晚清小說的博覽會想像

Imagination of Exposition in Fiction from the Late Qing Dynasty

於有限時空內系統化展示物品、宣揚文明成果的博覽會，被晚清小說家想像為未來新中國的富強象徵。梁啟超《新中國未來記》（1902）、吳趼人《新石頭記》（1905）、陸士諤《新中國》（1910）皆於小說中描述不同形式的博覽會，凸顯未來新中國的強盛壯大。三部小說的博覽會場景皆安排於租界城市上海，博覽會的具象性質在小說中被淡化，萬國來歸的國際領袖地位與經濟繁榮之期待反而極為鮮明；三者皆採取未來完成式敘事，博覽會的時間看似清晰，卻在夢境手法與傳統比附中虛實難辨。此外，在《獅子吼》、《電世界》中，博覽會意象雖結合公園、博物館、紀念會、圖書館……等展示形式，產生不同變化，但皆只是凸顯強國形象的類似元素。

Exposition, which systematically displays items and publicizes the achievements of civilization in a limited space and time, was imagined as a symbol of prosperity and strength of new China in the future by the novelists of the late Qing dynasty. Liang Qichao’s the Future of New China (1902), Wu Jianren’s New Story of Stone (1905), and Lu Shie’s New China (1910) all described different forms of exposition, highlighting the strength of new China in the future. The exposition scenes in those three novels are set in the colonized city of Shanghai. Although the concrete nature of exposition is diluted in the novels, the international leadership status of welcoming numerous nations and the expectation for economic prosperity are extremely clear-cut; all of them adopt a future perfect narrative. The time of the exposition seems clear, but its authentic meaning is lost in the dream techniques and traditional comparison. In The Roar of the Lion by Richard Toye and The World of Electricity, the image of the exposition combines the park, museum, memorial, library, and other places, and extends disparate forms. However, the imagination, which is based on the reality, is still illusory.