earticle

영어

Geographical knowledge not only preceded but it also motivated, regulated, and dominated all other modern knowledge China had to acquire during it’s struggle to transform itself into a youthful modern nation. ‘Daluzhi jingwu’(大陸之景物; Scenery of the World) section of the Tuhuaribao(圖畵日報, 1909〜1910) might well be seen as visual practice related to ‘geographical imagination’ of the times. Pictures of world’s renowned places ‘Daluzhi jingwu’ section presents are most likely reproductions of photographic images produced in the West, which will also apply to most of those that show Chinese places and landscapes. Images of spots in Shanghai or places worth noticing nearby the modern city seem to have been produced based on original sketches since the media was Shanghai based, but nevertheless the mode of representation was oriented towards modern-western photographic representation. Thus the mode of visual representation adopted by the ‘Daluzhi jingwu’ section in itself suggests inevitable presence of the Western point of view. Visual images of places of the world that ‘Daluzhi jingwu’ section presented, compared to those of former late Qing pictorials, were more accurate, or photographic in representing forms, and as a result emphasized the differences in places and spaces. ‘Daluzhi jingwu’ in general divides the world into two contradicting spaces, one which is oriented by modern functions and values, another which is of exotic landscape. It is not difficult to discover here the Orientalist’s gaze that had been consolidated passing the 19th century, golden age of European colonialism, or deep rooted dichotomy of modern-western geography. A sense of sharp comparison between the West and China, always accompanied the ardor for strong and wealthy Chinese nation, both of which evidently were inherent in the process of choosing the places to be shown in ‘Daluzhi jingwu’. Although traces of traditional mode of visual representation still apparent when showing Chinese scenery could be interpreted as instances of resistance, internalization of the dominant gaze of the West is obvious in the case of ‘Daluzhi jingwu’.