【IAS】GUIA Lecture Series “The Diffusion of Western Influence Eastward or Eastern Influence Westward: Tracing the Early History of Printing in Macau” was successfully conducted
【高研院】東望洋講堂系列： “西風東漸抑或東風西漸——澳門早期印刷史的軌跡” 圓滿舉行
由澳門大學人文社科高等研究院（高研院）主辦東望洋講堂第四講於8月27日在伍宜孫圖書館演講廳圓滿舉辦。是次講座邀請到澳門大學澳門研究中心主任，社會科學學院傳播系副教授林玉鳳教授擔任講者，主題為「“西風東漸抑或東風西漸——澳門早期印刷史的軌跡”」。“東望洋講堂”以“立足澳門、放眼國際學界”為原則，是澳門大學高研院打造的一個跨學科、高品質、具有國際視野的公開的學術講座。
傳統敘述下，澳門新聞史以1822年葡人立憲派於澳門創刊《蜜蜂華報》作為開端，底層邏輯是受近代印刷術西學東漸而萌生。但此時的葡人已抵澳居留達兩個半世紀之久，且在17世紀初期，西方國家就已經出現了定期印刷的近代報刊。何以澳門則推遲到了19世紀？
追本溯源，林教授首先找到了於1588年在澳門出版的《基督的兒童教育》一書，這是西方活字印刷術傳入中國後印刷的首本圖書。但從印刷術的視角出發，卻是東學西漸在先。根據范禮安神父的信件，至少在1585年，耶穌會便已將中式的雕版印刷術應用在印刷西歐文字之上。同一時期的傳教士利瑪竇則將四書五經翻譯為拉丁文，更通過比較東西方印刷術，讚賞中式雕版印刷的高效價廉。
馬禮遜來華後，仍採用雕版印刷、線裝的出版方式。1833年，馬禮遜創辦《雜聞篇》，其採用活字印刷並開創刊物使用中式標點的先河，成為中國最早的近代化中文期刊。彼時的林則徐則注意到馬禮遜的另一份報刊《傳教者與中國雜報》，其是中國境內出版的首份中英合刊的報刊，內容涵蓋了教導家傭傳統禮儀的社會新聞以及中國乃至亞洲地區的政治動態。鴉片戰爭前夕，林則徐將馬禮遜（翻譯京報）收集中國資訊的行為彙編集入澳門新聞報，並將其上報。
講座的最後，林教授總結道，在16世紀末至19世紀上半葉，澳門曾一度成為中國的報刊出版中心。抵澳的傳教士在出版活動中，優先採用了他們認為更為先進的東方印刷術，這些書刊的出版印證了明清時期朝廷和地方政府的社會控制相對鬆馳。這段澳門早期出版史，顯示中西文化交流史上，不是當然的西方技術的植入引致中國的內部改良，而是有漫長的中西相互欣賞，學習與適應，在西風東漸的同時，東風也曾經西漸。
高研院旨在回饋澳門社會，提供更多跨學科、具有國際視野的學術講座，本次講座現場獲逾百位師生出席。高研院將繼續舉辦高品質的學術講座，為澳門的學術界和社會提供更多機會，深化學術交流、拓寬知識視野。
The 4th GUIA lecture organized by the Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences (IAS) was successfully held on August 27th at the Wu Yee Sun Library Lecture Hall. The guest speaker was Prof. LAM lok Fong, Agnes, Director of the Centre for Macau Studies and Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau. The lecture topic was “The Diffusion of Western Influence Eastward or Eastern Influence Westward: Tracing the Early History of Printing in Macau”. The GUIA Lecture leverages Chinese Confucianism to expand Macau’s global culture, fostering cultural exchange among diverse cultures in Macau, China, and beyond. It provides a platform that enables interdisciplinary, high-quality, and international academic exchanges.
The history of journalism in Macau begins with the publication of Abelha da China by the Portuguese Constitutionalists in 1822, which was inspired by the modern printing press that was being developed in the West. However, by this time, the Portuguese had already been in Macau for two and a half centuries, and in the early 17th century, modern newspapers with regular printing had already appeared in Western countries. What explains the delay in the development of a similar publication in Macau until the 19th century?
Prof. Lam found a book Christiani Pueri Institutio Adolescentiaeque Perfugium published in Macau in 1588, which was the first book printed after the introduction of movable type printing from the West to China. But from the perspective of the printing press, it was the Eastern influencing the Western first. According to the letters of Father Alexander Valignano, S. J., the Jesuits had already applied the Chinese engraving press to the printing of Western European texts at least as early as 1585. At the same time, the missionary Matteo Ricci translated the Four Books and Five Classics into Latin, and by comparing the printing techniques of the East and the West, he appreciated the high efficiency and low cost of Chinese engraving.
After Robert Morrison arrived in China, he continued to use the engraved, wire-bound method of publishing, and in 1833, he founded the Tsŭ-wăn-pien, A Miscellaneous Paper, which was printed with movable type and pioneered the use of Chinese punctuation, making it the earliest modernized Chinese periodical in China. At the time, Lin Zexu took note of Morrison’s other newspaper, The Evangelist and Miscellanea Sinica, which was the first joint English-Chinese newspaper published in China, covering social news that taught the traditional manners of housemaids, as well as political developments in China and even the Asian region. On the eve of the Opium War, Lin Zexu compiled a compendium of Morrison’s (translating the Peking Gazette) collection of information on China into the Macau News and reported.
At the end of the lecture, Prof. Lam concluded that Macau was for a time the center of newspaper publishing in China between the end of the 16th century and the first half of the 19th century. The missionaries who arrived in Macau prioritized what they considered to be the more advanced oriental printing techniques in their publishing activities, and the publication of these books and journals testifies to the relatively loose social control of the imperial and local governments during the Ming and Qing dynasties. This early history of publishing in Macau shows that the history of cultural exchange between East and West was not a straightforward consequence of the introduction of Western technologies in China, but rather a long period of mutual appreciation, learning and adaptation. During this period, while Western ideas spread to China, Eastern influences also permeated Western culture.
The IAS aims to contribute to Macau society by providing more interdisciplinary academic lectures with an international perspective. This lecture attracted more than 100 students and faculty members who participated on-site. The IAS will continue to organize high-quality academic events, providing more opportunities to deepen academic exchanges and broaden knowledge horizons.
