Formation of the World View of Young Chen Duxiu: Centering upon Xiaoxue Wanguo Dili Xinbian

摘要

This short paper delves into one of the sources that reveal Chen Duxiu’s（1879‒1942） world view. Xiaoxue Wanguo Dili Xinbian was published as a geographical textbook used in elementary schools, and it was also one of Chen’s earliest writings, finished in 1902. For Chen, geography, especially human geography （political geography） in Japan and China, meant not only knowledge of foreign countries and of the relationships between human beings and nature, but also as a means to teach native people about national crises and Westerninvasion. Since this book is written rather than translated by Chen Duxiu, many of his own ideas are visible therein. What kind of geographical knowledge did Chen choose to accept? Where did it come from? How did he delineate the world with the knowledge? These questions are important and, arguably, serve as the key to Chen Duxiu’s later thought.