英文摘要 |
Eileen Chang (1920-1995) stayed in Hong Kong three times. Of these, the second visit (from July 1952 to May 1955) was most special. As the self-proclaimed leader of the Free World, the USA made every effort to contain the expansion of Communism supported by the USSR. In addition to confrontations in political, military, and economic dimensions, cultural diplomacy stressing soft power was also an important strategy. The United States Information Service (the USIS) in Hong Kong played a key role in the Chinese-speaking world in two main ways. On the one hand, the World Today Press published Chinese translations of hundreds of representative American texts in an attempt to showcase the freedom, democracy, and openness of American society and culture. On the other hand, the World Today Journal tried its best to reach out to as many readers as possible and became one of the most popular Chinese magazines spanning over different continents. The World Today Press published Chang's translations of American novels, poetry, essays, and literary criticism and emphasized her role as a translator. In contrast, the World Today Journal serialized her anti-Communist novel The Rice-Sprout Song, published reviews of her novel and translations, and reported on her being a writer-in-residence in an American university, emphasizing her role as a writer. Different from the majority of research on Chang, based on her published books, the current study focuses on the World Today Journal and connects her to the historical and cultural context of Hong Kong during the Cold War era, with special emphasis on the cultural production mechanism of the USIS. It is hoped that by highlighting the representations of Chang in this leading journal of the Chinese language at a special historical juncture, we will be able to provide an alternative perspective on Eileen Chang Studies, which are in full swing with 2020 marking the one hundredth anniversary of her birth. |