China and the West

Defoe, Daniel. The consolidator : or, memoirs of sundry transactions from the world in the moon [ID D26815].
Quellen : A Collection of voyages and travels [ID D26789].
Le Comte, Louis. Nouveaux mémoires sur l'état de la Chine [ID D1771].
... As this great Monarch has Improved his Country, by introducing the Manners and Customs of the Politer Nations of Europe; so, with Indefatigable Industry, he has settled a new, but constant Trade, between his Country and China, by Land; where his Carravans go twice or thrice a Year, as Numerous almost, and as strong, as those from Egypt to Persia: Nor is the Way shorter, or the Desarts they pass over less wild and uninhabitable, only that they are not so subject to Flouds of Sand, if that Term be proper, or to Troops of Arabs, to destroy them by the way; for this powerful Prince, to make this terrible Journey feazible to his Subjects, has built Forts, planted Collonies and Garisons at proper Distances; where, though they are seated in Countries intirely Barren, and among uninhabited Rocks and Sands; yet, by his continual furnishing them from his own Stores, the Merchants travelling are reliev'd on good Terms, and meet both with Convoy and Refreshment...
More might be said of the admirable Decorations of this Journey, and how so prodigious an Attempt is made easy; so that now they have an exact Correspondence, and drive a prodigious Trade between Muscow and Tonquin; but having a longer Voyage in Hand, I shall not detain the Reader, nor keep him till he grows too big with Expectation.
Now, as all Men know the Chineses are an Ancient, Wise, Polite, and most Ingenious People; so the Muscovites begun to reap the Benefit of this open Trade; and not only to grow exceeding Rich by the bartering for all the Wealth of those Eastern Countries; but to polish and refine their Customs and Manners, as much on that side as they have from their European Improvements on this.
And as the Chineses have many sorts of Learning which these Parts of the World never heard of, so all those useful Inventions which we admire ourselves so much for, are vulgar and common with them, and were in use long before our Parts of the World were Inhabited. Thus Gun-powder, Printing, and the use of the Magnet and Compass, which we call Modern Inventions, are not only far from being Inventions, but fall so far short of the Perfection of Art they have attained to, that it is hardly Credible, what wonderful things we are told of from thence, and all the Voyages the Author has made thither being imploy'd another way, have not yet furnish'd him with the Particulars fully enough to transmit them to view; not but that he is preparing a Scheme of all those excellent Arts those Nations are Masters of, for publick View, by way of Detection of the monstrous Ignorance and Deficiencies of European Science; which may serve as a Lexicon Technicum for this present Age, with useful Diagrams for that purpose; wherein I shall not fail to acqaint the World, 1. With the Art of Gunnery, as Practis'd in China long before the War of the Giants, and by which those Presumptuous Animals fired Red-hot Bullets right up into Heaven, and made a Breach sufficient to encourage them to a General Storm; but being Repulsed with great Slaughter, they gave over the Siege for that time. This memorable part of History shall be a faithful Abridgement of Ibra chizra-le-peglizar, Historiagrapher-Royal to the Emperor of China, who wrote Anno Mundi 114. his Volumes extant, in the Publick Library at Tonquin, Printed in Leaves of Vitrify'd Diamond, by an admirable Dexterity, struck all at an oblique Motion, the Engine remaining intire, and still fit for use, in the Chamber of the Emperor's Rarities.
And here I shall give you a Draft of the Engine it self, and a Plan of its Operation, and the wonderful Dexterity of its Performance.
