近代国门渐开后,国人对于西方典章文物探求伊始即涉猎其狱制,这是一件多少听起来有些不可思议的事。但其中缘故说来也颇简单。因为,诚如西人所说,狱制乃社会“文明”程度的镜子,彼时中国人既认西方为先进的典范,而狱制确系关乎社会哀痛的敏感处,则寻思对中国社会进行全面重整的志士仁人分心智万一于狱制,犹譬梁任公尚欲研究民法这类小课题,也系情理中事。本文欲就迄止本世纪初叶有关中国接触西方狱制的资料作一番爬梳,辨别其间的脉络,从此一事件上追溯近世中国走向世界的心路历程。 Since the beginning of the modern era, people in China began to search for their hegemony at the beginning of Western classical relics. This is a somewhat unbelievable matter. But it is also quite simple, of course. Because, as the Westerners put it, prison system is a mirror of social “civilized ” level. At that time, the Chinese recognized both the West as an advanced model and the prison system indeed a sensitive part of social grief. Social reintegration of the Cheshiren distraction in case of imprisonment, still like Liang Ren Gong still want to study such a small civil law issues, but also reasonable things. This article attempts to make some sorts of information about China’s access to Western prison system at the beginning of this century, and to discern the context in between. From this incident, I trace the course of the journey from modern China to the world.