十九世紀後期西方傳教士眼中的臺灣漢人社會

Abstract

十九世紀後期來臺的西方人士之中，傳教士所留下的文本佔有相當份量，廣泛記載他們在臺灣宣教與遊歷的觀察，當中也不乏基於西方文化對東方的想像。過往的研究，往往將這些傳教士的文本當作「史實」來運用，藉以補充中文史料的不足或缺漏，甚或進行批判。然若仔細觀察，便可發現這些西方傳教士所遺留的文本，在生產過程中有相當大的侷限性，時常帶有高傲與偏見的看法。回顧臺灣宣教歷史，漢人受傳統宗教信仰的影響，形成種種迷信觀念與習俗，以及儒家傳統與基督教教理的扞格，使得傳教工作在漢人社會較難推展。 從西方傳教士的文本紀錄中，爬梳他們對臺灣漢人社會內的官紳、福「客」人群與異教文化評價，我們可以清楚指出，西方傳教士對外在事物的看法與宣教順利與否息息相關。此外，不同屬性的史料在內容呈現也存在差異性，諸如日記、書信等私人文本，批判內容甚為露骨；相對地，回憶錄、新聞報紙等公開出版品，評論語調則平緩許多。而文本書寫者的背景也造就其記錄的視角不同，商人和外交官背景的西方人士，觀察重點與政治、經濟層面相關；以宣教為抱負而遠道來臺的宣教士，書寫的主題則圍繞以傳教工作為中心。因此，在運用這些西方傳教士的文本時，需要與其宣教脈絡結合，才能清楚掌握他們書寫文本的脈絡。

Western missionaries who travelled to Taiwan during the late nineteenth century left a substantial volume of texts documenting their observations during their missionary work in Taiwan. Some of the texts include the Oriental Imagination of Westerners and Western culture. To fill gaps in China’s historical data, previous studies have assumed that these documents are historical facts, and some of them have even criticised these documents. However, thoroughly examining these documents reveals that most missionary records were created in a confined setting, basing mostly on arrogant and prejudiced perspectives. Reflecting on the history of missionaries in Taiwan indicates that the perceptions of the Chinese were deeply affected by traditional religious beliefs, resulting in various superstitious viewpoints and customs. Disagreement between Confucian and Christian doctrines hinders missionaries in promoting Christianity to the Chinese society. Within a confined space and population group, missionaries of different Christian denominations competed intensively in converting people to Christianity. Various historical records reveal how the two religious groups compete with each other, and the number of such records is comparable to those criticising paganism in Taiwan. The texts left by Western missionaries reveal their evaluation of the government, Hoklos and Hakkas people, and pagan culture of the Chinese society in Taiwan, indicating that their perspective of external objects was highly correlated with their success as a missionary. Moreover, many historical records are inconsistent. For example, the content of private texts such as diaries and letters is candid, whereas comments and critiques in public documents, such as memoirs and newspapers, are mild. The contrasting viewpoints in these documents are also attributable to the background of the authors. In particular, Western merchants and diplomats tended to focus on political and economic matters, whereas missionaries primarily emphasised topics pertaining to their missionary work. Therefore, when examining such historical records, researchers must consider the religious context to fully comprehend the documented information.