广东过番歌研究——以珠江三角洲和邻近沿海地区粤语系过番歌为例
A Study on the Guangdong Guofange (Song of Overseas Migration)

苏庆华 SOO Khin Wah
马来亚大学中文系副教授。
E-mail: [email protected]

马来西亚华人研究学刊，第16期，2013年，页87-103
Journal of Malaysian Chinese Studies, Volume 16, 2013: 87-103

摘要

鸦片战争后，西方殖民者以香港、澳门为基地在广东沿海招募“契约华工”，珠江三角洲和邻近沿海地区首当其冲，破产农民和手工业者成为他们拐骗、掳掠、贩卖的主要对象。方普雄的统计数字显示：“上个世纪90年代，广东的台山县，散居在海外78个国家和地区的华侨华人以及港澳同胞就有110万人，这比国内全（台山）县的95万人还要多”。故此，台山有“中国第一侨乡”之誉。本文所搜集到的广东省粤语系过番歌文本，多亦流传于珠江三角洲和四邑等（尤其是台山县）之侨乡。透过这些广东《过番歌》文本的字里行间，不难体会到昔日粤语系先辈们移居海外的艰苦经历。本文尝试将现阶段搜集到不齐全的广东《过番歌》文本归纳为若干类别，并按其内容加以组构和释读，让早期广东省粤语系移民的“共同历史记忆”重新展现在我们眼前。

关键词：契约华工、粤语系移民、过番歌、共同历史记忆

Abstract

Western colonial powers based in Hong Kong, Macao, embarked on a program to recruit contract Chinese labours from the coastal regions of Guangdong Province after the Opium War. Farmers and workers in the handicraft industry in the Pearl River Delta as well as nearby coastal regions who went bust became the main targets of the colonial powers in this episode of human trafficking, kidnapping and slave trading. Based on available statistical data: “Until the 19th century, there were 1.1 million overseas Chinese with their origin in Taishan County in 78 countries and areas worldwide (including Hong Kong and Macao), more than the 950,000 Taishan County’s population in China.” Hence, Taishan County earned the reputation of “China’s No. 1 qiaoxiang (native land of the overseas Chinese)”. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of the Guangdong Guofange (Song of Overseas Migration) texts collected in this article are those found in the Pearl River Delta regions, Taishan County in particular. Reading between the lines of these guofange texts, one could easily feel the toil and bitter experiences of the early migrants. This paper is an attempt at categorizing this incomplete collection of guofange texts into several categories, based on the contents and an interpretation of the expressions in the texts. It is hoped that “common memory in history” of the early Guangdong migrants could be “brought back to life of resurrected” before our eyes.

Keywords: contract Chinese labours, Cantonese dialect migrants, Guofange (Song of Overseas Migration), common historical memory

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