BOOK PROPOSAL

THE NANZHUANG UPRISING

The Story of Rih-A-Gui

A Historical Novel of Indigenous Resistance, Forbidden Love, Colonial Power, and the Birth of Modern Taiwan

Author:
Chen Wen-Han (Pen Name: Chen Qing-Yang)

Genre: Historical Fiction / Literary Historical Novel / Historical Romance / War & Colonial Fiction

Setting: Taiwan, 1895–1903
Primary Locations: Nanzhuang, Lion Xing Village, Donghe, Lucang, Jiali Mountain, Hsinchu and surrounding mountain regions

Manuscript Status: Completed

1. ONE-SENTENCE SUMMARY

When Japan takes control of Taiwan in 1895, a legendary Saisiyat leader, a Japanese businessman who falls in love with his daughter, and the indigenous communities of Nanzhuang are drawn into an increasingly violent struggle against colonial exploitation, corporate greed, and military repression—culminating in the largely forgotten 1902 Nanzhuang Uprising.

2. STORY OVERVIEW

The Nanzhuang Uprising is a sweeping historical novel inspired by the little-known 1902 resistance led by Rih-A-Gui, a legendary leader of the Saisiyat people in northern Taiwan.

The novel begins shortly after Taiwan is ceded by the Qing Empire to Japan in 1895. Rih-A-Gui, originally born Han Chinese but adopted into a Saisiyat family as a child, has grown into a respected and powerful leader. Through intelligence, courage, integrity, and an extraordinary ability to unite people across ethnic boundaries, he becomes the recognized leader of the Lianxing community, earning the loyalty of Saisiyat and Atayal communities as well as local Hakka settlers.

His community possesses valuable forests, camphor resources, wildlife, and agricultural land. These resources soon attract Japanese commercial interests.

Three representatives of Mitsui arrive in Nanzhuang to negotiate a partnership with Rih-A-Gui. Among them is Saku Nobuo, a young Japanese businessman fluent in Chinese. Unlike his superiors, Nobuo believes in honesty, mutual respect, and fair dealing. He is assigned to remain in Nanzhuang as a liaison while the company negotiates with Rih-A-Gui.

There, Nobuo meets Rih Mei-Lan, Rih-A-Gui's only daughter.

Mei-Lan is intelligent, graceful, independent, knowledgeable about the mountains, and skilled in animal husbandry, weaving, hunting, and archery. Her relationship with Nobuo develops gradually through conversations about nature, culture, friendship, and the increasingly complicated political reality created by Japan's occupation of Taiwan.

Their attraction becomes the novel's emotional center.

But their love story unfolds against a rapidly changing colonial landscape.

Mitsui attempts to impose an unequal contract upon the Lianxing community. Nobuo discovers the deception and publicly turns against his own superiors. He tears up the manipulated contract and refuses to participate in the seizure of local resources.

Rih-A-Gui, impressed by Nobuo's integrity, accepts the young Japanese man as a friend and eventually agrees to his marriage to Mei-Lan.

The marriage seems to promise a bridge between two cultures.

But history moves in the opposite direction.

A coal deposit is discovered near Jiali Mountain. Mitsui and Sumitomo compete for the mining rights. Sumitomo ultimately obtains the concession and seeks to build a railway through Lianxing territory. Rih-A-Gui and the local communities refuse to surrender their land.

The conflict between colonial economic interests and indigenous sovereignty intensifies.

Then disaster strikes.

A catastrophic coal-mine explosion kills more than one hundred miners. Sumitomo refuses to accept responsibility or adequately compensate the victims' families. The grieving families turn to Rih-A-Gui for help.

Nobuo and Rih Chang-Gui, Rih-A-Gui's son, attempt to assist the families in seeking justice.

The authorities respond with force.

Japanese police under Captain Sanmoto Seikichi enter the community, arrest villagers, open fire on petitioners, and imprison Nobuo and Chang-Gui. Nobuo is released through the intervention of Mitsui's senior leadership. Chang-Gui, however, is brutally tortured and killed.

His death transforms the conflict.

Rih-A-Gui can no longer remain a negotiator between the community and the colonial authorities. He becomes the leader of armed resistance.

He brings together Saisiyat, Atayal, Hakka, and other local fighters. Hundreds of volunteers mobilize against Japanese security forces.

