By employing the theory of Imagology, this work examines four literature workswritten in overseas study movements in modern Chinese history: Wang Tao's shortstories in Songyin Manlu, Lao She's The Two Mas, Bai Xianyong's A Death in Chicagoand Zhou Li's Manhattan's Chinese Lady. While tracing how Chinese intellectuals workthrough the dichotomy of China/West and Tradition /Modernity, this study alsoendeavors to reveal theoretical issues arising from inter-cultural communication andrepresentation. It argues that the literary projection of the west manifests a complex senseof the Chinese self primarily due to the portrayals of western cities and westerners as anembodiment of Chinese understandings of western modernity at different periods. In theLate Qing, the depiction of London in Songyin Manlu only focuses on gunboats, cannons,museums, and factories, because western modernity for the Chinese at the time wassignified by the mighty weaponry of British navy and advanced technology. In the 1920s,however, the portrayal of London in The Two Mas shifts to reveal how Londoners'lifestyle and culture make Britain the most powerful nation in the world, as the Chineseintellectuals advocated the westernization of Chinese culture in order to strengthen China.In the 1960s, the Chinese protagonist Wu Hanhun in A Death of Chicago feels estrangedand sexually seduced in Chicago, subsequently loses his sense of purpose in life andeventually commits suicide, the depiction of which is consistent with similar themes inwestern modernist literature. This is due to the fact that the modernist movement thrivedin Taiwan in the 1960s, and as such, had a large impact on Taiwanese writers. The 1990seraManhattan's Chinese Lady displays spectacles of America's wealth on the FifthAvenue in Manhattan, as common Chinese strive for becoming rich in contemporaryChina owing to the Chinese government's promotion of market reform after 40 years ofpoverty in socialist China. The study concludes that regardless of whether or not theimages of the west presented in Chinese discourse are idealizations, demonizations, orother related cultural determinations, they all manifest a type of anxiety in regard to theChinese Self.

本研究一方面剖析馬來西亞僑生來台前的教育歷程以及他們選擇來台的原因，另一方面亦深入探討馬來西亞僑生群體內部之國籍異質性對其在台生活經驗及「僑生」身分認同上的影響。本研究採用質性研究方法進行研究，主要透過訪談法與參與觀察法，分別於台灣與馬來西亞地區蒐集田野資料。主要研究發現為： 一、國籍的差異建構了馬來西亞馬籍與台籍僑生個人與國家（馬來西亞、台灣）關係上的差異，以及來台前教育歷程上的歧異性。來台之馬來西亞僑生中，馬籍僑生多畢業於著重華文教學之獨立中學中體系，而台籍僑生主要來自海外台灣學校。在馬來西亞獨立中學與海外台灣學校就讀的學生面對的是迥異的學習環境與教材、隱藏性課程與參考團體，但在不同因素的考量及作用下，他們不約而同地選擇來台就讀大學，並成為「僑生」。不論是馬籍或台籍僑生，他們對於其所具有之「僑生」身份多是採接受但不認同的態度，不過原因不盡相同。 二、「僑生」身份在台灣社會特殊的歷史脈絡中已逐漸與原始意涵脫鉤，並累積了如學業程度不好、說中文有口音及升學制度中之既得利益者等負面標籤，讓「僑生」成為一個被污名之群體。馬來西亞籍僑生由於其成長及受教背景之故，較易具備外顯的僑生符號（如說中文有口音），容易被辨識為「僑生」，因而常需背負「僑生」所具有的污名。台灣籍僑生因為具有台灣國籍以及講中文沒有口音等，迥異於台灣民眾對於一般僑生之想像，而難以被辨識其「僑生」身分，或其僑生身分較難獲得他人認同而另給予「假僑生」的稱謂。 三、依據自身與情境的特質，馬籍與台籍僑生發展相關策略以避免因「僑生」身份而被污名化，包括諸多規避（passing）行為（如口音轉換、呈現在地之身分認同、避免參與僑生團體）以避免身分暴露、構成強凝聚力之僑生團體以獲取社會支持及建構群體認同等策略。另外，台籍僑生一方面由於不符合社會對「僑生」的刻版印象，另一方面也為避免承受「僑生」身份的污名，往往接受「假僑生」的稱謂，並視其為一「戲謔性」但不具污名的稱呼。 / This study alalyzes the the education processes of Malaysian overseas Chinese students and their reasonings for studying in Taiwan on the one hand, and explores how the difference in nationality (Malaysia vs. Taiwan) affect their life experiences in Taiwan and their attitudes toward the “overseas Chinese student” identity given by the Taiwanese society on the other. The study utilizes qualitative research methods and collects field data (mainly through participant observation and in-depth interviewing techniques) from Taiwan and Malaysia. The major findings are stated as follows: 1. Difference in nationality between Malaysian and Taiwanese Chinese students constructs the divergence in their relations with respective states (Taiwan and Malaysia) and eductation tracking processes prior to their study in Taiwan. Among ethnic Chinese students from Malaysia studying in Taiwan, Malaysian Chinese students mostly graduated from independent high schools while Taiwanese Chinese came from overseas Taiwanese schools. The distinctions in these two schooling systems in the academic melius, teaching materials, hidden curriculums, and reference groups shape the different reasonings to study in Taiwan. For various reasons, these students accept but not necessarily agree on the “overseas Chinese student” identity given by Taiwanese soceity upon their arrival in Taiwan. 2. Under the changing historical context, the identity of “overseas Chinese student” has gradually lost its originally denotation and even become a stigmatized label. Malaysian Chinese students tend to be more easily identified as “overseas Chinese students” due to their more salient outer attributes (such as accent) and thus more likely to be stigmatized. Taiwanese Chinese students (from Malaysia), due to their Taiwanese nationality and Taiwanese accent, are less likely to be seen as “overseas Chinese students.”Even if this identity is disclosed, such identity is often challenged by others because of the misfit with the stereotype of “overseas Chinese student” that exists in the Taiwanese society. As a result, Taiwanes Chinese students from Malaysia are often called “psudo overseas Chinese students.” 3. Both Malaysian and Taiwanese Chinese students from Malaysia develop various strategies to aviod or overcome the possible stigmatization brought by the identity of “overseas Chinese students,” including many “passing” techniques as well as forming proactive and powerful overseas student associations. For Taiwanese Chinese students from Malaysia specifically, they often playfully accept the seemly degrading and yet un-stigmatzied title of “psudo overseas Chinese students” as a way to avoid stigmatization embedded in the identity of “overseas Chinese students.”