本文並不同於孟森等的史家立場，將民國流行的清朝「四大疑案」：太后下嫁、順治出家、雍正奪位與乾隆出身海寧等作為辯駁對象；而是將清末民初記載疑案的筆記野史與長篇歷史演義，作為小說創作的「現象」考察，觀察小說家如何在通俗場域中，「製作」出大眾熱於閱讀，卻不同於史書上的帝王形象。「四大疑案」所涉及的帝王為順治、康熙、雍正、乾隆四帝，當康乾三朝被文人以「盛世」歌頌時，盛世三朝對漢人言論的嚴格箝制，亦讓晚清民國流傳豐富的盛世帝王野史。而民國時期的小說家，不僅作意好奇，處於消費娛樂的語境中，亦融合「小說救國」的風潮，進而形成具「排滿」與「漢族」意識的「演義救國」創作群，在筆墨之間多夾雜華夷之辨、滿漢意識。 本文的研究目的，在於指出民國歷史演義在新小說的影響下，如何從傳統的「演義」文類過渡到「新演義」，形成描寫自清以來的民族「傷心史」；並梳理順治、康熙、雍正、乾隆四帝的野史傳聞，在文人作品如《影梅庵憶語》和《紅樓夢》，以及官方出版的典籍如《大義覺迷錄》和乾隆御製詩的基礎上，匯合清末不同的野史筆記，在多種身分轉化、觀念演變等文學手法中形成富含漢族意識的長篇歷史演義。在順治野史裡，帝王被化作為情出家的「情種」，而董鄂氏作為「天眷」，野史卻將其降格反諷為明遺民冒襄寵妾的「名妓」董小宛；從「天眷—名妓」的女體形塑，可見清朝國體被替換為明代國體的寓言轉換。康熙朝的雍正奪嫡，則將帝王化作武俠，藉由頭顱被割下的復仇敘事與身體政治，將清朝統治正統「大義」藉由「俠義」平反。乾隆皇帝在野史中則多以「漢家皇帝」現身，歷史上奉母南巡的「孝」在言說中質變為對漢家身世的「孝」，而「海寧省親」所啟動的風月故事，亦成為小說家筆下清朝國運轉衰的關鍵。種種身分與觀念的轉變，皆攸關漢人與滿人的矛盾。本文並認為民國相關小說產量豐富，當代作家金庸、高陽、瓊瑤均有所承繼，如不釐清民國小說的本來面目，即容易忽略從晚清至當代，小說創作脈絡中的「民國根源」與「現代路徑」。 / Since the late Qing and early Republican, historians have debated about the four big mysteries of Qing四大奇案, which were popular stories about Qing Dynasty: Empress Xiaozhuang's rumored marriage to Dorgon太后下嫁; Qing Shizu’s entering a monastery順治出家; Qing Shizong’s inheriting the throne雍正奪嫡; and Qinglong as a son of a Han family, the Chens, in Haining乾隆出身海寧陳家. Evinced by many unofficial histories and popular novels, the four big mysteries were well and alive in late Qing society. While historians treat these mysteries as suspicious rumors, this thesis uses the perspectives of collective memory and narrative production in order to examine the ways in which the emperors in these mysteries are in effect fabricated. I contend that the rewritings and literal sequels of high Qing emperors in the four big mysteries were not only products of public entertainment, but they also represented the Han’ s traumatic memory and their ideals of anti-Manchuism, especially as they are correlated with the “new novels” 新小說employed by late Qing intellectuals to aid their pursuit of the national enlightenment in modern China. In the first chapter, I assert that contemporary historical novels of Qing emperors are mostly based on the re-writings since late Qing. In my view, without discovering the “roots” of the late Qing novels readers would be able to misunderstand the “routes” that the contemporary history novels have paved. In the second chapter, I reevaluate the classical genre of Chinese novels: yanyi演義 from early Republican China. During this period, Yanyi connected the thoughts of national enlightenment and “salvation and survival” 救亡圖存 in the “new novel”, giving rise to what I call “new yenyi”新演義, which was apparently different from the original one. In the following chapters, I focus on how the Qing emperors, such as Shunzhi順治, Yongcheng雍正 and Qianlong乾隆, are portrayed to express Ming-Qing transitional dynasty memory and the trauma of Manchu’s political persecution by way of using literary symbols, such as corresponding pattern of “body” and “nation” in literature. In the third chapter, by discussing how the courtesan Dong Xiao-wan, who was married to an adherent of Ming Mao Xiang, was referred to the princess consort Donggo, I argue that the Shunzhi emperor was “adherentized” 遺民化to an adherent of a former dynasty. In the fourth chapter, I examine the ways in which the Yungcheng Emperor, a great monarch of Qing dynasty, is transformed into a despot and peculiarly into a knight-errant, particularly his violent death, in which he was decapitated by the female knight-errant Lü Siniang (Lü’s fourth daughter). In the fictional narrative, the assassination of Yung-cheng (the fourth son of the Qing royal family) by Lü’s fourth daughter leads the readers to contemplate the Qing’s legitimacy and the position of the Han Chinese against the Manchus. Finally, by analyzing the narrative of Qianlong as a son of Han family, instead of Manchu family, I aim to explain the historical cause of Qianlong’s southern tour, namely, filial piety, as he was alternated to a kind of nostalgia for the hometown where he was born.