Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, East Asian countries have maintained frequent cultural exchanges. In the pre-modern times without an established interpretation system, people cross-languages in that area often communicated by writing, namely in the form of written conversation. As a primary form of communication between East Asian countries in the past, written conversation remained until the early Republic of China. In the turbulent late Qing Dynasty, under domestic and foreign oppression, many elites and aspirants had to flee overseas. Japan across the sea became a preferred refuge for many of them. Despite the hindrance of language barrier, Chinese and Japanese people communicated through written conversation, which left many precious historical materials. In August 1897, Sun Yat-sen, who had wandered overseas, eventually settled in Yokohama, Japan. Not capable of Japanese, he could only communicate with Japanese people by written conversation, among which included Miyazaki Touten, an important foreign friend in Sun's revolutionary career. Fortunately, some of the original manuscripts of the written conversations was managed to preserve, which has became one of the essential parts of Miyazaki Totten's family collection. There are several versions in the movable type of the written conversations between Sun and Miyazaki. However, discrepancies exist between those versions. For example, the identification of interlocutors, the chronological sequence of the remaining manuscripts, and the transcripts of the text. Moreover, collating the content was arduous due to the lack of the original manuscripts, which also caused the related research stuck in the bottleneck. In recent years, a photocopy of the manuscripts of written conversations between Sun and Miyazaki has finally come out, which not only provides direct material for the collation, but also reveals unknown historical secrets. For a long time, the remaining manuscripts in Miyazaki's family collection were preconceived as Sun and Miyazaki's handwritings. In fact, there was a third person, Munakata Kotaro. Meanwhile, combining with other historical materials, it also provides the possibility to sort the remaining manuscripts in sequence by cracking the identity of the interlocutors. Adopting research methods including quoting relevant materials, comparing original handwritings and etc., to this study redefines the identities of the interlocutors and presume the proper sequence as well as the approximate time span of the written conversations. Three main conclusions can be drawn by collating the text of the remaining manuscripts:(1)After August 1897, Hirayama Shu also participated in the written conversations between Sun and Miyazaki;(2)Miyazaki Touten has generally been considered as the interlocutor of the written conversations in November 1897. However, according to the manuscripts of this written conversation and Munakata Kotaro Diary, the person wrote to Sun Yat-sen should be Munakata Kotaro instead;(3)Resequencing the remaining manuscripts based on the details appearing in the written conversations (e.g. characters, places, time, writing tools, topics, etc.). As the first-hand material for the historical studies of Modern China and Sino-Japanese relations, the remaining manuscripts of the written conversations between Sun and Miyazaki are of great historical value. In summary, this study has identified interlocutors, verified time span and resequenced the manuscripts of the written conversations between Sun and Miyazaki, which will forge a solid foundation for the in-depth content study of the written conversation in the future.
王勇 陈龄之. 孙中山与宫崎滔天笔谈残稿考论[J]. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版), 2020, 6(3): 128-.
Wang Yong Chen Lingzhi. A New Discussion on the Written Conversations Between Sun Yat-sen and Miyazaki Totten. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 2020, 6(3): 128-.