幸運籤餅作為東方主義仿像：美國異化英文標記之中國觀分析

Abstract

幸運籤餅是一種仿像──沒有源頭的仿製品──是美國大眾對中華文化的想像投射。作為一種偽裝成他國文化的國內產物，幸運籤餅體現且反映了美國人看待中華文化的態度，抑或是說在不同時期美國大眾如何透過異國情調與東方主義論調異化且模仿了華人文化。隨著幸運籤餅融入美國主流社會，它已逐漸脫離了中國這個假定的起源。這樣的發展不僅使幸運籤餅長久以來既有的中國性更顯得具有諷刺意味，在這種刺激之下，也令人更想要強化幸運籤餅的異國情調意涵。作為傳遞訊息媒介的幸運籤條內容，也會隨著美國對中國的定位而逐步演變。幸運籤餅中使用的語言揭示了物件背後的東方主義論調，尤其是翻譯扮演了格外關鍵角色。本文將探討翻譯（偽譯以及不合語法的英文句子等）對於幸運籤餅異國風情產生了何種作用，亦將說明幸運籤餅的籤文如何印刻出美國對於中華文化的各種刻板印象。

The fortune cookie can be viewed as a simulacrum—a putative copy without an original—that represents an American vision of “Chinese-ness.” As a domestic cultural artifact that masquerades as foreign, the fortune cookie embodies and reflects American attitudes towards China. It has been used at various times to “other” China by reifying exotic and orientalist tropes and at times to mock Chinese culture. As the icon further assimilated into mainstream American culture, it became increasingly detached from its supposed Chinese origins—not only heightening the irony behind its lasting Chinese associations but provoking an effort to reassert the exotic connotations of the cookie. The message within the medium is the fortune slip, which has evolved in dialogue with American orientations to China. The language used in fortune cookies reveals the orientalist ideologies underlying this unique cultural artifact, and translation in particular has played a pivotal role in the fortune cookie’s development. As I will argue, translation (or rather pseudo-translation and ungrammatical English) is integral to the fortune cookie’s “foreign” essence—imprinting its mark on the fortune cookie to the effect of reinforcing American stereotypes of China.