本书系杨义教授在澳门大学主持的“南中国海历史文化研究”课题的阶段成果，论题涉及西学东渐、天主教及新教传教士来华、19世纪华南地区的中英文报刊、20世纪上半叶的民族主义等。三位作者以具体而微的人物个体、文本个案或典型事件为聚焦点，借助报刊、档案等原始史料或代表性文学作品之分析，试图从一个较长的历史脉络中考察近代以来的中西文化相遇与碰撞。从天主教及新教传教士来华，到印刷出版业的新变以及西学、新学读物在19世纪下半叶的大量出版流通，再到20世纪上半叶“五卅”“沙基”“万县事件”中的民族主义思潮崛起，这段漫长而坎坷的中西相遇史与交涉史值得我们一再回眸和咀嚼。至于书名中的“南中国海”，是指中国的华南、东南沿海地区；“近代文学”是几位作者的研究兴趣与专业背景，“近代”的含义也较为宽泛，并不限于1840至1919年；“连通地气”是希望文学研究能够接通历史、地理与活生生的人物；“吸纳西风”则是贯串全书各编的论题主线。

This book is the result of Professor Yang Yi's project on "Research on the History and Culture of the South China Sea" at the University of Macau, covering topics such as the gradual study of the West and the East, the arrival of Catholic and Protestant missionaries in China, Chinese and English newspapers and periodicals in South China in the 19th century, and nationalism in the first half of the 20th century. The three authors focus on specific and subtle individual characters, textual cases or typical events, and use the analysis of original historical materials or representative literary works such as newspapers and archives to try to investigate the encounter and collision of Chinese and Western cultures in modern times from a long historical context. From the arrival of Catholic and Protestant missionaries in China, to the new changes in the printing and publishing industry, the large number of Western and new reading materials published and circulated in the second half of the 19th century, to the rise of nationalist ideas in the "Five Swords", "Shaji" and "Wanxian Incident" in the first half of the 20th century, this long and bumpy history of meeting and negotiating between China and the West is worth looking back at and chewing again and again. As for the "South China Sea" in the title of the book, it refers to the coastal areas of southern and southeast China; "Modern literature" is the research interests and professional backgrounds of several authors, and the meaning of "modern literature" is also broad, not limited to 1840 to 1919; "Connecting the Earth" is the hope that literary research can connect history, geography and living characters; "Absorbing the West Wind" is the main theme that runs through all parts of the book.（AI翻译）