「中心」與「邊疆」兩種定位──從《臺灣通史•循吏列傳》探討連橫思想中的臺灣民族精神

Taiwan as the Center or a Frontier? --On the Han-ethnocentric Ideas in Lien Heng’s “Biographies of Capable Officials” in the General History of Taiwan

《臺灣通史》是連橫一生最重要的著作，書中彰顯臺灣民族精神。本文旨在探討連橫所謂「臺灣民族精神」的內在脈絡。從連橫的生平文獻發現其思想帶有濃厚的大中華民族主義思維傾向，體現在《臺灣通史》中，是以明朝為正朔的自我定位。認為臺灣民族精神就體現在一次次的反清復明運動中。然而，連橫理想的中原漢民族意識是否完全等同於臺灣民族精神？本文以歷代治邊政策為例，揭示漢民族長期以來對邊疆民族的分合態度，被視為邊疆番民的臺灣，是否要再一次努力迎合中央觀點？從《臺灣通史•循吏》傳來看，連橫理想的吏治顯然未脫中原漢族面對邊疆地區的態度，鮮少正視臺灣做為一島嶼和移墾社會的特殊背景。因此，本文認為，連橫是將他心中理想的中原漢民族精神加諸於臺灣，而弱化了臺灣在諸多歷史經驗中其它可貴的精神內涵。

The General History of Taiwan is the most important work of Lien Heng (連橫) in terms of the Taiwanese nationalism that Lien was trying to shape in this work. In this paper, I will analyze the nature of Lien Heng’s “Taiwanese nationalism.” Based on the documents about Lien, Lien showed a strong tendency to identify with Ming Regime. This tendency served as the foundation of Lien Heng’s Taiwanese nationalism and led him to believe that the true Taiwanese nationalism can be best illustrated by the attempts to restore Ming Dynasty by fighting against the Qing Regime. However, is this so called “Taiwanese nationalism” a real identification with Taiwan? In this paper, I will analyze how the Han-ethnocentricity shaped Ming Regime’s frontier control policies, and how this Han-ethnocentric attitude affected their relationships with the ethnic groups residing in these frontier areas. Depicted as a frontier resided by barbarians in the official history of the Ming Dynasty, can Taiwan be legitimately regarded as the center of Han-ethnocentricity? It is clear that Lien Heng was trying to adopt this traditional Han-ethnocentricity in the “Biographies of Capable Officials” of The General History of Taiwan. Nevertheless, by following the traditional Chinese central government’s attitude toward “frontiers,” Lien clarified Taiwanese nationalism without acknowledging Taiwan’s unique historical experience as an island and an immigration society, and thus in his attempt to build a Taiwanese nationalism, Lien Heng only portrayed an incomplete picture of Taiwan.