Without the author's expectation, the objective materials of missionaries will not play any historical role even if they are flooded with disasters. Of course, the decisive role of the recipient's horizon of expectation in Sino-German cultural exchange is not only manifested in the17th century, but also inevitable in every historical period since then. Therefore, when we examine the image of China in any German literature, we should sort out the expectation at that time. In other words, we must consider the image of China in western culture according to the "self" of the west, so as to determine the form, connotation and function of China's image in different periods.
During the Baroque period, writers' expectation determined that they would take missionary's works as a treasure trove of knowledge and inspiration. The missionary's description of China surprised them even more. Therefore, China can be found in both baroque novels and baroque poems. This kind of shadow is hidden or obvious, thin or thick, but it presents an image of China full of strong biblical feelings. In other words, China, as an exotic image, has taken shape in the works of German Baroque writers.
In view of the leading role played by missionaries in China's works, we can think that the exoticism sought by German Baroque writers in China is really a biblical sentiment. We first investigate the Baroque poets in Germany. In a narrow sense, the description of China in German Baroque poetry is really rare.
However, we must pay attention to such a simple historical fact, that is, when the contact between Chinese and Western cultures originated, it was the beginning of cultural exchanges between China and the West. Therefore, the image of China in the West at that time was inherent, even equivalent to the image of the East in the West. Although China, India and the Arab world are very different, they are integrated in the eyes of westerners. This forgetfulness reflects that the early western understanding of the East is still vague, and the differences within the Eastern culture have not been distinguished. This concept of oriental integration is deeply rooted in the minds of westerners and still manifests itself in the contemporary era.
From this point of view, we may have to broaden our horizons and examine the image of China in the Baroque period from such a big historical background as the cultural relationship between the East and the West. In fact, in any historical stage in the future, we can't stop at the narrow sense of the cultural relationship between China and the West, but must take into account the cultural relationship between China and the West.
Paul. Fleming (Paul Fleming, 1609? 1640), who has been to Russia and Persia, is the only poet who set foot on the land of the East in the Baroque period and is also known as an outstanding tourist poet. Fleming witnessed the wonders of the East and experienced the magic and magnificence of the Eastern culture. According to his own travel notes, Fleming wrote many "oriental poems" set in Russia and Persia, the most famous of which is A Castle.
Unfortunately, as an "on-the-spot" "Oriental poet", Fleming's poems about his trip to the East and his adventures in foreign countries generally stay on the retelling or recollection of his personal experiences. Moreover, he put too much emphasis on piling up ancient myths and legends and geographical miracles to express his personal feelings, but rarely made a deep understanding and specific description of the special national character and cultural characteristics of the East.
In contrast, Georg, who has never set foot in the East and only learned about the East through reading? Philip? Hals Defoe (GeorgPhilipp Harsd? rffer， 1607？ 1658) has a deeper understanding of the east. This is reflected in his full awareness of the importance of being the embodiment of oriental culture, especially China culture, and he did not hesitate to describe oriental garden architecture and landscape with pen and ink.
As we know, the gardens in China really attracted the attention of the West and exerted a wide influence on western culture and thought, and it was in the era of Rococo art, which was a whole century away from De Ville and hals. Therefore, in German literature, hals de Ville can be said to be the first person to describe China's garden images. Although his descriptions are almost based on the works of missionaries, such as Martino Martini, Martino Martini, Shaka and others' long speeches or special chapters on flowers in China, they are also very valuable. Hals Dever established a brand-new and open worldview by praising the oriental gardens and gardens full of pastoral scenery and natural landscape. In his works:
From the east and the west, people can see that the flowers here are always wonderful, such as cherries, figs and pomegranates. People can get what they want abroad. Flowers and limes can also flourish here. Amaranth, which was unknown to the ancients, was juxtaposed with "things", which was a very fashionable expression at that time. According to the "Roots", if the literati at that time were not called Dong, it was not elegant enough or inappropriate. Poets use the East to supplement or expand their horizons, aiming at establishing a correct and unified new world picture, so as to better exile their souls and express their poems.
The world picture in Song of Flowers is composed of an exotic oriental garden, which is natural and pure and "dreamy". Such a picture of the world is quite common in the new nature poems of the Baroque era. Christian? Hoffman? Feng? Christian Hoffman von Hoffman Varda (16 17? 1679) Venus in Peace (Vers? Hnte Venus) once described a similar picture. However, in the new world picture described by these two baroque poets, the East is still a rather broad concept, and China's position is not prominent.
Martin? Martin opitz (1597? 1639) is the founder of german baroque poetry and the most accomplished poet in german baroque literature. It was he who instilled this new world picture in China. 1628, Ortiz wrote a poem "Lob des Krieges-Gottes" to celebrate16th century European overseas exploration and colonial activities. In this poem, the myth of Mars, the god of war, led people to the East and brought them to China: We went to China, where porcelain, gunpowder and printing were abundant.
Ortiz's own comments on the above poem tell us that the description of China (the East) in the poem is directly or indirectly based on Mendoza's Chronicle of the Chinese Empire. As mentioned above, Mendoza wrote a masterpiece about gunpowder and printing in China in his book, and praised it greatly. Ortiz, on the other hand, copied it into the poem without any treatment, which is naturally appropriate.
In fact, Ortiz's poems related to the East all adhere to such a simple description technique, pushing newly acquired ancient myths, philosophical views, scientific inventions, technological progress and geographical discoveries to readers, showing some simple universalism thoughts. However, we should also note that Ortiz did not completely abandon his value judgment. He not only cared about China, a strange country, but also showed interest in China's civilization, because he noticed China's four great inventions, which created a new perspective for the image of China in German literature.