民初社會中的土匪形象（1912~1937）

Abstract

20世紀初中國鄉村社會所面臨的危機，可由民初深刻的土匪現象來觀察。在舊有鄉村社會秩序崩解、而現代化國家尚未成型之際，許多中國人選擇為匪，並活躍在全面軍事化的政治和社會舞台。 本文旨在透過民初不同社會群體之不同視角，探討民初土匪在不同語境中所呈現的多元形象，以及背後所隱藏的社會文化意涵。 作為一種經歷，土匪對於不同的經歷者有著不同的意義。對於鄉村居民而言，土匪是無可避免的生活現實，其往往依據與土匪的人際地域親疏關係，展現其對土匪不同評價。但對於負責地方防禦事務的鄉村菁英而言，土匪往往成為地方史志中主要的反派角色。而那些遭中國土匪綁票的外國人，他們將中國土匪當作中國人加以辨識，並將民初土匪視為新型態的「黃禍」。 有感於外國人對中國土匪的負面宣傳，中國知識份子開始將土匪問題納入國家議題之中。由於中國政治、經濟、文化方面的迫切危機，促使知識份子在關心國家危亡之時，將土匪問題視為國家的「病徵」。也因此，民初知識份子嘗試以科學研究的方式理解土匪，並為土匪問題尋求政治、經濟以及文化的根本解決之道。 也由於受到寫實主義以及革命現實主義的影響，民初知識份子在其文學作品中往往表達了他們的民族主義情感。在這些作品之中，鄉村的土匪故事可以是民族精神的展現、國家問題的具體而微、甚或是革命理想人格的投射。土匪這個角色，在民初的文學作品中遂成為知識份子民族國家關懷語言中一組象徵性的符號。 總之，民初土匪在社會中所展現的多元形象，反映了民初社會不同群體的不同中心關懷。這些關懷本身，無疑是民初歷史的重要組成部分。In the twentieth century, the crisis of rural China society could be observed from the impressive phenomenon of bandits in Republican China. When the old rural order collapsed and the modern country wasn’t built yet, many people chose to become bandits, and they lead active roles in the militarized politics and society. This study refers to not only diverse images of bandits in different contexts but also the deeper social and culture meanings through different view points of different communities. As experiences, bandits meant differently to separate groups of people. For village inhabitants, bandits were the inevitable reality. The evaluation of the bandits depended on the relationships between the inhabitants and them. However, for those village elite who were in charged of defense, the bandits were the villains of local history. As for those foreigners who were kidnapped, the bandits were known as “Chinese”. Thus, they regarded Chinese bandits as a new term of “yellow peril”. Being ashamed of the dissemination of “Bandits Country”, Chinese intellectuals came to consider bandits as a national issue. Under the urgent crisis of politics, economics and culture, while the intellectuals were concerned with the country, they viewed the bandits as a symptom of the country. So, the intellectuals tried a scientific way to figure out the bandits and solve the problems from political, economical and cultural ways. Influenced by realism and revolution, intellectuals in modern China expressed their nationalistic passion in their literal works. In these works, the roles of bandits could be the representation of nationalism, problems of the country, and even the reflection of the revolutionaries’ ideal characteristics. In literal works of modern China, “Bandits” became a series of symbolic signs that intellectuals cared for the nation. To sum up, the bandits in the early era of Republican China showed a variety of images that reflect different concerns of different communities. The concerns, undoubtedly, are the essential components to the history of modern China.