If these Labours of mine shall prove successful, I may in my next Journey that way, take an Abstract of their most admirable Tracts in Navigation, and the Mysteries of Chinese Mathematicks; which out-do all Modern Invention at that Rate, that 'tis Inconceivable: In this Elaborate Work I must run thro' the 365 Volumes of Augro-machi-lanquaro-zi, the most ancient Mathematician in all China: From thence I shall give a Description of a Fleet of Ships of 100000 Sail, built at the Expence of the Emperor Tangro the 15th; who having Notice of the General Deluge, prepar'd these Vessels, to every City and Town in his Dominions One, and in Bulk proportion'd to the number of its Inhabitants; into which Vessel all the People, with such Moveables as they thought fit to save, and with 120 Days Provisions, were receiv'd at the time of the Floud; and the rest of their Goods being put into great Vessels made of China Ware, and fast luted down on the top, were preserv'd unhurt by the Water: These Ships they furnish'd with 600 Fathom of Chain instead of Cables; which being fastned by wonderful Arts to the Earth, every Vessel rid out the Deluge just at the Town's end; so that when the Waters abated, the People had nothing to do, but to open the Doors made in the Ship-sides, and come out, repair their Houses, open the great China Pots their Goods were in, and so put themselves in Statu Quo.
The Draft of one of these Ships I may perhaps obtain by my Interest in the present Emperor's Court, as it has been preserv'd ever since, and constantly repair'd, riding at Anchor in a great Lake, about 100 Miles from Tonquin; in which all the People of that City were preferv'd, amounting by their Computation to about a Million and half.
And as these things must be very useful in these Parts, to abate the Pride and Arrogance of our Modern Undertakers of great Enterprizes, Authors of strange Foreign Accounts, Philosophical Transactions, and the like; if Time and Opportunity permit, I may let them know, how Infinitely we are out-done by those refined Nations, in all manner of Mechanick Improvements and Arts; and in discoursing of this, it will necessarily come in my way to speak of a most Noble Invention, being an Engine I would recommend to all People to whom 'tis necessary to have a good Memory; and which I design, if possible, to obtain a Draft of, that it may be Erected in our Royal Societies Laboratory: It has the wonderfullest Operations in the World: One part of it furnishes a Man of Business to dispatch his Affairs strangely; for if he be a Merchant, he shall write his Letters with one Hand, and Copy them with the other; if he is posting his Books, he shall post the Debtor side with one Hand, and the Creditor with the other; if he be a Lawyer, he draws his Drafts with one Hand, and Ingrosses them with the other.
Another part of it furnishes him with such an Expeditious way of Writing, or Transcribing, that a Man cannot speak so fast, but he that hears shall have it down in Writing before 'tis spoken; and a Preacher shall deliver himself to his Auditory, and having this Engine before him, shall put down every thing he says in Writing at the same time; and so exactly is this Engine squar'd by Lines and Rules, that it does not require him that Writes to keep his Eye upon it.
I am told, in some Parts of China, they had arriv'd to such a Perfection of Knowledge, as to understand one anothers Thoughts; and that it was found to be an excellent Preservative to humane Society, against all sorts of Frauds, Cheats, Sharping, and many Thousand European Inventions of that Nature, at which only we can be said to out-do those Nations.
I confess, I have not yet had leisure to travel those Parts, having been diverted by an accidental Opportunity of a new Voyage I had occasion to make for farther Discoveries, and which the Pleasure and Usefulness thereof having been very great, I have omitted the other for the present, but shall not fail to make a Visit to those Parts the first Opportunity, and shall give my Country-men the best Account I can of those things; for I doubt not in Time to bring our Nation, so fam'd for improving other People's Discoveries, to be as wise as any of those Heathen Nations; I wish I had the same Prospect of making them half so honest.
I had spent but a few Months in this Country, but my search after the Prodigy of humane Knowledge the People abounds with, led me into Acquaintance with some of their principal Artists, Engineers, and Men of Letters; and I was astonish'd at every Day's Discovery of new and of unheard-of Worlds of Learning; but I Improv'd in the Superficial Knowledge of their General, by no body so much as by my Conversation with the Library-keeper of Tonquin, by whom I had Admission into the vast Collection of Books, which the Emperors of that Country have treasur'd up.
It would be endless to give you a Catalogue, and they admit of no Strangers to write any thing down, but what the Memory can retain, you are welcome to carry away with you; and amongst the wonderful Volumes of Antient and Modern Learning, I could not but take Notice of a few; which, besides those I mentioned before, I saw, when I lookt over this vast Collection; and a larger Account may be given in our next.
