猛男的誕生：近代中國肌肉知識與運動型男體的浮現

Abstract

本文探討肌肉猛男在近代中國如何成為一種理想形象，並指出傳統觀念在此現代化過程中的意義。為釐清此一審美觀的轉型，本文首先討論西方肌肉知識傳入中國的過程，並且探究西方肌肉知識及審美觀念，如何浮現於近代中國報刊的文字及圖像中解剖學等西學知識傳入中國，致使中、西兩種身體知識產生交會。與肌肉有關的西方知識逐漸被中國人接受，例如用中醫原有的詞語「肌肉」翻譯解剖學中的“muscle”，並且出現一些中西醫結合的肌肉知識。西學東漸的同時，近代中國的審美觀也有所轉變，肌肉發達的男體形象伴隨著翻譯解剖學書籍進入中國。其後，此形象擴及於近代中國發行量最大的報刊《申報》上，特別是1920年代後，該報出現許多壯碩的運動員圖片。另外，1920至40年代間，人體美及健康美等論述的流行，更使得肌肉成為審美的重點之一，可見於「肌肉發達法」等旨在推廣新理想男體的刊物。

This thesis investigates how a muscular physique became the ideal body type for men in modern China and demonstrates the significance of traditional values during moderniza-tion. First, to clarify the transformation of aesthetic ideals, the process by which the West-ern anatomy was introduced in China is discussed and then how this idealization and rele-vant aesthetic conceptions emerged in the text and images of modern newspapers in China is examined. When Western anatomy was introduced in China, it resulted in an overlap of Chinese and Western body knowledge. Western knowledge regarding human musculature gradually gained acceptance in China. For instance, “muscle” in anatomy was translated as jirou, an inherent term in Chinese medicine, and the combination of human musculature knowledge in Chinese and Western medicine emerged. As the knowledge of Western med-icine spread in China, aesthetic conceptions in modern China changed. For instance, im-ages of the muscular male body disseminated in China through translated anatomy books. Thereafter, the images expanded into Shenbao, the most widely circulated newspaper in modern China; in particular, after the 1920s, many pictures of strong athletes appeared in newspapers. Furthermore, during the 1920s–1940s, the popularity of discourse on the beauty of the body (renti mei) and robust beauty (jiankang mei) made muscle a key point of aesthetic conceptions, which can be seen in some publications on methods of muscle development (jirou fadafa), the purpose of which were to promote this new ideal male body.