1898 is an important year in China's modern history.
On March 6, 1898, the Qing government signed the Jiao'ao Lend-Lease Treaty with Germany. On April 10, German journalist Paul Goldmann was assigned by the Frankfurter Zeitung to conduct an interview with China from the Port of Geniana, Italy.
After setting off on the German "Prussia" long-distance mechanical ship, Goldman crossed the Mediterranean Sea, through Egypt, the Suez Canal, the Gulf of Aden, and sailed to singapore, a European-style oriental new city.
Then, he landed in Hong Kong, through Guangzhou, Shanghai, and all the way to the hinterland of China for a detailed investigation. On the way, he interviewed Wang Cunshan, then secretary of the Governor of Guangdong and director of the Lijin Bureau, and Cai Jun of Shanghai Daotai. From Shanghai, take a boat down the Yangtze River and stop at Zhenjiang, Hankou, Wuchang and other places.
Goldman met many modern Chinese historical figures during his visit. In Yantai, he met Chen Jitong, a former Qing government diplomat in Europe. This is an important figure in modern history who has vigorously promoted Chinese culture in Europe. In Tianjin, he interviewed Rong Lu, the Qing government's army chief and governor directly under him. In Beijing, he visited Li Hongzhang, who had just left the wilderness.
Because of this trip to China, Goldman wrote "Summer of 1898: A German Journalist's Observations on China."
Summer day of 1898 : A German Journalist's Observations on China
[de] Paul Goldman by Wu Weili translation
People's Literature Publishing House, January 2021 edition
Goldmann was born on 31 January 1865 in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), died in Vienna on 25 September 1935, an Austrian and German journalist, publicist, travel writer, theatre critic, and translator. From 1892 to 1902, he worked as a reporter for the Frankfurter Zeitung, where he traveled and interviewed in China during 1898.
What he wrote down and saw was helpful for us to understand the scenery of the cities along the way at the end of the 19th century and the face of Chinese society. What is particularly valuable is that in the book, Goldman highly affirms the diligence, bravery and wisdom of the Chinese people he has come into contact with. He predicted at the time that Shanghai would become a great city in the East with decades of efforts. This prophecy later became a reality.
In the book, he also revealed the inside story of the capital competition of the European powers in the initial Process of China's railway planning, as well as the situation that China's economy and the European economy are compatible with the European economy and the conflict of interests between the great powers. Through interactions with officials at different levels of the Qing government, he documented the different ideas of officials in the late Qing Dynasty for reform and cooperation with the West, as well as the different reactions of the people to such ideas.
Paul Goldman's interview in China is meticulously observed, beautifully written, and highly recognized by Chinese folk and ordinary Chinese people. Under the historical conditions at that time, this was rare and valuable. After a hundred years, this book can be discovered, translated, and published, which is also meaningful and valuable.
As a German journalist, Paul Goldman is friendly to China, and his position and integrity on major historical issues such as opposing The Nazis are also admirable, but we must also note that in this book, he looks at China from a German perspective, and sometimes his expression will inevitably be tainted with some colonial colors, and at some moments even reveal the tone of the colonizer. This is obviously a historical limitation, but also his prejudice, so while affirming the historical value of this book, Chinese readers also need to be vigilant about the expression of colonization, and need to take a critical stand to read and understand the relevant content.
Read history to Ming Zhi. Looking at today, our lives have undergone earth-shaking changes, and the ancient China, which has suffered many disasters, has finally shaken off the doom of being subject to people and ushered in a new and exciting situation.
Many of you are already the earliest readers of this book. In the eyes of the famous writer Tang Haoming, China and the world are in a community of common destiny, and we need historical communication, cultural communication, the elimination of prejudice, and mutual respect. This is also another value and significance of such a historical work published today.
This is both a history book and a literary book, with a clear social outlook and a vivid historical scene. Through the eyes of foreign journalists, ordinary readers can see the style and story of 1898, and professional readers can verify the truth of some historical materials and details.
Ma Zhongwen, a researcher at the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that a German journalist's observation of the officialdom and society at the end of the Qing Dynasty always carries some prejudices of Westerners, but from another point of view, his observations and analysis are also often unique, and they are often Chinese places that they are easy to ignore and turn a blind eye to. It should be admitted that Paul Goldman's travels and interviews show some primitive forms of Chinese society around 1898 that the Chinese people did not expect.
