漫画：儒学在新加坡传播的另类方式

漫画与儒家思想的结合,始于20世纪80年代后期台湾出现的蔡志忠诸子百家漫画系列,这些漫画在中国及东南亚流传甚广。在新加坡,通过漫画传播儒家思想及中华文化,形成了不同的方向。受中国崛起影响,在新加坡,华文教育及传承中华文化的需要日益增加,但英文是教育主流,华文教育水平滑落。本着灵活、轻松学习华文和中华文化的宗旨,漫画这一方式在新加坡的教育体系中创造了新的空间,逐渐成为教材和教学的组成部分。本文将简述儒家思想在新加坡传播的现状,分析20世纪80年代新加坡学校推行儒家伦理课程受挫的原因,将其与新加坡华文教育的大背景结合,探讨漫画传播儒家思想和中华文化如何在新加坡重视华文教育的新形势下获得肯定,并逐渐成为其教育体系的组成部分。

Cartoon as A Mean for the Spreading of Confucianism in Singapore

In the late 1980s,Cai Zhi-zhong,the cartoonist in Taiwan,published his cartoon series on ancient philosophers in the Zhanguo(Warring States) Periods,which for the first time interprets the ideas of Confucius with cartoons.Cai's cartoon books are quite popular in China and Southeast Asia.In Singapore the government becomes more aware of the importance of keeping the Chinese culture and heritages as China has surged as the super economic power in the region.However,the Chinese literacy for most Singaporeans is lowering down.Thus those approaches which combine the Chinese learning with touch of joy and entertainment are encouraged.Cartoons become one of the best approaches to simplify those Chinese classics and make them more readable for most students,especially the English-educated Singaporeans.Cartoons have been well received,and some of them are so recognized that they have been selected as part of the Chinese textbooks.This paper gives a brief account of the Confucianism in Singapore first,and then exams the setback of Confucianism movement in 1980s in Singapore.Finally,it explores in details how cartoons can contribute to the spread of Confucianism in Singapore,and to what extend the teaching of Chinese traditions can be encouraged by Singapore government in this new era of Chinese Cultural Renaissance.