| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立嘉義大學 === 中國文學系研究所 === 102 === In order to cope with the turbulence during late Qing Dynasty (1901~1911), the government entrusted to outgoing students their hope of building up the economic and military power. Due to the small number of students sent away, the obstruction from the conservative and the financial difficulty, studying in Europe and the U.S. was not effective in the early phase. After the First Sino-Japanese War, China took another path and adjusted its reform from cultural and educational aspects. Therefore, people who received modern education were desperately needed. At this time, Japan, emerging as one of the great powers, proposed training Chinese students and established a large number of intensive schools for the purpose of cultural aggression. In consideration of geographical distance, similar language, culture, and customs, as well as less expense, the Qing Government welcomed the proposal and encouraged students to study in Japan. Nearly ten thousand students studied in Japan in ten years, introduced new thinking, and devoted themselves to educational and political reform, becoming the main force of the modernization of China.
In reality, students studying in Japan were zealous and patriotic. The radical characteristic of the student community caused a sensation and became a new theme in novels. With the authors' different political positions, they were transformed into various personae.
Combined with the authors’ experiences and imagination, both positive and negative images of the students studying in Japan were established—in the former, they were shaped as to be able to integrate Chinese and western knowledge and save their mother country, while in the latter, they were condemned as to be flippant, vulgar and pompous. The radical characteristic of students studying in Japan is emphasized in these novels. Compared to the outstanding academic performance and the leadership image of student studying in Europe or the U.S., the image of those studying in Japan was diverse. This image represents the transition period from traditional literati to modern intelligentsia, symbolizes the confusion and conflict of cultural identity in late Qing, and starts a new genre of literature—novels whose motif lies in students studying abroad.
Novels in late Qing were relatively realistic. Writers consciously represented the society and responded to social issues in their works. Thus, the personae of students studying in Japan not only are a part of a literary work, but also have their own historical significance. In this paper, I analyze the personae of students studying in Japan in twentieth century novels and, to emphasize the images and significance of the characters, base my research on Said’s Representations of the Intellectual. In this research, I hope that the value and meaning of the image and personae of the students studying in Japan can be clearly shown and understood.
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