【Afterword】
A journey through a strange book
In the early autumn of 2011, I made my first trip to the Adriatic coast. On the map, departing from Vienna through Slovenia is the closest route to the Adriatic seaside city of Trieste. In the evening when night was low, I entered the Slovenian border and was stopped by the Sri Lankan customs police. Although Slovenia was a member of the Schengen Agreement and was required to abolish border checkpoints under the Agreement, they still demanded that my documents be checked. I handed over all my legal documents, and the Sri Lankan customs police looked at them and said that there was nothing wrong with the documents, but I did not buy a highway ticket and had to pay a fine of 160 euros. In fact, before entering Slovenia, I was always keeping an eye on the shops and gas stations on both sides of the road. I had already anticipated that I would have to buy a highway ticket to enter the country, however, I didn't see any business premises along the way. It was reasonable to buy it at this time, but the two policemen were going to be fined involuntarily, and their attitude was very arbitrary, and they directly withheld my passport and driver's license. It seems that people who do not pay the fine can not go, this country separated from the former Yugoslavia, has reached the brink of economic collapse, the police are also red-eyed. For me, time is more important than money, so I had to pay 160 euros to buy the road and continue this journey to the Adriatic Sea.
I had planned to stay in the capital of the country for a day or two to learn about their history, culture and urban landscape, but after an unpleasant entanglement with the Customs Police of Sri Lanka, I had no interest in this small country. Driving through Slovenia into Italy, about two hundred kilometers away, the car raced in less than three hours, and I arrived at the Italian city of Riast on the Adriatic Sea.
It was already midnight, and the car was driving down the winding road, and in the distance was a field of lights, and it seemed that the scale of the city was far greater than I had imagined before. Driving into the city, the road began to widen and narrow, and the asphalt road became a stone road. Old streets, old houses, everything is what a city with a history should look like.
I have studied and lived in Europe for many years, and I like to visit antique shops and stamp shops in every city I go to. Hiking the ancient streets in search of historical traces is my biggest passion when I travel outside. The city is built on a hill and surrounds the Adriatic coast. The Westin hotel I stayed in was located at the top of the city's hill, from high up down a narrow stone street, at the foot of which was the center of the city. It was a Saturday, which coincided with the city's weekend flea market, and I walked around and didn't get anything out of it. So, I strolled along the old streets to an antique shop, such a remote place, there should be some treasure, right? There were a lot of old goods, but I walked around for nearly half an hour and found nothing special.
When I was about to leave, I politely asked the shop owner, "Do you have anything from Asia here?" The boss looked at me, thought for a moment, and then replied in German: "We have a book from more than a hundred years ago in our shop, which writes about China, are you interested?" With that he took two books from the shelf behind him and carefully handed them to me. I glanced at the cover of the book: Ein Sommer in China, which means: a summer in China. It was a set of two-volume old books with a yellowed cover and a slightly damaged stiff paper. I carefully opened it to see that it was all German in classical font. I hadn't studied classical Font German, and for a moment it seemed a little hard, and I couldn't see any doorway or value, but I thought that since it was a publication more than a hundred years ago, it would be good to buy it as an antique.
It only took one round of bargaining to make the deal! There are countless old books on display in this shop, and I reckon that the owner himself has not read this book. He probably wouldn't have thought that this book was of great significance to our Chinese, and that it gave us a picture of Chinese history that had been sealed for a hundred years.
A week later, I returned to my office in Frankfurt, and immediately took the book to my friend Mr. Uli, asked him to take a good look at it, and then sorted out the contents and told me. Mr. Uli is an economic lawyer in Germany and his father was a former senior official in the German government. Educated at universities in Germany and Switzerland, he is now nearly seventy years old and knowledgeable, and he understands classical script. Mr. Uli read the book for a few days, and then, excitedly, came to the company and sat down to give me a detailed description of the book's contents.