It would be needless to Transcribe the Chinese Character, or to put their Alphabet into our Letters, because the Words would be both Unintelligible, and very hard to Pronounce; and therefore, to avoid hard Words, and Hyroglyphicks, I'll translate them as well as I can.
The first Class I came to of Books, was the Constitutions of the Empire; these are vast great Volumes, and have a sort of Engine like our Magna Charta, to remove 'em, and with placing them in a Frame, by turning a Screw, open'd the Leaves, and folded them this way, or that, as the Reader desires. It was present Death for the Library-keeper to refuse the meanest Chinese Subject to come in and read them; for 'tis their Maxim, That all People ought to know the Laws by which they are to be govern'd; and as above all People, we find no Fools in this Country, so the Emperors, though they seem to be Arbitrary, enjoy the greatest Authority in the World, by always observing, with the greatest Exactness, the Pacta Conventa of their Government: From these Principles it is impossible we should ever hear, either of the Tyranny of Princes, or Rebellion of Subjects, in all their Histories.
At the Entrance into this Class, you find some Ancient Comments, upon the Constitution of the Empire, written many Ages before we pretend the World began; but above all, One I took particular notice of, which might bear this Title, Natural Right prov'd Superior to Temporal Power; wherein the old Author proves, the Chinese Emperors were Originally made so, by Nature's directing the People, to place the Power of Government in the most worthy Person they could find; and the Author giving a most exact History of 2000 Emperors, brings them into about 35 or 36 Periods of Lines when the Race ended; and when a Collective Assembly of the Nobles, Cities, and People, Nominated a new Family to the Goverment...
It was a certain Sign Aristotle had never been at China; for, had he seen the 216th Volume of the Chinese Navigation, in the Library I am speaking of, a large Book in Double Folio, wrote by the Famous Mira-cho-cho-lasmo, Vice-Admiral of China, and said to be printed there about 2000 Years before the Deluge, in the Chapter of Tides he would have seen the Reason of all the certain and uncertain Fluxes and Refluxes of that Element, how the exact Pace is kept between the Moon and the Tides, with a most elaborate Discourse there, of the Power of Sympathy, and the manner how the heavenly Bodies Influence the Earthly: Had he seen this, the Stagyrite would never have Drowned himself, because he could not comprehend this Mystery.
'Tis farther related of this Famous Author, that he was no Native of this World, but was Born in the Moon, and coming hither to make Discoveries, by a strange Invention arrived to by the Virtuosoes of that habitable World, the Emperor of China prevailed with him to stay and improve his Subjects, in the most exquisite Accomplishments of those Lunar Regions; and no wonder the Chinese are such exquisite Artists, and Masters of such sublime Knowledge, when this Famous Author has blest them with such unaccountable Methods of Improvement...
Of the Consolidator. These Engines are call'd in their Country Language, Dupekasses; and according to the Ancient Chinese, or Tartarian, Apezolanthukanistes; in English, a Consolidator...
Now, if it be true as is hinted before, That the Chinese Empire was Peopled long before the Flood; and that they were not destroyed in the General Deluge in the Days of Noah; 'tis no such strange thing, that they should so much out-do us in this sort of Eye-sight we call General Knowledge, since the Perfections bestow'd on Nature, when in her Youth and Prime met with no General Suffocation by that Calamity...

Sekundärliteratur

1990
Willi Richard Berger : Mit vorgespielter Ernsthaftigkeit führt uns Defoe in ein Land, das der europäischen Welt unendlich überlegen ist. Schon allein die technischen Errungenschaften dieses 'ancient, wise, polite, and most ingenious people' beweisen 'the monstrous ignorance and deficiencies of European science'. Ganz unmerklich geht dann aus den panegyrischen Topoi, die Defoe übereinanderhäuft, das Bild eines völlig phantastischen Landes hervor, das mit dem auf den Karten verzeichneten China nur noch wenig, dafür um so mehr mit den imaginären Fabelreichen zu tun hat, wie sie Lukian, Cyrano de Bergerac oder Swift ersonnen haben. Defoes chinesische Wissenschaftler etwa, die sich daran versuchen, aus Schweinsaugen so schafsichtige Gläser zu verfertigen, dass man durch sie den Wind sehen kann, sind unmittelbare Vorfahren jener Gelehrten an der Akademie von Lagado, die über Projekten solcher Art brüten, wie man Sonnenstrahlen aus Gurken ziehen oder den Marmor zu Kopf- und Nadelkissen wichklopfen könne.
