外交情報與港際報業：以1874年臺灣事件日、中兩國輪船運兵消息為例

Diplomatic Intelligence and Inter-port Journalism: The News of Japanese and Chinese Troop Steamers during the Formosa Incident of 1874

十九世紀東亞報業史研究常侷限於個別國家或單一語言，用以解釋中、日兩國各自的閱讀大眾或民族主義的興起。本文則以近代東亞重要外交事件—1874年臺灣事件—為焦點，檢視當時針對這個事件的跨國報業運作。本文指出，當時在各口岸發行的英文報紙，成為各種中、日文報導消息的中介。中、日文等不同文本的海上運兵消息，藉由英文報紙的翻譯、轉刊，跨語際地迅速流轉於橫濱、上海、香港等東亞主要港口。這種流通受惠於不久前才開始的定期輪船航線及海底電纜等新交通設施，我將之稱為「港際情報體制」。口岸裡的英美等國外交領事、傳教士、商人、中國海關裡的洋員，和與英文報館關係密切的中文報人，均成為新體制下的要角。此一口岸間經由海上經濟所構築出來的英語消息迴路，揭露了近代「帝國式安全國家」興起過程中，重要的貿易史脈絡。

Studies on the nascent journalism of nineteenth-century China and Japan have largely been confined to national and linguistic context, emphasizing the rise of the reading audience and nationalism. In contrast, this article examines transnational journalistic practice at the time of the ＂Formosa Incident of 1874,＂ a Japanese ＂expedition＂ to Taiwan, which was then occupied by aborigines and Chinese. I argue that the coastal English-language newspapers served as intermediaries between Chinese and Japanese contemporaries, circulating news about troop movements among Yokohama, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and other major East Asian ports. Together with the advent of other information technology such as regular steamship lines and the submarine telegraph, there existed an ＂inter-port intelligence regime.＂ British and American consuls, missionaries, merchants, the foreign staff of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, and some Chinese journalists affiliated with the English press all became major players under the new regime. This Anglophone information circuit along the East Asian coasts, enhanced by the maritime economy, sheds light on the context of the history of trade in the rise of the modern ＂imperial security state.＂