After the sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, Mr. Paul Goldman, then a reporter for the Frankfurt Times, was assigned by the newspaper to go to China in 1898 to investigate the economy, politics, military, justice, publishing, and religion of the Qing Dynasty. He set sail from the port of Geniana in northern Italy in April on a mechanical ship using the German Prussia from the Mediterranean Sea via the Egyptian port of Sade, the Suez Canal, and the Red Sea-Gulf of Aden to Singapore, the European city of the East. He landed in China from Hong Kong and penetrated deep into the hinterland of China via Guangzhou and Shanghai. Throughout the summer, he met with the secretary of the Governor of Guangdong and the director of the Lijin Bureau, the mayor of Shanghai, and the local dignitaries of the two trade cities. He took a boat down the Yangtze River and stopped in Hankou, Wuchang, Zhenjiang and other cities, and had some understanding of the inside story of the competition between the great powers in China's railway construction. He inspected the German officer training camp in Wuchang, got to know Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, and recorded the whole process of German engineers and military instructors working in China. He then went to Qingdao, Weihai, and Zhifu (Yantai) in Jiaozhou Bay to visit Jiaozhou, which had just been incorporated into the German concession. Then, he continued north from Yantai to Tianjin, visited and visited the Tianjin Wubei Academy, and visited Rong Lu, the commander-in-chief of the army and the governor directly under him. At this time, there was a change of law in Beijing, and he was trapped in Tianjin for many days. When martial law was lifted in Beijing, he entered the city of Beijing for an interview and visited Li Hongzhang, who had just stepped down...
After listening to Mr. Uli's introduction, I suddenly felt the importance of this book. There are two books written by foreigners about China, one is Marco Polo's "Travels in China" and the other is the American writer Edgar Snow's "Journey to the West" (aka "Red Star Shines on China"), and this "One Summer in China" is exactly between these two books. If I am not mistaken, this should be the third book of great historical value, a foreigner's visit to China. The German journalist's description of Chinese society in 1898, no matter what it was, should have a certain historical value. In particular, his dialogue with senior officials of the Qing government in that special year will certainly be able to provide some reference for the existing historical narrative, and perhaps provide us with more important historical details about the Penghu Reform Law and the transformation of the Chinese Empire in a difficult and dangerous situation. I have a hunch that this must be a good book to record Chinese history!
I immediately asked Mr. Uli to begin investigating the author of the book. First of all, we started with the FrankfurtErtzkaber, where the journalist worked, and Mr. Uli sent an inquiry letter on behalf of the company, unfortunately, there is no legal inheritance relationship between today's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the previous FrankfurtErstember. After two world wars, they could not find more information about the book. However, they told me that because the author was opposed to the Nazis, the book was once banned and the Nazi era demanded that it be completely destroyed. At the suggestion of the newspaper, we immediately contacted the German copyright authorities, and they quickly gave us a written reply: the book has passed the seventy-year lifting period, and we can apply for the right to be republished. Since the original book was in German, which was difficult for ordinary people to read, I commissioned Mr. Uli to spend a year converting classical German word for word to modern German, which was published in a German-speaking country in 2014. In order to complete the collation of this set of books, my friend Mr. Uli suffered from severe eye disease with excessive use of his eyes, and when he finished the text conversion, his left eye was almost blind. On December 21, 2017, Mr. Uli died of bone cancer in Frankfurt. He was a close friend of mine and a good friend of many Chinese, and many Chinese in Frankfurt, Baden Homburg, Germany, had received legal aid from him. He loves China and is happy to help Chinese, unfortunately, he has never been to China. I promised to take him to China to see, we said well, in his old age he will retire by my side... It became a pain for my whole life.
I've been working on Chinese translation of this book since 2015. Because the author's suzerainty spanned Prussia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Weimar Republic to the Third Reich, his language was mixed from north to south, and I searched for German translators in China, but no one was willing to accept the translation of this book. I also know that the translation of this set of books is very difficult, but I also know how rare such a live record is for the value of studying Chinese history! Through the interview and description of a foreign journalist, we can see the true style of Chinese society in the late Qing Dynasty from the perspective of the "other" and another eye. Even if it is "one-sided" reality, it is extremely precious.
I was determined to finish translating the book, and no one wanted to do it, so I organized people to do it myself. I worked with Mr. Uli, and with all the friends and experts he could find, who could recognize classical German, and in 2017, the Chinese literal translation work was almost over – I miss my friend Mr. Uli dearly!
