「帝國主義」考源

Abstract

「帝國」一詞雖然早就用於中文古典，但十八世紀至十九世紀卻在日本首先用於對譯荷蘭語“Keizerdom”，然後又在麥都思出版的《英和‧和英語彙》（1830）裡用來對譯英文“Empire”，遂被英和辭典所繼承。而十九世紀英華字典裡卻沒有這一對譯。「帝國主義」這一組合亦首先出現在1898年的日文文脈中，隨後，梁啟超在橫濱創辦的《清議報》（1898-1901）馬上將之加以翻譯介紹，其本人亦對此展開綜述並抱有一定的幻想。但隨著「帝國主義」擴張本質的顯露，批判也隨之展開，革命派的章炳麟聯合弱小民族的代表猛烈抨擊之。而列寧的《帝國主義論》最終則將之定位於資本主義的最高階段，並揭露出其侵略的本質。可以說此一概念的形成和傳播構成了二十世紀前半期的最大的時代特徵。

”Diguo (帝國)”-although the term has been used for long time in classical Chinese, it was Japan that first translated this word in Dutch-”Keizerdom” 18th to 19th century, also used as a translation to ”Empire” on ”An English and Japanese, and Japanese and English Vocabulary”, published in 1830. It is worth to note that we cannot find any translation for this word on English-Chinese dictionary published in 19th century. ”Diguo Zhuyi (帝國主義),” the combination of ”imperial” and ”ism”, first appeared in 1898 in Japanese context; at the same time, it was found in the journal, ”The China Discussion” (1898-1901), which was published by Liang Qi-Chao in Yokohama. Later on, he began using this word, also introduced the idea in Chinese, with his positive belief that it might be essential for Chinese society. However, as the nature of ”Imperialism”-expansion and invasion is revealed, numerous critiques appeared. Among those, revolutionaries, Zhang Binglin was powerful enough to include a lesser power/race to strongly push the criticism ahead. In addition, in Lenin`s imperialism theory, he positioned ”Imperialism” to the ultimate stage of capitalism, and revealed its nature, invasion. It can be said that the concept formation and dissemination of ”Imperialism” is one of the biggest characteristics of the first half of the 20th century.