A Comparative Study on Wang Tao and the Intellectuals of the Meiji Restoration

本文主要在比較中國近代化過程中，致力中西文化交流與論議變法自強，集學者、報人、教育家、政論家、史學家於一身的前衛思想家王韜(1828-1897)與日本維新人物中村正直(1832-1891)、岡千仞(1833-1914)等人的思想變遷關係。 近代中國主張吸收西洋新知的前衛思想家當中，王韜自稱是魏源的繼承人，思想走在康有為、黃遵憲之前。海外發展是王韜思想轉變的重要契機，他變法圖強的主張是日本維新人物關注的焦點。王韜對日本的思想轉變是在一八七九年赴日訪問之後。當時明治維新始起，日本朝野一致積極走向世界，吸收西洋知識，以求革新之道。魏源的《聖武記》與《海國圖志》，在德川幕末傳入日本，其「師夷之長技以制夷」之海防思想，喚醒了許多思想家及政治家對認識西方世界的必要性之共鳴；而王韜的《普法戰紀》也成為當時日本朝野、軍方及知識分子了解世界大勢的必備之書。魏源與王韜的新思潮在中日兩國近代化的過程中前後輝映，扮演了雙方思想界的橋樑角色。 本文探討的主題有兩個方向：第一，發掘新史料，探討中村正直、岡千仞二人對王韜提出的革新思想作何回應？分析他們對王韜有何主、客觀的評價，以釐清雙方之思想異同及其變遷關係。第二，比較如何堅持傳統儒學的價值？如何攝取西學？分析其間之重要性。主要以補充相關新史料作為分析基礎，論述中日兩國在近代化過程中人物交流的思想變遷，如何提議東西文化融合的內涵？如何振興亞洲？如何改善中日關係等問題。As an avant-garde thinker, Wang Tao (1828-1897) was a scholar, a newspaperman, an educator, a political critic and a historian. During the process of China’s modernization, he was devoted to cultural exchanges and the Reformist Movement. The purpose of this paper is to study the interactions between and consequent development of Wang’s thought and that of the intellectuals of the Meiji Restoration, such as Masanao Nakamura (1832-1891), and Senjin Oka (1833-1914). Among the modern Chinese intellectuals who argued for assimilating Western knowledge, Wang identified himself with Wei Yuan (1794-1857) and considered himself a vanguard in comparison with Kang YouWei (1858-1927) and Huang ZunXian (1848-1905). Going abroad was a turning point in Wang’s life. His belief in strengthening a country through political reformation attracted the attention of the intellectuals of the Meiji Restoration. When Wang left for Japan in 1879, the Meiji Restoration had just begun. The Japanese were absorbed in studying Western civilization in order to introduce reforms. Wei’s two books, Sheng Wu Ji and Hai Guo Tu Zhi, were introduced during the late Tokugawa Bakuhu period. Wei’s central ideas in coastal defense, “to learn from foreign tribes their special skills in order to subdue them,” awakened many Japanese intellectuals and politicians to the importance of knowing the Western world. Wang’s Pu Fa Zhan Ji (Commentaries on the Franco-Prussian War) also became an essential reference for the Japanese both in and out of government who were intent on understanding the trends in world affairs. The new thoughts of Wei Yuan and Wang Tao complimented each other in the modernization processes of both Japan and China, and acted as a bridge for the communication between the intellectual fields of the two countries. The main topics of this paper are as follows: (1) to discuss how Nakamura and Oka responded to the reformation ideas advocated by Wang by exploring new historical materials and analyzing their comments on Wang to make a clear distinction between the thoughts of both sides; (2) to compare how they maintained the values of traditional Confucianism, and how they absorbed Western knowledge, by using new historical data to discuss the interactions of the intellectuals of both countries and the changes of their thoughts in the process of modernization