Image of China in Franklin’s letter to Whitfield

       本杰明 • 富兰克林（Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790），最为知名的美国开国元勋之一。他参与起草《美国独立宣言》和《美国宪法》。富兰克林热爱中华文明，他认识到，中华文明对美洲殖民地的建设，对新生的美国的政治社会，经济文化的发展都是有所助益。他对儒家的重视教育，以及中国通过考试选拨公务人员的制度极为推崇。在美国建立之初，一些参加建国的开国功臣希望将他们的荣耀传给他们的后代，富兰克林用中国的例子来反对他们的这种做法，他指出，在中国,荣誉是上传的，即父母为子女的成就而感到骄傲。如果革命功臣将荣誉传给与荣誉毫无关系的后代。这样会使后代养成不良习惯。研究表明，富兰克林对中华文明的积极因素学习和汲取事非常广泛的。除了儒家的道德思想外，他也研究了中国的长城，并提议建筑一个类似的长城，以保卫新生的美国。

   Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) is one of the most well-known American founding fathers. He participated in the drafting of the American Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution. Franklin loved Chinese civilization. He realized that the Chinese civilization's construction of the American colonies would be beneficial to the development of the new American political society and economic culture. He attached great importance to the education of Confucianism and the Chinese system of selecting and appointing public servants through examinations. The fathers, who participated in the establishment of America hoped to pass on their glories to their descendants. Franklin opposed them by using the example of China. He pointed out that, in China, the honor is uploaded; namely, the parents are proud of their children’s achievements. If the revolutionary heroes passed the honor to the descendants, who had nothing to do with honor, this would make future generations develop bad habits. Studies have shown that Franklin had a wide range of learning and knew about the positive factors of Chinese civilization. In addition to Confucian morality, he studied, also, the Great Wall of China and proposed to build a similar one to defend the nascent United States of America.

“文化互译，沟通世界”