After the original was published in Germany in 1899, a second edition was soon released in 1900. In order to ensure the accuracy of the historical record, the author made some annotations based on subsequent developments in the context of the republishment. I bought the second edition, so readers can better understand the whole picture of the book. In the process of translation, consulting historical materials is an indispensable task, and in order to facilitate the understanding of today's readers, I have also annotated some people and events, which are presented in the form of footnotes in this book. (Excerpt from "Afterword", titled Editor Plus)
【Early reading】
Visiting Li Hongzhang (excerpt)
Walking through the gate, through the clean garden paved with large rectangular stone slabs, stepping on the stone slab staircase, Mr. Li Hongzhang was already standing at the door to greet us. The door was almost as tall as his, making him look a little taller than he actually was. The appearance of an old man who is high up in the sky is solemn and respectful.
He wore simple household attire, a reddish-brown brocade robe, a blue silk tunic with unbuttoned buttons and some wear near the neckline. His tanned face had not changed much, as he had been known in Europe. He had a pair of glasses hanging from his nose, not the kind of weird style (exaggerated, bizarre, unusual) used by ordinary Chinese literati, but European-style glasses with thin gold frames. Behind the lenses is a pair of shrewd, small, flexible eyes, sometimes with a fierce glare. He speaks so loudly that it doesn't sound uncomfortable, but rather because his elderly voices are a bit mushy (the French call this slurred speech). He tried to be as quiet as possible, at least at first.
After that, his words became slightly more, but he still controlled the content of the words, with a sly gaze. Sometimes he would burst into a brief laugh as he spoke, and the yellow teeth in his mouth were clearly visible, which were strong, slender canine teeth. When he laughed like this, a look of mockery flashed on his face, but then he returned to seriousness and dullness. The old gentleman's head was covered with no hair left, and under the scalp was a round skull with strong bones.
Li Hongzhang holds a black wooden cane with an ivory grip in his hand. Since he liked to think of himself as Bismarck of China (this is the flattery that some European horse ass elves have been saying to him, and he himself believed it after a long time), it is not impossible to get a replica of the crutches carried by the iron-blooded prime minister in his later years, and among Li Hongzhang's relics, there is a diamond-encrusted cane, which is said to be the most expensive cane in the world, which was originally from US President Grant. Grant stepped down in 1877 and traveled around the world with his wife Julia. Arrived in China in April 1879, becoming the first U.S. president to arrive in China. Li Hongzhang set up a feast at the Governor's Mansion in Tianjin to entertain Grant and his wife, and fell in love with Grant's exquisite cane. Grant then said, "Since the Church loves this staff, I should have given it to you." It is just that this staff was given by Congress on behalf of the national gentry when I left office, and I am not in a position to give it privately. When I return to China, I will announce this matter, and if everyone agrees, I will send it to you as a gift to appreciate the grace of the whole zhongtang. When Li Hongzhang visited the United States in 1896, Grant's widow did not forget the promise of that year and gave the cane to Li Hongzhang. Since then, Li Hongzhang has been inseparable from this cane until his death as a relic.
The room we are in now is an antechamber with a stone floor, with little furniture in the room, except for a European leather chair in the corner, with a few more Chinese chairs in front of the leather chair, and the interior of the house behind it, separated by a wooden board painted green. When there are no visitors, the board seems to be put back. Li Hongzhang shook hands with us, asked me to introduce his name, and read the letter of visit we gave him. He tried to read my name. Then he sat down in a leather chair and invited us to sit in the chair. He stretched out his feet, wearing soft Chinese cloth shoes with legs wrapped in white linen. He then introduced us to his grandson, a thirteen-year-old chinese young man with a very bright idea. The German anti-Semites would probably see his bulging nose as a counter-evidence of his pure Asian blood. The young gentleman, dressed in a gorgeous dark violet robe, politely but somewhat shyly reached out his hand to us and shook it, then sat down straight in a chair a little farther away, listening intently to his grandfather.
