Abstract
This thesis is a close study of the prose works by Qing-De Wei (1886-1964), who was a significant Taiwanese poet during the Japanese colonial period. He also worked as a journalist for the official press, Taiwan NichiNichi Shimpo, and was appointed to a few civil service posts. As we can see, Wei, as a colonized, had a seemingly close relationship with the colonial government. His paradocxical identity thus becomes an interesting topic worth discussing. The objective of this thesis is to examine Wei’s perspectives on the Japanese colonization, and I choose his prose works, instead of poetry and novels, to be the main materials for close reading, as prose shows more feelings of the author than poetry and novels do. Chapter two tries to work out a structure in which all of Wei’s prose works can be properly categorized according to their form and content. In addition, the chronological divisions of his prose works will be introduced. Chapter three examines Wei’s views on some groups of people, including Westerners, Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Taiwanese aborigines, and females. Chapter four looks at how Wei writed about Taiwan. Chapter five analyzes the connections between Wei’s ideas of Chinese (referring to the language, literature and culture) and his stance on such issues as assimilation and Asiaism. In conclusion, I argue that Wei had fluid identity during the Japanese colonial period, and the key factor of his fluid identity is his eagerness to see Taiwanese people become civilized ones. It is also suggested that paying more attention to this very key factor can help us avoid ideological debates over his political identity.