十九世紀英國的圖像報導對於福爾摩沙的帝國凝視與再現

Imperial Gaze and Graphical Representations of Formosa in Nineteenth-Century British Pictorial News

十九世紀以前，西方對於福爾摩沙所知甚少，對其印象一直停留在十七世紀葡萄牙水手於航行途中對此美麗小島所發出之讚嘆。然而，這座島嶼在十九世紀經歷諸多重大政治、經濟及社會的變動，已非昔日西方想像之面貌。十九世紀以前，旅行及移動的困難阻絕了東西方之間的交通，加上中國的鎖國政策，西方讀者縱使想多認識此一東南亞熱帶島嶼，亦無豐富之報導與文獻可供參閱。福爾摩沙的門戶在 1858 年中國與列強締結不平等條約之後正式開啟，外國勢力開始深入，剝削與掠奪島嶼豐沛的人力、土地及天然資源。本論文探討十九世紀下半葉以降福爾摩沙作為東西方相遇之場域，受帝國勢力入侵，當時英國發行之圖像報導如何向西方讀者再現此遠東小島。這些圖像報導以文字與圖像再現異國之風土民情，然而這樣的再現並非客觀中立，而是透過帝國的凝視而來。

Until the nineteenth century, the Western impression of Formosa was largely limited to what the Portuguese sailor's famous exclamation described—a beautiful island lying offshore Mainland China. However, throughout the nineteenth century, drastic changes resulting from political, economic, and social upheavals occurring on this island have made it far different from what was imagined by the West centuries ago. Prior to this period, the difficulties of travel hindered frequent communications between the East and West and few reports or documents were available to any Western reader who showed interest in this ＂exotic＂ island of South-eastern Asia. The door to Formosa, however, was ultimately opened in 1858 to imperial powers like the United Kingdom, which were all Empires appealing to violence to exploit labor, land, and the resources of their conquered territories. Thus said, considering Formosa to be an emerging site for the encounters between the East and the West since the latter half of the nineteenth century, where imperialism started to exert its subtle influence in many places, this paper studies the various forms of visual representations of Formosa published in the contemporary British press, which include mass-produced illustrated news, missionary reports, and reportage supplemented with rich illustrations that conveyed to its reader the most updated and vivid impressions of this far-east island.