A Study On Chinese National Narrative Of Taiwanese Travel Writings In Fujian(1895-1945)

The cession of Taiwan was a situation that China had not experienced in recent millennia.This change further inspired the Chinese spirit in Taiwanese literati,and unexpectedly opened up the trend of intellectuals travelling from Taiwan to Fujian subsequently,left a large amount of travel writings in Fujian and Chinese national narratives.This thesis focuses on collating the historical materials of colonial Taiwan’s travel writings in Fujian from the first-hand historical data from 1895 to 1945.Citing cultural geography,travel writing,literary acceptance and postcolonial theory,this thesis diachronically studies the diverse types of Taiwanese travelers from 1895 to 1945,the various aspects of Chinese national narrative in those works,the receptive learning and innovation of Taiwan literature to Fujian literature,and deeply explores the difficult process of Taiwanese literati participating in the construction of the Chinese nation’s spirit in the colonial context.From the perspective of Fujian-Taiwan regional culture,this thesis focuses on the special cultural experience of literati who cross the Taiwan Strait with diverse identity.A class of Taiwanese literati like Lian Yatang chose to stay in Taiwan and continued to cross Fujian as a journalist afterwards,inspiring people with newspapers.A group of scholars such as Xu Nanying chose to return to their ancestral homes in order to avoid colonial rule,and served as Fujian local officials after the Xinhai Revolution.Some of them such as Wang Shaotao who was dispatched by the Government-General of Taiwan to work in the institution of "Cross-straits Strategic Policy".Fujian has become a catalyst for these traditional literati to imagine the motherland.Their poems described deep concern for the fate of the Chinese nation and exploration for survival.The intervention of the Japanese empire forces created a special image of modern Fujian-Taiwan literature,and also motivated Japanese intellectuals to write about Fujian.Japanese literati went to Fujian for sightseeing while living in Taiwan.Their travel writings in Fujian are full of curiosity about Chinese culture,but are inevitably restricted by their identity.They are quite different from the traditional Taiwanese scholars’travel writings in Fujian.Chinese national narrative was an important part of Taiwanese travel writings in Fujian during 1895-1945.On the one hand,the selection of poems followed the great changes in the history of Fujian and Taiwan,highlighting the epochal character of the fate of the nation.Whenever the Chinese nation was in trouble,Fujian and Taiwan fell into regional turmoil,such as the cession of Taiwan,the Fuzhou Incident,as well as occupation of Fuzhou and Xiamen,and Taiwan’s recovery.The Chinese consciousness of Taiwanese literati was stimulated or strengthened.They launched a national narrative with anti-imperialist aggression and salvation maps as the mainstream,narrated in memory of national heroes such as Zheng Chenggong,expressed their national anxiety,and expressed an inspiring and self-improving national psychology.After 1938,Xiamen and Fuzhou were occupied by Japan.They were under the control of Japan just like Taiwan during the "Emperorization Movement",thus Chinese national narrative was restricted.Some Fujian and Taiwanese literati still refused to be included by colonial culture.They insisted on cultural struggle and wrote about the suffering of the Chinese nation.On the other hand,the Chinese national narrative was also reflected in the writing approach centered on the shaping and criticism of national character.Taiwanese literati devoted themselves to reform the national spirit,activate the function of literature to inspire people’s wisdom,and also inherit the tradition of nationalistic criticism,and sharply criticizes national characteristics such as ignorance,superstition and weakness.The latter writing is especially based on new literature,showing the shift of national narrative from elite narrative to bottom narrative.The most unique part of the Chinese national narrative in the new literature is its critique of the Taiwanese ronins.At that time,some Taiwanese ronins came to Fujian for committing crimes instigated by the Japanese empire.They have become a common theme for writers across the strait,including Lu Xun,Guo Moruo,Hu Feng,Sima Wensen,Yang Sao,Pu Feng,Xu Kunquan,Wu Zhuoliu and Long Yingzong.Fujian and Taiwanese literati have created characters and space writings that are different from other regional cultures,including not only the creation of Fujian/Taiwan-style literary motifs such as Taiwanese ronin,Zheng Chenggong,and Fujian businessmen,but also the spirit of adherents affected by Zheng Chenggong and the national tradition of resisting foreign aggression.The old and the new literature in Fujian and Taiwan go hand-in-hand,together constructing a multiple form of narrative of the Chinese nation.Compared with other literary genres,the old-style poetry is very unique in the development of modern Chinese literature.From the dominance of the Poetic Revolution in the late Qing Dynasty to the setbacks after the May 4th new literature movement,the old-style poetry was gradually squeezed to the edge of modern Chinese literary circles.Fujian and Taiwan,located in the southeast of China,show slightly different literary features from the Chinese political and cultural centers because of geopolitics and(semi)colonial processes.The classical Chinese Poetry in Fujian and Taiwan,especially in Taiwan,shows a more active form.Old literature nourishes new literature,together constituting an important part of the Chinese national narrative.This thesis breaks the solidified perspective of the rupture and opposition about new and old literature,and reconstructs the overall appearance of the joint development of the classical and vernacular Chinese modern literature.This thesis revisits Taiwanese intellectuals participating in local cultural activities in Fujian from 1895 to 1945.They wrote about Fujian in a variety of literary styles,added diversity for the mainland literary circles.Through correspondence,publication and responsory,Fujian and Taiwanese literati spread literature and arts such as Fujian family instruction,new dramas,and the Min school of Tongguang ti to Taiwan,which continued the heritage of Chinese culture in Taiwan,played an important role in the development of Taiwan literature and played an important historical role in national identity.These literary echoes after the traveling to Fujian can be described as extension of the ideology and the inheritance and innovation of literary and artistic styles.An in-depth interpretation of Chinese national narrative of Taiwanese travel writings in Fujian from 1895 to 1945,not only promotes the research of Fujian-Taiwan literature,but also helps to deepen the sense of identity towards Chinese culture and Chinese nation of Taiwanese.This study sorts out the enrichment and development of Chinese narrative experience in narrative subject matter,narrative theme,narrative space and imagery narrative.Through the cross-regional literary communication of authors or the cross-regional dissemination of works,this thesis seeks the intersection of Fujian-Taiwan literature with Japanese,pseudo-Manchurian,and Southeast Asian literature,deals with issues derived from the spread of Fujian-Taiwan culture to Asia,and broaden the imagination space and field boundary of Fujian-Taiwan literature research.