A xiameni Gulangyu Közös Koncesszió története a 19–20. századi kínai–külföldi nyelvi és kulturális interakció tükrében

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to introduce the history of the joint concessionterritory located on the island of Gulangyu 鼓浪屿 from the perspective ofSino-Foreign linguistic and cultural interaction. I also discuss the way in whichit was related to the broader linguistic and cultural interaction processes of theSouth China Sea region between the First Opium War and World War II.Apart from the Shanghai International Settlement, the Gulangyu JointConcession was the only jointly administered foreign concession area in themodern history of China. Although it was officially established in 1903, foreign presence was decisive in the island’s history since the First Opium Warand the subsequent opening of Xiamen as a treaty port. Foreign missionariesarriving at Xiamen put much effort into translating Christian religious textsinto the local Minnan (Hokkien) dialect and to create a transcription schemefor it, which led to the formation of the peh-oe-ji romanization method. Thiswas in fact a continuation of a linguistic interaction process initiated onSoutheast Asian colonies, as the first contacts between foreign missionariesand Hokkien-speaking overseas Chinese communities took place there. Inthe second half of the 19th century, Xiamen became a starting point of Chinese mass emigration to Southeast Asia, which in turn led to a large numberof returning overseas Chinese in the early 20th century. The second part ofthe history of the Joint Concession, lasting from the first decades of the 20thcentury until its occupation by Japan, was characterized by the growing influence of returning overseas Chinese and their investment into the culturaland educational development of the island.