Author ｜
Xiaohong Xia
Abstract ｜
In 1908, Lin Shu（林紓）, collaborating with the interpreter Wei Yi（魏易）, translated Hototogisu (Nami-Ko), a bestseller in Meiji Japan, from its English rendition into Chinese under the title of Bu Ru Gui 《不如歸》. Instead of following the Japanese view regarding this novel as a “family story” or complying with the label of “melancholy novel” （哀情小說）branded by the publisher, the Commercial Press, Lin Shu put his emphasis on the narration of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 in the book. Thus, he devoted the main part of his preface to relating “the feeling of injustice”（冤抑之情）aroused by the novel. Not only did he mean to take advantage of the renowned Japanese work to disprove the “coward abandonment”（遁逃）, of which people generally accused the loyal and devoting Northern Navy, but he also brought into full play his classical writing skills to defend and historicize the Navy with three pieces of non-fiction works. The reason why Lin Shu was so deeply concerned with the Navy could be traced up to the fact that the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau and the Institute were “the cradle of Chinese modern navy” as well as the fact that more than half the Navy officers were born “Fujianese”（閩人）. Having fused his traditional local affection and the idea of modern state, Lin Shu projected his complex onto the Navy and ended up sharing the same breath with it.
keywords ｜
Lin Shu, Hototogisu (Nami-Ko), Chinese Navy, the feeling of injustice, Fujianese