During key period of the transformation from Sinology to Chinese Studies in the 1930s,Bates submitted his doc-toral dissertation named The early consolidation of the Chinese Empire to Yale University in 1935.His thesis,complying with Chinese studies trend of Britain and American,learning the origin of ancient history on the basis of reality,is different from the sinology tradition of German and French,which subj ects to the examination and development of literature and textual.Bates started with the history of Qin and Han dynasties from 221 BC to 87 BC,with the tradition of Western Positivism history,the vision of world history,methods of intersecting sociology and politics,probing into the essence of the continuation and continu-ous Self-Reconstruction of the political Framework of centralization in China.The characteristics are that:one is to construct an analytical model of the"Chinese Empire",which is a trinity of authoritarianism,region(ethnic group)and culture;the second is the analysis of the system,the organization and its internal political ideas centering on Confucianism and Legalist;the third is to evaluate the achievements of First Emperor of Qin,Han emperor,Emperor Wu and the characteristics of the system and organization during their reign in the historical causality chain.Bates put forward that it was the political principles applied by the Confucianists and Legalist that strengthening the authoritarian regimes.As the paper was not published,Bates academic in-terest was indistinct.It was not until the series of Cambridge Chinese history published that the position of"Chinese studies"was finally established.Bates'study is highly consistent with the Cambridge history of China and Han Empire(1986),not on-ly in the theory of the preset,the framework's proposal,but also the political system,social structure and cultural characteris-tics.Bates's paper is exemplary from the Sinology to the Chinese studies,and it's deserved to be iconic.%在1930年代"汉学"向"中国学"转变的关键时期,贝德士于1935年向耶鲁大学提交博士学位论文《中华帝国的形成》,有别于德、法以文献、名物考订为要旨的"汉学"传统,顺应英、美立足现实问题而溯源古代历史的"中国学"潮流,从公元前221年至公元前87年的秦汉史入手,以西方实证史学的传统、世界史的视野、社会学与政治学交叉的方法,探讨中国集权政治框架延续及不断自我重建的本质.其特点:一是构建出威权、地域(族群)、文化三位一体的"中华帝国"的分析模式;二是剖析制度、组织及其内在的以儒、法为核心的政治理念;三是在历史的因果链条中评价秦始皇、汉高祖、汉武帝的政绩及其制度、组织的特性.贝德士指出,正是儒、法交相为用的政治原则,造就并强化着专制政体.惜因论文未公开出版,贝氏学术旨趣隐而不彰.虽然直至1980年代,随剑桥系列中国史的出现,"中国学"的地位最终确立,但无论是从理论预设、论述框架的提出,还是从政治制度、社会结构和文化特性的总结来看,贝氏论文与1986年出版的《剑桥中国秦汉史》都具有高度一致性.在从"汉学"到"中国学"转变的学术系谱上,贝氏论文堪称典范之作,理应具有"界标"性意义.
展开▼
