技术、观念与社会想象——X光知识与技艺在近代中国的传布与接受(1896-1949)

1895年,X光被发现后,相关研究与发明迅速展开,并很快传入中国。有关X光的知识在我国传播虽早,但X光设备除了部分外国人在华所建医院和医学院外,直到20世纪二三十年代在我国传布与使用并不广。其传入中国后,被视为古代中国洞见肺腑的神镜在近代的发明与再现,并被赋予种种社会想象和文化蕴意。研究X光知识与技艺在华的传播过程,可以透过其负载的文化符号,微观展现近代中国人的审美情趣、社会心理、消费观念等方面的现代性转变;有助于理解在近代中国对西方文化日益推崇、唯科学主义思潮日渐盛行情况下西方科技及物质文化传华的一般情形。

The Social and Cultural History of X-rays in China(1896-1949)

The study of X-rays and relevant inventions increased rapidly after they were first discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen,a German physician.The knowledge and inventions of X-rays were rapidly introduced into China.Until the 1920s,however,the use of X-ray machines was very limited in China.X-rays were regarded as the re-invention of the miraculous mirror recorded in ancient Chinese literature,and they were endowed with many social and cultural metaphors.Studying the spread of X-rays in China can help us better understand the social and cultural images of western science,technology and the material culture in modern China.