| Ling Hongxun, a famous Chinese railway expert, had pointed out:" China’s many problems, such as the transition of the society, the ideological awareness, the development of the economy, as well as the evolution of the political, the fate of the country, are related to the rail ". The emergence of modern railway changed people’s travel in time and space, also quietly changed people’s lifestyles and social and cultural life. Traveling by train or traveling along the railway lines gave travelers a different look and feel. Modern transportation tools such as the train were introduced into China due to save time, save money, convenient and comfortable. They created better conditions for people, also made some changes have taken place in the form of tourism.During the period of the republic of China, in order to promote rail travel, rail authority took many measures. The first was the formulation and implementation of railway tour tickets preferential principle; next was the release of various kinds of travel guides, such as places of guides or tour guides. In addition, the rail authority also issued advertisements to attract passengers. Then the railway departments carried out through transport in order to improve the transport efficiency and speed, and cooperated with travel agencies to organize group Tours or touring cars. At the same time, the railway bureau also provided travel services such as offices, hotels, tea rooms. As the railway construction, extension and the rise of the rail travel trend, more and more new "landscape" was found, and before some of the most inaccessible spots became more lively, and started to enter populace’s field of vision.Railway with its spreading nationwide network advantages, made "landscape" in remote areas into the center of the national field of vision, put the scattered scenery together as a whole and clear way to show in front of people. It developed the national imagination. Modern rail travel guides have chosen, planned, or even manufactured the scenery along the railway, in this process, the role of the railways was revealed. Modern rail travel guides showed the state land around the railway lines, then by the railway stations extended to the scenic spots, laying into clear reading paths for the people to understand their country. So the readers or viewers can gradually piece together the whole country from point and line to plane with the help of the spindle axis-railway and the changeable viewing axis.Modern china tried to connect the past and present through the landscape, and to construct the space continuity of family territory through the continuity of the scenery. Therefore, rail travel guides in scenery description mostly backed to its history, first to show its important value in the history of the nation. Modern rail travel described modern landscape with the intention of promoting national idea. The landscape photos in the rail travel guides showed the beautiful image of the home countries with the most intuitive way. However, the relative fixity of railway lines also made the travel that along the railway lines become institutionalized and programmed, thus the scenery in the travel guides became a common goal. Tour recommendations had "planned" and "copied" the mass travel in some degree. The scenery was reviewed by countless travelers in the form of repeated, and in turn, it became their overall impression and memory about national image.Modern rail travel was mostly driven by a series of political movements. Writers, local governments, the rail authority or even culture publishing industry were involved in the production of railway travelogues. Modern Chinese special environment made travel show distinct from Chinese traditional tourism style. It was no longer put the natural scenery as the subject, but to recognize national borders, strengthen the national identity for the purpose. The rail travel to us was not only the natural scenery, but also thick national feeling. Travel writers described the country’s social status, thus society and the people in the society became the "new landscape".In time of war,"landscape" was the most direct way or object for people to know and feel their countries. Modern travel writer’s choice of national scenic and narration were more for political purposes. And they were trying to use scenery to shape a nation under the framework of demonstration for definition of "China". Under the domination of their writing strategy, the "landscape" that along the railways was not only the visual landscape and history of foil, causing our sensory and aesthetic pleasure, but also the text of the topography and the forces of history, recording the country groups of psychological, emotional and physical way of life, shaping their consciousness of national character.This paper on the basis of previous studies, use "nation-state building" and "scenery" nationalism theory point of view to inspect that rail travel, travel guide and travelogue is how to shape the national collective memory with the help of many materials such as travel guides, writings for rail travel and travel paintings. Through the analysis, we think that the rise of modern railway construction, mass tourism and travelogues, have contributed to the discovery or performance of Chinese landscape. It also promotes the modern Chinese national construction and imagination. |
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