A Study On Chinese National Narrative Of Children’s Literature In Taiwan(1895-1945)

As an important part of Chinese children’s literature,modern children’s literature in Taiwan demonstrates the richness,specificity and metaphorical nature of the Chinese national narrative.On the one hand,modern children’s literature in Taiwan is rooted from Chinese traditional enlightened books,classical novels and folk literature,and draws on the new thinking on children’s education from the late Qing Dynasty to the "May Fourth Movement".It emphasizes transforming the society through children’s literature with characteristics of the mixture of tradition and modernity,and the juxtaposition of vernacular Chinese and classical Chinese.On the other hand,due to the fifty years’ Japanese occupation,modern children’s literature in Taiwan is also influenced by Japanese literature,which especially shows an extreme abnormal appearance in the period of "the Kominka Movement" under the Japanese occupation.Therefore,it has the complex appearances of the mixture of the Chinese and Japanese languages,and the parallel of resistance and metaphor.This paper focuses on children’s literature in Taiwan during the period of 1895—1945.The paper combs the children’s literary materials such as children’s songs and nursery rhymes,fairy tales,folk tales,Chinese traditional enlightened books,children’s poetry,classical novels,children’s proses,children’s drama scripts,children’s animated films,etc.in some typical newspapers and magazines including"Taiwan Min Bao","San Liu Jiu Xiao Bao","Shao Nian Taiwan","Taiwan Xin Min Bao","Lu Jiang Bao" and "Taiwan Daily News".In addition,the paper uses mutiple theories including children’s literature theory,post-colonial theory,narratology,folklore,imagology and reception aesthetics,as well as by the conducts of textual analysis and comparative studies to systematically explain the richness,the plurality of ideological resources and the complexity of Chinese national narratives of children’s literature in Taiwan during the period of Japanese occupation.Related studies are as follows:the modern "children’s view" of Liang Qichao,the children’s education thought of Chen Ronggun and the children’s book written by Lin Shu in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China,which had a significant influence on modern children’s education and children’s literature in Taiwan;the spread of the translation of children’s literature by Lu Xun and the thought of "saving the children"in Taiwan,as well as the concern for "the weak" and the purpose for "Li Ren" by Lai He and Yang Shouyu and others;the influence of the modern Chinese children’s literature and the "Ballad Research Association" during the "May Fourth Movement"on the activities of collecting nursery rhymes by Huang Wangcheng,Huang Zhou and others;the travels and adaptations of the Chinese traditional enlightened books such as "Three Character Classic",the classical novels "the Legend of Deification" and"Journey to the West",and the folk children’s literatures such as "Yue Guang Guang"and "Hu Gu Po" in Taiwan,especially the explanation of the breakthrough of Taiwanese literati during the period of Japanese occupation;the interpretations on the multiple perceptions of the classical Japanese children’s literature images "Momotaro"and "Urashima Taro" by Zhang Taiyan,Lian Heng and Yang Kui and others;the change of ideology of Chinese cultural identity from "resistance to the Japanese colonial rule" to "stoicism" in Zhang Wojun’s children’s literature from the 1920s to 1940s;the Chinese cultural tradition in Wang Shilang’s children’s literature and the historical and coherent nature of the Chinese national narrative in children’s literature around 1945 in Taiwan.The Chinese national narrative is an important part of children’s literature in Taiwan.The study of this topic is of great realistic significance and academic value.In terms of realistic significance,the current studies of children’s literature in Taiwan during the period of Japanese occupation are mainly based on the perspectives of"Japanese influence" and "Taiwan’s subjective consciousness".This study places the modern children’s literature in Taiwan in the context of the traditional Chinese enlightenment education and the modern Chinese children’s literature through the analyses of subject content and carrier form to discuss the close affinity,thus refuting the fallacy of the "Japanese origin theory of modern children’s literature in Taiwan" in the current history of children’s literature in Taiwan,and refuting the current historical view of children’s literature under the influence of "cultural independence of Taiwan"and the tendency of the "de-sinicization" of the literature and history textbooks in Taiwan.In terms of academic value,the history of modern Chinese children’s literature and research monographs rarely includes children’s literature in Taiwan during the period of Japanese occupation,resulting in an absence of research on children’s literature in Taiwan.This study discusses the complex appearances of children’s literature in Taiwan during the period of Japanese occupation on contents,expressions and narrative forms,focuses on the intrinsic connection between children’s literature and children’s education in Taiwan,and discusses children’s literature in Taiwan on the absorption,development and special significance to the ideological resources of Chinese culture,which is an important complement to the study of modern Chinese children’s literature.