台灣對新知識的吸收--以《台灣府城教會報》(1885-1942)為探討中心

Abstract

In the Information Age, we can get the latest intelligences, called the “new science” in this thesis, world-widely through various channels, such as newspaper, magazine, television, and the Internet. However, this habitual task had been much more difficult for the Taiwanese who lived in the pre-modern society. After the opening of Taiwan for international trade in the 1860’s, the Presbyterian Church sent missionaries to Taiwan. They brought not only the Christianity which had once lost in Taiwan, but also the advanced modern science. In 1885, Rev. Thomas Barclay founded the Tai-oan hu-siaN Kau-hoe-po(the Taiwan Prefectural City Church News) for communicating mission stations in the country, spreading church education, and promoting the use of Po-oe-ji (the Romanized Taiwanese). Meanwhile, this newspaper offered the Presbyterian Church a convenient channel to broadcast the new science. This thesis focuses on “the new science” introduced in the Tai-oan hu-siaN Kau-hoe-po between 1885 and 1942. First, I give a historical sketch of Christianity in Taiwan from the Dutch Reformed Church to the founding of the Tai-oan hu-siaN Kau-hoe-po and prove the realistic and grass-rooted journalism of the Presbyterian Church. Hence the news articles about the “new science” are classified into four categories: woman’s rights, modern transportation, modern industry, and advertisements. I will analyze the text to reveal how the “new science” was presented to the audience. However, I also critically judge the positive and negative contributions of the “new science” to Taiwan. Nevertheless, the authenticity of the news articles about the “new science” is also reviewed. The text of the Tai-oan hu-siaN Kau-hoe-powas originally written in Po-oe-ji. In order to prevent the loss of originality in translation, the cited passages are transliterated into Romanlized-Han mixed Taiwanese, which preserves the original and features the linguistic characteristics of the Tai-oan hu-siaN Kau-hoe-po.