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The Imaginary Journey of a Manchu Emperor through Taiwan: A Colonial/Postcolonial Romance

Fei-Hsien Wang, University of Indiana, Bloomington

Wed, 3/5 · 4:30 pm6:00 pm · 202 Jones Hall

Program in East Asian Studies

Treating imagination as a vital form of historical interpretation with its rich yet understudied history, this talk focuses on the story of “Lord Jiaqing’s Journey through Taiwan” (Ka-khèng-kun iû Tâi-oân) as a case study to examine how empire, sovereignty, ethnicity, and Chineseness have been envisioned and contested through popular historical fantasies. It’s part of my ongoing book project that explores the long-lasting trends in post-imperial China’s vibrant cultural consumption of and fascination with the Qing empire.

Drawing on the Qing emperors’ revitalisation of imperial touring practice and the familiar “imperial tours in disguise” trope in the Chinese storytelling tradition, “Lord Jiaqing’s Journey through Taiwan” tells how Emperor Jiaqing embarked on a discreet journey to the frontier island before ascending the throne, enjoying subtropical scenery and delicacies, punishing rebels and savages, and friending with the Han settlers. Widely celebrated in Taiwan since the 19th century, it is possibly the most unusual among the Qing “imperial touring” fantasies because of its regional specificity and complete fictionality— Emperor Jiaqing never visited Taiwan. This talk traces the retelling and reinvention of “Lord Jiaqing’s Journey” from its associations with the Lin Shuangwen Rebellion in 1787, short notes in print under the Japanese colonial rule to the single-volume novels in the postwar years, the Hokkien-language TV series in the 1970s, and its latest koa-á -hì adaptation in 2022. Collectively, they forged and reinforced a Taiwan-specific popular memory about the island’s unique bond with the imperial center. While it easily evokes common themes of the sovereign’s territorial inspections, intimate relations as imperial submission, and exercise of absolute violence and favoritism, it is also a distinctively colonial romance for Taiwan and from Taiwan. Each of these reiterations and its reception reflects contemporary commentary on exploring Taiwan’s entangled relationship with its various colonial overlords at different times.

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