂而多重的影响。

The Rise and Decline of Sinology in Late Qing Dynasty

In late Qing, Sinology, which had been the mainstream Confucian subject in Qianlong period, began to decline, but this decline was not direct. From the Opium War of 1840 to the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, Sinology was still the most influential scholastic trend. Late Qing Sinologists followed the glorious tradition of old scholars to continue their research in Confucian classics, phonology, etc. Late Qing Sinology had the historical characteristics of being "real","open" and "adaptive"due to changed social environment and changed along with the changing society. It inherited many negative elements from traditional Confucianism but also absorbed a lot of positive factors from changing times and exerted a complicated and multi-layered influence on modern China's society and culture.