帝國、斯文、風土：論駐新使節左秉隆、黃遵憲與馬華文學

十九世紀末期，清廷政府在新加坡設置領事館和派駐使節，奠定了海外華人作爲一個群體對象在中國外交史的意義。使節的南來，尤其凸顯士大夫階層的境外離散和文化播遷的象徵意義，形塑了早期新馬地區初步的文學規模。本文以中國派駐的使節左秉隆，及繼任者黃遵憲爲焦點，檢視他們任內創辦會賢社、會吟社、圖南社等宣教文化、推動文風的相關作爲，以及個人生產的漢詩作品裏的華人世界和形象，描述使節駐新帶動的南來文學氣象和意義。本文因此嘗試討論和處理兩組問題：一、使節具備官方身份，面對西方殖民勢力，以及華人移民社會所建立的異地景觀與文化想像，如何轉換爲他們的文學實踐與教化任務？使節推廣的帝國意識和建立文字士傳統，如何在早期南洋殖民地和華僑社群形成一個具有描述個體生存經驗、地域意識與教化傳播的文學生產空間？二、使節的南洋漢詩描述風土地誌和海外華人生活，記錄殖民地體驗，海外華人以什麼形式和概念進入他們眼界？領事與詩人的雙重身份，將華人移民史納入漢詩視域，因此改變了傳統宦遊文學的格局。他們對離散華人進行敘事和紀史的漢詩寫作，標誌了馬華文學現代起源的時間點－大離散的華人移民時代。

關鍵字

使節漢詩；帝國意識；風土；左秉隆；黃道憲；馬華文學

並列摘要

In the late 19(superscript th) century, the Qing government set up consulates in Singapore and dispatched consuls, a precedent in the history of diplomacy that recognized the significance of overseas Chinese communities. The consuls represented the dispersal of the literati class and the dissemination of culture; more importantly, their arrival in Singapore, coupled with their cultural undertakings and literary works, gave shape to early Mahua literature. In this paper, I pay particular attention to two distinguished Chinese consuls in Singapore: Zuo Binlong (1850-1924) and his successor Huang Zunxian (1848-1905). I attempt to delineate the ways these consuls change and reshape the literary landscape of Mahua literature. To that end, I examine these consuls' cultural undertakings, which enriched culture and envigorated literary activities in Singapore at that time, and their literary works, which portray the experience of overseas Chinese. The following two sets of questions will be addressed in this paper: (1) The consuls were representative of the Chinese empire at the fore of interaction with western colonial powers, and situated within the exotic landscape and cultural imagination established by early Chinese emigrants. How do these conditions combine to transform the consuls' literary practice and cultural mission? Furthermore, how do these consuls, through promotion of imperial awareness and establishment of social-literary traditions, shape a literary space in which the lived experience of overseas Chinese, local awareness and cultural dissemination can be portrayed? (2) The consuls composed a considerable amount of Han poetry. In what form and conception do these literary writings document lived experience in the colony and reflect local customs and lives of overseas Chinese? How do such literary works, incorporating the history of overseas Chinese into the terrain of Han poetry, expand and reshape the official-travel writing tradition-and mark a starting point of Mahua literature?