建构“新加坡青年”：在地文化的书写与国民意识建构---以《新加坡青年》(1973-1979)为考察对象 = The Construction of Singapore Youth in Native Culture Writing and National Consciousness: A Case Study in Singapore Qing Nian (1973-1979)

Abstract

Since the 1970s, Singapore has undergone rapid social changes. In the process of modernization, the western culture has continuously impacted on Chinese traditional culture and affected the citizens' perception of traditional values. As such, the writer would like to argue how do the government of the newly independent Singapore construct local culture and strengthen national consciousness through publishing. “Youth” being seen as a development discourse, it is an anthropomorphic field in which modern disposition and conflict are integrated. Furthermore, its inherent dissatisfaction and variability can be seen as the essence of modernity. In the 1970s, more than half of the total population were made up by youth under the age of 24 years old. Thus, the problems related to youth have been greatly enlarged and highly inspected by the governors, as for how do young Singaporean grow and shape will determine the further developments of Singapore.

Numerous books and periodicals which targeted the young readers were being published. The development of local culture and literature in this half of a century was influenced by what Singaporean has read in their youth period. As the reason, the publishers competed among themselves for these large proportions' market consumptions, so as to convey their ideologies.

This research was conducted based on the primary resources Singapore Qing Nian (1973-1979), which published by the editors of the Singapore Chinese High School Teachers' Association and issued by the Educational Publication. The writer aimed to look into the contents, covers and illustrations as a text in whole and restored it to the historical context.

Through the examining of the correspondence between official publication and historical political changes, this article will analyze the Singapore Qing Nian's position taking in the field of cultural production in Singapore in 1970s and the construction of Singapore youth image under national discourse, as well as the construction of Singapore's local culture and national consciousness by the literary field which formed by the native writing, reading and publishing.