The Japanese authorities respond by deploying regular troops and modern weapons.

The conflict escalates into a full-scale mountain war.

The novel's final movement becomes an epic struggle of strategy, sacrifice, family, and survival. Rih-A-Gui's forces use intimate knowledge of the mountains, ambushes, traps, explosives, and unconventional warfare to resist a technologically superior enemy.

Among the resistance fighters is Walis Belin, a young Atayal warrior and skilled marksman who loves Mei-Lan but eventually accepts her marriage to Nobuo. His relationship with Japanese employee Komori Koyuki provides a parallel cross-cultural love story. During the decisive battle at Lucang, Belin chooses to remain behind with his warriors as a rearguard, sacrificing himself so that the resistance can retreat.

The Japanese army gradually takes control of the villages and confiscates the Lianxing community's property.

Rih-A-Gui refuses to surrender.

He retreats with a small group into the mountains, where the Japanese military is reluctant to pursue him into unfamiliar terrain.

Meanwhile, Mei-Lan and Nobuo face an agonizing choice between love, family, and survival.

Rih-A-Gui, now aging and ill, tells Nobuo to take Mei-Lan away and return to Japan. Nobuo refuses to abandon his father-in-law.

Rih-A-Gui ultimately understands that the future belongs to the younger generation.

He dies in the mountains in 1903, at the age of sixty-four, leaving behind a story of resistance that would eventually fade from mainstream historical memory.

The novel closes not simply as a story of military defeat, but as a meditation on memory, dignity, cultural survival, love, and the human cost of colonialism.

3. TARGET READERS

Primary Audience

Readers of Historical Fiction

The novel will appeal to readers who enjoy historically grounded stories about colonialism, war, political conflict, and individuals caught between competing worlds.

Its combination of historical research and dramatic storytelling places it within the tradition of internationally marketable historical fiction.

Readers Interested in Asian History

The novel introduces American readers to a relatively unfamiliar chapter of modern Taiwanese history: the early years of Japanese colonial rule and the indigenous resistance that preceded the better-known 1930 Wushe Uprising.

The 1902 Nanzhuang conflict occurred twenty-eight years before the Wushe uprising, yet remains considerably less familiar outside Taiwan. The manuscript explicitly identifies this historical obscurity as one of the reasons for telling the story.

Readers of Indigenous and Postcolonial Literature

The novel explores:

• Indigenous sovereignty
• Colonial dispossession
• Cultural identity
• Economic exploitation
• Resistance to military occupation
• Interethnic solidarity
• Cultural survival
• Historical memory

It may therefore appeal to readers interested in Indigenous literature, postcolonial fiction, and stories of communities resisting imperial power.

Readers of Historical Romance

The relationship between Saku Nobuo and Rih Mei-Lan gives the novel an emotional and accessible entry point.

Their romance crosses national, cultural, and political boundaries. What begins as a meeting between a Japanese commercial representative and the daughter of an indigenous leader gradually becomes a marriage threatened by the very colonial system to which Nobuo belongs.

Readers Interested in Taiwan

For international readers, the novel offers something particularly valuable: a dramatic introduction to Taiwan before it became familiar to the contemporary world as a technological and democratic society.

The mountains, villages, indigenous traditions, camphor industry, coal mining, transportation networks, and early Japanese colonial institutions create an immersive historical portrait.

4. DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE NOVEL

4.1 A Forgotten Historical Event

The novel's strongest commercial and literary feature is its subject.

The 1902 Nanzhuang resistance is far less familiar internationally than the 1930 Wushe Uprising. The author's research began with field investigation, interviews with local elders, and visits to historical battlefields.

This gives the novel the quality of a historical discovery.

It is not simply another story about Japanese colonial Taiwan.

It brings an overlooked chapter of Taiwan's history to an international readership.

4.2 A Complex Central Hero

Rih-A-Gui is not portrayed merely as a warrior.

He is simultaneously:

• a community leader;
• a businessman;
• a father;
• a negotiator;
• a strategist;
• a protector of local resources;
• and eventually a resistance leader.

His personal history is itself a story of cultural transformation.

Originally Han Chinese, orphaned after arriving in Taiwan as a child, he is adopted into a Saisiyat family and eventually becomes a leader respected by Saisiyat, Atayal, and Hakka communities.

