『察世俗每月統紀傳』 (The Chinese Monthly Magazine)考

Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate into the foundation, termination, structure, content, publication, and issuance of The Chinese Monthly Magazine and its historic effects. Findings are listed below. The Chinese Monthly Magazine was founded by William Milne on August 15, 1815. The primary purpose of the foundation was to facilitate the spread of Christian doctrines and the secondary one was to develop the understanding of Chinese people who had suffered under political oppression, i.e., to expand their knowledge and build up their morals. The initial issue of the magazine was sized 14.5×18.8 ㎝, but, later, it was somewhat enlarged to 19×26 cm. The basic writing styles employed for the magazine are discourse and description. Taking into account various walks of the readers of the magazine, Milne adopted three principles for the writings: ① sentences should be short, ② sentences should be colloquial and easy to understand and ③ sentences should be smooth and vivid in their expression. The content of the magazine is composed of divine wisdom(神理), human ways(人道), national practices(國俗), astronomical phenomena(天文), and geographical features(地理). Divine wisdom refers to Christian doctrines. Human ways refer to ethics and morals, which cover a very large range. National practices represent the public customs of each country. Astronomical phenomena and geographical features present a comprehensive knowledge of science, especially of astronomy. In fact, the magazine was the first-ever medium through which Protestant missionaries introduced modern knowledge of science into China in the 19th century. Every time when the knowledge of science was introduced, religious information was also transmitted. It appears that the magazine was published between 1815 and 1822 and 77 editions and eight volumes were issued in total. The quantity of the publication of the magazine was decided according to the demand for it and, resultantly, no copy of it remained in stock. In order to reduce the publishing costs, the magazine was published each month and a combined edition was issued each year. The magazine was published in Malacca for Chinese people. It was freely distributed to not only the people living in Malacca but also overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and other places as well as those in Guangzhou and Macao. It was diffused through the friends of Milne, correspondents, travellers, and ships. The magazine was written, edited and published primarily by Milne. In case Milne was away from Malacca, Walter Medhurst edited it on behalf of him. However, without the help from LiangFa(梁發), the magazine could not have written, edited and published. Because Liang-fa counseled Milne in connection to the China language and the practices, customs, thoughts and senses of Chinese people. As said in the above, the main contributor to the magazine was Milne, who had written most of the articles. Other contributors to the magazine include Robert Morrison, Medhurst and Liang-fa. Six and a half years after its foundation, the magazine discontinued issuing in 1822. It was mainly because Milne the main contributor lay in bed due to a lung disease and his greatest helper Medhurst left Malacca. The following are major significances of the magazine. First, it had a great effect in promoting Christian evangelism through publications in the embryonic period of Protestant mission in China. Second, the magazine played an important role in exchanging Chinese cultures with Western ones. Third, the magazine propagated Christian doctrines while blaming the Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Fourth, the magazine employed commas and periods, which are the punctuations used in Western style writings, and it much contributed to the development of the China language from a written language into a spoken one. The Chinese Monthly Magazine is praised as the first modern publication written in Chinese language. In particular, it should be highlighted as the first-ever periodical publication contributing to the propaganda of Protestantism in China. However, the magazine may not be safely called a monthly journal but a periodical tract or a kind of comprehensive religious publication since it was not published just regularly. Considering that the magazine carries various sorts of articles, it may be categorized into a newspaper providing comprehensive contents of information. Conclusively, it can be said that the monthly magazine was initially founded mainly to facilitate Christian evangelism, but gradually developed to concentrate on the enlightenment of China, and ended in a kind of modern newspaper leaning toward Western thoughts.