Die Superiorität der chinesischen Zivilisation ist natürlich in ihrer vielgerühmten Antiquitàt begründet, für die auch Defoe unwiderlegliche Zeugnisse anzuführen weiss. Die chinesische Weisheit geht nämlich bis auf die Zeit vor der Sintflut zurück, die man deswegen überstanden hat, weil der mit der Gabe der Präkognition begnadete Kaiser Tangro XV. in weiser Vorausschau eine Flotte von hunderttausend Schiffen hatte erbauen lassen. Damit aber nicht genug, ist diese Weisheit letztlich lunaren Usrprungs, zweitausend Jahre vor der Flut durch den gelehrten Mira-cho-cho-lasmo auf die Erde herabgebracht. Der Autor, der das alles mit Erstaunen vernimmt, lässt sich daher eine Maschine, the Consolidator, bauen, mit deren Hilfe auch er auf den Mond gelangt. Von dorther beschreibt er nun die politischen und religiösen Tagesstreitigkeiten im zeitgenössischen England : Zeitsatire in einer leicht zu durchschauenden fernöstlich-exotischen Verkleidung. Defoes Consolidator ist somit keine Satire gegen chinesische Zustände, sie benutzt China nur als Medium für den eigentlichen satirischen Zweck, indem sie die geläufigen Formeln der europäischen Sinophilie scheinbar ernst nimmt und sodann aufs Absurdeste übertreibt. Eine irdische Kolonie gewissermassen der Welt des Mondes, so will und dieses China des Consolidator erscheinen.

2007
Francis Wilson : The consolidator chronicles an imaginary voyage to the moon by way of China, with much of the work serving as thinly-veiled 'secret history' through which the author declaims on topical issues like religious intolerance, party politics, European war, and the limitations of contemporary scientific debate. But Defoe also uses the conventions of travel writing and the metaphor of the journey to raise fundamental questions concerning human nature, epistemology, and our innate [in]-capacity for self-awareness.
Dofoe delivers a sharp satire on Chinese learning and culture, but an even more acerbic ommentary on Western travel literature.
He ridicules both popular images of China as the repository of all earhly wisdom and the breeder of a race of technological supermen, Defoe's true contempt is reserved for those travel writers who have confused data transcription for empirical observation, and romantic fiction for cultural representation. He is more interested here in the deeper philosophical implications of these 'myths' than their potential commercial or imperial consequences. By lampooning familiar thematic and stylistic conventions of eye-witness travel accounts, Defoe works within the China section of his tract to re-affirm the bonds of human nature uniting the Chinese with the Europeans, rather than to invert any perceived sense of a cultural gap between the two.
So many of the engines and instruments which the narrator encounters, both in China and later on the moon, are devices to improve human perception.
By launching the narrator to a lunar world that corresponds exactly with this one, Defoe effectively sends him home. Ensconced in a facsimile Britain, with vistas extending no further than an alternative Europe, the narrator turns his new scientific toys on his own people, thus disminishing the narrative's scope for transcultural representation. Yet the themes that dominate the earlier Chinese section remain relevant throughout the work and foreshadow the extended interrogation of human nature and its frailties that takes place on the moon. The debate over the merits of ancient and modern learning, concerns about the limitations of the new science, and anxieties over the clash between secular and sacred historical traditions, were all issues featuring in the ironic dialogue between the travel narratives of the period and Defoe's deeper concern about the philosophical assumptions underpinning these cultural representations. Perhaps the satire's greates irony lies in the outrage it expresses over the damage inflicted by derivative and inaccurate travel texts – though expressed by the most consummate 'travel liar' in history. Yet, born out of Defoe's personal frustration and disappointment, The consolidator is a melancholy work that questions whether man can ever find a way to understand his neighbour, let alone someone in the text town.