在十九世紀期間，西方人眼中的中國形象發生了急驟的變化，此種變化常使人感到困惑；過去數年來已有不少關於這方面的研究，也提供了人們較好的了解。本文所要探討的並非形象的轉變原因，而是在「被觀看者」(the observed)與「觀看者」(the observer)之間引出一相對的關聯的研究。從相機變焦的原理而言，本人提出在這三作品中的「他者」對「我者」的正反兩面形象的看法；這些作者的差別觀點，好似他們使用了不同焦距的鏡頭去觀看對象；因此，我們可看到不同的中國人的形象。在哈特的〈異教徒李頑〉和毛姆的《在中國的屏風上》，中國人被刻板形塑爲迷信的異教徒、狡猾的偽善者、或是悲慘的苦力，只有在賽珍珠的《大地》一書中，我們才可看到有著真人性的中國人的形象。特別的是，當西方人在觀察中國人時，這些西方人也暴露出他們的缺點－亦即人性的弱點，以及由於自我中心的優越感所產生的對中國人的偏見態度。由於他們三人不同的視野與重現，他們爲我們呈現出不同的中國人形象，也印證了：「不論是負面或正面，中國在以『他者』的形象存在時，也間接對西方的『我者』下了定義」。

The abrupt shifts of the image of China in the eyes of the westerners during the nineteenth-century often pose a confusing enigma. Over these past few years, a considerable number of studies provide a much better understanding of the problem. Instead of exploring how or why it has become, my concern here is to draw an antithetical link between the observed and the observer. In terms of the zooming theory of a camera, I present a two-sided image of the ”other” in opposition to the ”self” in Bret Harte's ”Wan Lee, the Pagan,” W. Somerset Maugham's On a Chinese Screen and Pearl Buck's The Good Earth. The perspectives of these writers, like the different focal length of the zoom lenses they use, reveal a diversity of images. Accordingly, in Harte's ”Wan Lee, the Pagan,” and W. Somerset Maugham's On a Chinese Screen, Chinese are stereotyped either as superstitious pagans, tricky hypocrites, or miserable coolies. Only in Pearl Buck's The Good Earth can we see Chinese appearing in flesh and blood. Particularly, while observing Chinese, the westerners-the observers also expose their weaknesses being part of the human nature, and prejudiced attitude towards Chinese owing to their self-centered superiority. With their extraordinary visions and representation, Harte, Maugham and Buck present different images of China, showing that ”positive [1y] or negative [1y], China functions as the Other through which the Self is defined” (Li 9).