Abstract

Growing concerns have been shown on “Chinese” with the boost of China’s national strength in recent years. The study of Chinese characteristics, however, can be traced back to the beginning of the last century. Writers, historians, missionaries, among others, started from respective fields and tried to define the national characters of Chinese. But few of them introspected their own positions and value orientation, and bias existed in most of their conclusions.
Ethnocentric individuals believe that the in-group’s culture precedes the out-group’s. Cultural mentality is the mentation in cultural meaning, which plays an important role in analyzing and dealing with the relationship between the national culture and alien culture. Chinese Characteristics and The Spirit of the Chinese People describe the “Chinese” from different perspectives. Though the authors hold the attitude of equal communication and mutual respect, ethnocentrism still exists in their works, which deserves our study. Part one in this paper elaborates the definition of ethnocentrism and cultural mentality. Part two expounds the ethnocentrism in Chinese Characteristics and The Spirit of the Chinese People, such as deifying the role of Christianity, exaggerating the role of morality, and so on. Part three comparatively analyzes Arthur Henderson Smith’s negative cultural mentality and Ku Hungming’s positive but radical cultural mentality, and causes of their limitations are discussed.

Key words: ethnocentrism; cultural mentality; Chinese character

摘  要

近年来中国国家实力不断增强，国内外对“中国人形象”日益关切。早在上世纪初期，中西方知识分子就“中国人形象”展开了讨论。文学家、史学家、传教士等分别从各自视角出发，撰写相关文章著作，探讨中国的民族性格，却少有人在定论之前反思自己所处的立场与价值取向，所言之词皆有偏颇。
“民族中心主义”是一种认为己文化优于他文化的理论。“文化心态”指关于文化方面的心理状态，在分析与处理己文化与他文化的关系方面具有重要作用。《中国人的气质》与《中国人的精神》两部作品从不同角度、不同方位定义了作者自己眼中的“中国人形象”。尽管作者都秉持平等交流、互相尊重的态度，但字里行间的民族中心主义却客观存在。本文以“民族中心主义”与“文化心态”为切入点，拟分为三个部分。第一部分对“民族中心主义”和“文化心态”进行详细诠释。第二部分举例探讨《中国人的气质》和《中国人的精神》中所表现的民族中心主义，如神化基督教的作用，夸大道德的效果等。第三部分通过比较分析明恩溥消极否定的文化心态与辜鸿铭偏激肯定的文化心态，总结其狭隘观点产生的原因。

关键词：民族中心主义；文化心态；中国人的性格