关键词: 汉字“中华”, 近世日本, 山鹿素行, 国学者, 兰学者

Abstract: In contemporary Japan,the meaning of Chinese word “Zhonghua”(中華)is very different from the one in China.This difference occurred in the early modern Japan.Before,the Japanese intellectuals prided Japan on “Zhonghua” and had deep admiration and recognition for Chinese culture.However,during the early modern period,the Japanese intellectuals enthusiastically elevated the subjectivity of Japanese culture,and continuously reversed the recognition and praise of “Zhonghua” towards alienation and derogation.But achieving this required a process.Yamaga Soko(山鹿素行),the Sorai School(徂徕学派)and the holders of “sages’own ideas”theory(“私意论”者)couldn't deconstruct the Chinese cultural centralism.Meanwhile,the scholars of Kokugaku(国学者)and the scholars of Western(Dutch)learning(兰学者)built the opposition system to Chinese culture by utilizing the Japanese Shinto and Western knowledge,and reinterpreted the meaning of the word “Zhonghua” as Chinese arrogance.With the prevailing of the Shinkoku thought(神国思想)and the Western learning,this definition has become a common concept in Japanese context.So far,the intellectuals finally disassociated themselves from “Zhonghua” and eventually alienated it into a special reference to China as the others.Through the alienation of “Zhonghua”,we can not only see how the consciousness of the subjectivity of Japanese culture rose in the early modern era,but also how the modern Japanese national spirit expanded and eventually led to the historical changes in international relations in East Asia.

Key words: Japanese kanji of ‘Chinese’(中華), early modern Japan, Yamaga Soko, the scholars of Kokugaku, the scholars of Western(Dutch)learning