從「殖民」到「公民」：梁啟超的「南洋」經歷、華僑想像與建言

From Colonization to Citizenship: Liang Qichao’s Nanyang Experience, Imagination of Overseas Chinese, and Political Propositions

晚清以來，在內憂外患底下，中國尤其是來自華南閩粵二地的華人大量移植南洋，形成了一個中國大陸以外最大的海外華僑社群。隨著地理知識之提升、出洋考察之普遍、領事使者之外派以及知識人出遊與流亡，「南洋」以及僑居此地的華人益發進入中國知識界的視野，其中包括作為中國近代重要思想家、流亡日本的梁啟超。梁啓超於1899年在逗留日本時期撰寫的〈論中國人種之將來〉一文中認為，中國人「富於自治之力」，如南洋各埠華人，他們也具「有冒險獨立之性質」。到了1905年，他在〈中國殖民八大偉人傳〉中，從中國民族精神建構與「新民說」角度出發進一步論述了華人在海外的拓殖，而此「八大偉人」實無一不來自南洋，這形成了他自身中國本位的「南洋」與華僑之視野與理念。然而，到了1919年歐遊途經馬來亞時，梁啟超似乎對南洋尤其是馬來亞與華僑之立場有頗大轉變，他轉而勉勵華僑提升政治與建國參與，呼籲他們思考自身的在地前途。值得我們叩問的是，梁啟超的「南洋」視野淵源何自？他的「南洋」實際經驗如何？其「南洋」華僑之視野或轉變是建立在怎樣的理念與思想之上？簡言之，本文嘗試追溯梁啟超的南洋經驗，並試圖梳理其「南洋」與華僑知識與理念之實際內涵與建構，以揭示其「南洋華僑」的想像、知識與理念之局限與啟示性，尤其是指出其理念與馬來亞華人「政治參與」的思想系譜之相關聯。

Since the late Qing period, amid internal strife and external threats, large numbers of Chinese,especially from the southern provinces of Fujian and Guangdong migrated to the Nanyang (Southeast Asia), forming the largest overseas Chinese community outside mainland China. As geographic knowledge expanded, overseas investigations became more common, consular missions were dispatched, and intellectuals increasingly traveled or went into exile,“Nanyang”and the Chinese residing there came into clearer focus for the Chinese intellectual sphere. Among these intellectuals was Liang Qichao, a prominent thinker of modern China who lived in exile in Japan. In his 1899 essay“On the Future of the Chinese Race”written during his stay in Japan, Liang asserted that Chinese people possessed a strong capacity for self-governance. He viewed the Chinese in various Nanyang ports as embodying a spirit of adventure and independence. By 1905, in his work Biographies of Eight Great Chinese Colonizers, Liang elaborated further on overseas Chinese expansion from the perspective of national spirit and his“New Citizen”theory. Significantly, all of the eight figures he profiled were pioneers in the Nanyang region, revealing Liang’s Sino-centric conceptualization of Nanyang and overseas Chinese. However, by the time of his journey to Europe in 1919—during which he passed through British Malaya—Liang's stance toward Nanyang, particularly Malaya and its Chinese sojourners, appeared to shift markedly. He began to encourage the overseas Chinese to engage more deeply in politics and nation-building, urging them to consider their local futures. This raises a series of important questions: What were the sources of Liang Qichao’s vision of Nanyang？What was the nature and extent of his actual experiences in the region？How were his views on overseas Chinese shaped, and how did they evolve over time？In short, this paper seeks to trace Liang Qichao’s experiences in Nanyang and analyze the conceptual and ideological construction of his understanding of Nanyang and the overseas Chinese. It aims to illuminate both the limitations and the insights of his imagined and intellectual engagement with Nanyang Chinese, particularly in relation to the genealogy of political participation among Chinese in British Malaya.