司马麟 英国杜伦大学
Starr, Don, University of Durham
原文Original
The Impact of Confucius Institutes on Chinese Studies in the UK
Modern institutions promoting national language and culture to an international audience date from the late 19th century. The first of these was the Alliance Française founded in 1883 to promote French language and culture. Later examples include the Goethe Institute, founded in 1925, and the British Council, founded in 1934. In the past few decades this number has grown considerably to include the Japan Foundation, founded in 1972, the Cervantes Institute, founded in 1991 and the Camões Institute, founded in 1992. China joined this club with the Confucius Institute programme, starting from 2004.
A common feature of these institutions is that they receive substantial funds from the state concerned to promote its language and culture abroad. What the state aims to gain in return is often referred to as ‘soft power’; this may be more precisely defined as ‘status recognition’. The nature of that status varies with the situation of the country concerned. In the case of France one motive was to cement links between citizens in the new empire abroad and metropolitan France; another was to try to strengthen the position of French as the main medium for international communication in the face of a rising challenge from English. An aspect of the latter aim was to establish ‘ownership’ of the language by the French state and claim the right to lay down a linguistic standard defining authenticity. In the cases of Germany, Japan, Spain and Portugal we can see political legitimation as a motive: Germany and Japan had established new political entities after military defeats had destroyed the former states, and Spain and Portugal has done so after periods of dictatorship. We can see also an element of political rivalry, for example in the case of Britain (particularly with Germany), and Portugal (particularly with Spain). We can expect to find many of these same motives also reflected in the Confucius Institute programme in the UK.
For example, one aim is for the Chinese government to establish links with the Chinese diaspora and encourage a sense of loyalty towards China among ethnic Chinese living outside China. In the UK this community makes up 0.4% of the total population, amounting to 247,403 people (2001 census figures). Confucius Institutes in the UK are engaging with this community to an unprecedented extent for UK universities. For example, the Confucius Institute at the University of Manchester, a city which is the location of one of the largest ethnic Chinese communities in the UK, invited many local Chinese business leaders to its launch events to build bridges with them. Similarly, the Confucius Institute at the University of Sheffield collaborates with the Star Mandarin School to offer Chinese language courses to local ethnic Chinese children. This paper will describe the ways in which Confucian Institutes in the UK are their pursuing primary aims, as defined by the Hanban for the Chinese state, and attempt an assessment of their impact.
译文Translation
孔子学院对英国的中国研究之影响
在世界范围内推广民族语言和文化的现代机构始建于19世纪晚期。第一个这样的机构是法语联盟，它建于1883年，致力于推广法国的语言和文化。紧随其后的是创建于1925年的歌德学院和1934年的英国文化委员会。近几十年来，类似的机构大量涌现，其中包括建于1972年的日本国际交流基金会、建于1991年的塞万提斯学院和建于1992年的贾梅士学院。2004年，中国也加入了这个行列，建立了孔子学院项目。
以推广本国的语言和文化为目的，以国家大量的资金支持为后盾，是这些学院的共同特征。作为回报，国家通常想要获得的就是“软实力”的提升，这也许能更精确地定义为“地位认同”。由于各国关注的重点不同，这里“地位”的侧重也各不相同。例如，法国建立法语联盟的目的有二，其一是作为海外“新帝国”公民与法国本土之间的联系纽带；其二是巩固法语作为国际交流主要媒介的地位，应对英语日益普及所带来的挑战。而第二个目的也包含着确立法语国家对于法语的所有权以及建立一种规范的语言标准的意图。再以德国、日本、西班牙和葡萄牙为例，我们可以看到这些国家建立语言推广机构的政治合法性：德国和日本在战败后的废墟上建立了新的政体，西班牙和葡萄牙在独裁时代结束之后亦是如此。此外还有政治竞争的因素，英国（尤其是与德国的竞争）和葡萄牙（尤其是与西班牙的竞争）就是这样的例子。在孔子学院在英国的项目中，或许我们也可以找到一些类似的目的。
例如，目的之一是中国政府想要建立与海外华人的联系，并且在海外中国华人圈中激发出一种对国家的忠诚感。在英国，华人占总人口的0.4%，总人数为247,403人（2001年统计数据）。目前，在英国的孔子学院正在与当地华人群体建立广泛而亲切的联系，而这是其他英国大学难以企及的。例如，曼彻斯特是英国拥有最多华人群体的城市之一，曼彻斯特大学的孔子学院在启动仪式时邀请了众多当地华人商业领袖，并与他们建立了联系。同样地，谢菲尔德大学的孔子学院也与星星中文学校合作，为当地华人孩子提供语言课程。本文将介绍英国孔子学院为达到国家汉办制定的主要目标所采取的方法，并尝试对它们的影响做出评价。