1970年代初的馬華兒童文學生產與文化定位──以馬來西亞《兒童報》為例

The Literary Production and Culture Positioning of Malaysian Chinese Children's Literature in Early 1970s: A Case Study on Ertong Bao (Children Weekly), Malaysia

發軐於1920年初的馬來西亞華文兒童文學，屬於馬華文學的一環，在漫長的一個世紀裡，共同參與了當地華人與華文文學及文化生產活動，卻一直未受到應有的關注。回顧二戰前至國家獨立後期間，馬華文學雖然難以擺脫歷史事件和政治局勢的牽引，仍能在多次的論戰中顧及文學主體的內部發展，唯兒童文學依舊處在邊緣。本文以《兒童報》為研究對象，嘗試探討此一華人民辦刊物於馬來西亞1970年代初期所扮演的角色、發揮的功能。戰後二十年間，冷戰格局的成形和亞洲發生的系列重大事件，促使東南亞各新生國家急於構建本國意識形態。踏入1970年代的馬來西亞雖然在政體上已經擺脫殖民統治，但作為多元民族構成的新興國家，卻一直無法很好地解決種族衝突問題。該時期所陸續制定頒行的政策如國家文化政策、新經濟政策、教育和語言政策等，都涉及各族群在政經文教多方面的資源與權益分配問題。而《兒童報》的誕生，正趕上了政權更替之初，新政權管理者急於施展和表現政綱之際，其文化定位更是難以不受官方話語影響。如何能夠在編輯內容上做到兼顧與持平，是種考驗。而《兒童報》則體現了兼具國家主義傾向和文藝組織同人特質的追求與實踐。

The Chinese children's literature in Malaysia, which was developed in early 1920, is a part of Malaysian Chinese literature. For a long century, it has been participating in the local Chinese literature and cultural production activities, but it has not received the attention it deserved. Looking back at the period from pre-World War II to post-independent of the country, the development of Malaysian Chinese literature gained considerable attention even though it could hardly avoid the impact from crucial historical events and political changes. However, children's literature is still on the margins. This article takes Mingguan Kanak-kanak (Ertong Bao or Children Weekly) as the research object, trying to explore the roles and functions of this Chinese journal in Malaysia in the early 1970s. In the two decades after the war ended, the formation of the Cold War pattern and a series of major events in Asia prompted the new Southeast Asian countries eager to pursue their nation-building and their own ideologies. In 1970s, although Malaysia has already gained its independence, cultural and ethnic issues are remained unsolved. The policies formulated and promulgated during this period, such as national cultural policies, new economic policies, education and language policies, etc., all involved the distribution of resources and rights of various ethnic groups in the aspects of politics, economy, culture and education. The birth of Mingguan Kanak-kanak was just at the early stage of the political change, its cultural value and positioning could hardly immune to the emergence of new political practices and legal transformations. Therefore, how to achieve balancing in literature autonomy and government intentions would be a challenge. This article finds the editorial board put their hard efforts in performing the balancing.