Not far from the leather chair, there was already a servant surnamed Lai at his side. When the two sides were talking, Li Hongzhang asked him to take the east for a while and asked him to take the west for a while. First he wanted cigarettes. He smoked it with a small gilded filter, and then he asked for a metal hookah, and the faithful lai servant had to put the pipe in his mouth. Then there was a cup of tea. Apart from the shisha, he also provided us with all the services. Li Hongzhang placed a pot on his leather chair, like an opened container. From time to time, he would take it to his mouth, spit it in, and put it back in place. Since all the doors were open and the wind was blowing a little exaggeratedly, we were all wearing coats, but still feeling cold. Without being called, "Lai" took the initiative to bring a Chinese home hat and put it on the old man's bare head.
Starting from trying to get to know me, Li Hongzhang began to talk to me. He pointed his crutches at me and asked a bunch of questions: Why did you come from Germany? How long has it been in China? What places have you visited? How long did you stay in Jiaozhou? When will I return to Europe?
When I was free, I took the opportunity to quickly ask questions and bring the conversation to the point. I said: It was because the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung correctly anticipated the major events that were happening in front of me that sent me to Beijing. At the moment I am just a foreigner and do not know how to understand this crisis, and I would be very fortunate to receive a response from you to the following question: "What the hell is going on?" ”
Li Hongzhang hesitated for a moment, then said slowly: "The fault lies in the young official." ”
"Why?"
"Senior, experienced officials are squeezed out by a younger generation that has never dealt with state affairs. They want to benefit from it until they finally can't go any further. After this crisis, these younger officials have been eliminated. ”
"This upheaval should be a good thing if senior officials can get back to their posts." But such a thing doesn't seem to be happening. And people have seen from this that China, which is currently in a difficult period, has not yet given a position to someone like you. ”
The old gentleman nodded excitedly, confirming that this was also his opinion. But he still hesitated and did not speak more clearly. So I had to try to push him a little bit.
"As far as I know," I said, "there is no way to grasp the point of the current situation without a suitable person who can represent the Chinese government." Who are the foreign envoys negotiating with right now? I can imagine that they are now in great chaos. ”
I imagine it this way because I have my reasons. My idea was confirmed by Herr Von Goltz, who said that the German mission no longer enters and exits the Chancellor's office. The prime minister Has been abandoned, and Li Hongzhang has been expelled from the gate, so who will stay there?
"Yes, but the government has always been there." Li Hongzhang answered.
"The government is not enough just to be there." I responded.
"The government has to do some function. Now that things have gone too far, China will face the consequences. At the very least, China's credibility will suffer. ”
Li Explains: "As long as China can still pay interest on loans, there is no need to worry about financial credit. At present, interest is paid on time. ”
"What has been linked to these loans and interest is the past. The key is the future, and China needs credit even more. The era of European business is now beginning, which requires the use of European capital. If Europe doesn't give you money, China won't even be able to repair the railway. ”
"Then don't fix it." Li Hongzhang said calmly.
In Europe, this gentleman is regarded as a pioneer in the pursuit of modernization, but it surprised me to hear these words from his mouth. Mr. von Dagoz offers examples of how China has lost credibility in recent events: The Belgians do not want to fund more for the route from Beijing to Hankou, for which they are responsible. The German business alliance was also at a loss for the xinjiang-Tianjin railway plan and expressed its desire to withdraw it.
I repeat: "All of this is because there is no one in Europe who can be trusted to sit in the Chinese government." For China's credit, Mr. Li Hongzhang is the best spokesperson. I can't understand that I won't let you continue to serve. Among the officials who lead China, you are almost equivalent to the name of Chinese credit, and now it has no effect. ”
Li Hongzhang listened to these words of praise without blinking, and seemed to be able to detect that these words touched him. He pondered for a moment, then said, "Foreigners understand and admire me according to their past achievements, but if Chinese don't think so, what can I do?" ”
"I don't think so!" I say.
"This is not false. Prime Minister Bismarck once experienced such a thing: he won the trust of all civilized countries, but there was no way to make his emperor trust him! Li Hongzhang said.
"Then why did you lose the trust of your emperor?"
"People slammed me for being too partial to foreigners. They called me a traitor. ”
When Li Hongzhang said this, his face trembled with resentment. When he said the three words "traitor", a burst of laughter broke out.
……
Textu | Courtesy of the People's Literature Publishing House
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![This is the summer of 1898, when a German journalist heard about China[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)