A Study of Cross-cultural Communication along the Maritime Silk Road from the 8th to 14th Centuries

毛章清,厦门大学新闻传播学院助理教授;郑学檬,厦门大学历史研究所教授、博士生导师。【中文摘要】8至14世纪的海上丝绸之路,既体现了东西方的物质生产和物质交往,又体现了精神生产和精神交往。经由海上丝绸之路所发生交往关系的人和物,都是传播媒介;借此传播媒介所传递的种种信息,因其模糊性和变幻性,引发双方的无限想象。此类“无限想象”本身又成为传播的信息。海上丝绸之路所引发的物质交往和精神交往,是西方人对传统中国认知观念变革的重要原动力。这种建构在浪漫想象基础上的“东方形象”是一个复合体,既有形而下的贸易和战争,又有形而上的哲学、宗教和艺术,互为交织,既是复杂的历史进程,也是复杂的传播活动。考察西方的文化认知对构建“东方形象”的具体影响,可以较好地阐释海上丝绸之路从形而下到形而上,又从形而上到形而下传播活动的变化过程。 【Abstract】The Maritime Silk Road from the 8th to 14th centuries contributed to not only material production and material transaction, but also mental production and mental intercourse. All people and materials on the Maritime Silk Road could be called media. Because of its fuzzification and variability, all kinds of information spread via the media could ignite boundless imagination for each side. The “boundless imagination”itself turned out to be media as well. The material transaction, as well as the mental intercourse initiated by the Silk Road, was also a strong motivating factor for Western people to transform their perceptions of traditional Chinese cognitive concepts. The construction of the “Oriental image”based on romantic imagination was a complex process, inspiring not only trade and war, but also the formation of philosophy, religion and art. It was both a historical evolution and a communication process. This article not only attempts to reveal the specific effects of the cultural cognition of the West on the construction of the “Oriental Image”. It also sheds light on the Maritime Silk Road's process of communication from the physical to the metaphysical form, as well as from the metaphysical to the physical form