Abstract
Abstract This dissertation has adopted the students writting Chinese poems and verses during their study in Japan in late Qing Dynasty, particularly focusing on their literary interaction with the Meiji Chinese poetry circle, alongside with their representation of the living and learning experiences in Japan. Methodologically, “the same language” and “cross boundary” have been used as the conceptual tools to treat the Chinese poems from late 19th to early 20th century with an attempt to clarify how this group of overseas Chinese poem creators showed the feature of “cross boundary”, while a variety of “the same language” relationships were generated from Japan, the Chinese poem composing site. Regarding the framework, this paper begins with depicting the contours and shapes of the overseas Chinese poems created by the youths studying in Japan in late Qing Dynasty to show the characteristics of those poetic activities as well as the content in Japan. Then, as the case study, this research has applied the Chinese poems created by several Chinese youths as the materials to participate in public space or literary field in Japan, and processed them in sequence as follows: (1). The Yearbook in Department of Chinese Students in Waseda University, “鴻跡帖”; (2). The publication “隨鷗集”, including Chinese poems to and fro between Chinese students studying in Japan and the members in 隨鷗吟社, the largest Chinese Poetry Club since late Meiji Period. (3). Japanese “竹枝詞” created by the students studying in Japan in late Qing Dynasty. In this dissertation, the abovementioned three core texts have been used in discussion on how the students studying in Japan in late Qing Dynasty narrated “the same language” after “crossing the boundary” on one hand. On the other hand, in interpretation of “the same language” in East Asia Chinese cultural circle, how the Chinese poems “crossed the boundary” to elicit a new linguistic and cultural content integrated with the urban feel and the time environment in Meiji Japan. Finally, it is indicated in the conclusion that by means of synthesizing how the youths studying in Japan in late Qing Dynasty intervened the Chinese poetry space in Japan, and what kind of literary effect such intervention had produced in Meiji’s Chinese poetry site, so that the core questions throughout this thesis: “the same language” and “cross the boundary”. Both questions consist of considerably theoretical significance in comprehending the contemporary Chinese poem creation in East Asia. Consequently, it has been attempted to orient them as the cornerstone of Chinese poems in East Asia in 20th century. Meanwhile, returning to the context of literature research, change of literary language as well as concepts can also be seen in the Chinese poems composed by the Chinese youths studying in Japan then. To start with, the literary meaning of “cross the boundary” appeared first in the change of literary language when Japanese “竹枝詞” created by the Chinese students studying in Japan accepted a great quantity of Japanese Chinese terms, beyond which signify the modernized experiences as well as the feel of times in Meiji Period. In the meantime, “the same language” embodied the phenomenon of “otherness” within Chinese language, so that from “otherness”, those Chinese poem composers in Japan could re-identify and/or reconstruct the literary language and literary implication. From this research’s angle of view, such transformation taking place in Chinese writing in contemporary East Asia is exactly the process of mutual otherness and ceaseless self-update within Chinese language. By means of the Chinese poems composed by Chinese students in Japan in late Qing had connected the changing Chinese context in Japan. That is to say, to certain extent, the Chinese poem’s writing has been influenced and inspired by Japanese feel, linguistic terms, and literary thinking, leading to transformation of the world of Chinese classical literature in regard of terms, knowledge, as well as feel.