This makes him a particularly compelling protagonist for a novel concerned with identity and belonging.

4.3 Love Across the Colonial Divide

The romance between Rih Mei-Lan and Saku Nobuo gives the historical narrative an intimate emotional dimension.

Nobuo is Japanese, but he rejects the exploitative behavior of his own corporate superiors. Mei-Lan belongs to the community increasingly threatened by Japanese colonial expansion.

Their relationship therefore asks a fundamental question:

Can personal love overcome the political violence committed in the name of one's nation?

The novel does not offer an easy answer.

Their marriage becomes a symbol of human connection precisely when the political world around them is becoming increasingly divided.

4.4 Corporate Power and Colonialism

The novel does not depict colonialism solely through soldiers and weapons.

It shows how colonial domination can begin with:

• commercial contracts;
• resource extraction;
• mining concessions;
• land acquisition;
• railway construction;
• government-business cooperation;
• and manipulation of local legal structures.

The early conflict begins with attempts to control camphor and forest resources. Later, the discovery of coal dramatically raises the stakes.

The novel therefore connects colonial history with a modern question:

Who owns the land, who controls its resources, and who benefits from economic development?

4.5 Indigenous Knowledge as a Form of Power

The mountain environment is not merely a backdrop.

The Saisiyat and Atayal communities possess detailed knowledge of:

• forests;
• rivers;
• wildlife;
• hunting;
• agriculture;
• mountain trails;
• defensive positions;
• and seasonal environmental changes.

This knowledge becomes crucial during the war.

The Japanese military possesses superior weapons and larger numbers, but the resistance fighters understand the terrain.

The manuscript explicitly develops an unconventional-war strategy in which the resistance uses the geography of the mountains, ambushes, explosives, strategic withdrawal, and coordinated resistance among different communities.

4.6 A Multi-Ethnic Story

The novel avoids reducing the conflict to a simple Japanese-versus-indigenous binary.

Saisiyat, Atayal, Hakka, Han Chinese settlers, Japanese employees, businessmen, government officials, and soldiers all participate in the story.

The result is a more complex historical landscape in which individuals may find themselves standing on different sides of political power.

This complexity is particularly visible through Nobuo, who is Japanese but ultimately chooses justice and loyalty over corporate obedience.

4.7 A Cinematic Historical World

The novel contains a highly visual world suitable for adaptation.

Among its cinematic elements are:

• mist-covered mountain valleys;
• traditional Saisiyat and Atayal villages;
• elevated houses;
• forest camps;
• deer hunting;
• the camphor industry;
• coal mines;
• steam and industrial machinery;
• ox-cart transportation;
• Japanese colonial offices;
• military encampments;
• mountain warfare;
• traditional festivals;
• torch and fire ceremonies;
• waterfalls and rivers;
• night scenes filled with fireflies;
• and large-scale battles.

The novel opens with a poetic historical epic sequence describing warriors preparing for battle, creating material that could readily function as a cinematic prologue.

5. FILM AND TELEVISION ADAPTATION POTENTIAL

Feature Film Potential

The Nanzhuang Uprising possesses strong feature-film potential because its story combines three commercially recognizable engines:

LOVE + POWER + WAR

The emotional spine can be built around three central figures:

Rih-A-Gui — the indigenous leader
Mei-Lan — his daughter
Saku Nobuo — the Japanese man who loves her

Their personal relationships unfold against the historical machinery of colonial expansion.

This allows the adaptation to move naturally between intimate family drama and large-scale historical spectacle.

Potential Film Structure

ACT I — THE NEW RULERS

Japan takes control of Taiwan.

Japanese commercial interests enter Nanzhuang.

Nobuo arrives.

He meets Mei-Lan.

Rih-A-Gui negotiates with Mitsui.

ACT II — LOVE AND BUSINESS

Nobuo discovers the fraudulent contract.

He chooses Rih-A-Gui's side.

His relationship with Mei-Lan develops.

Their marriage creates hope for reconciliation between cultures.

Then coal is discovered.

ACT III — THE EXPLOSION

The Jiali coal mine disaster kills more than one hundred workers.

Families demand justice.

Rih Chang-Gui and Nobuo become involved.

The police open fire.

Chang-Gui is tortured and killed.

The personal conflict becomes armed resistance.

ACT IV — THE MOUNTAIN WAR

Rih-A-Gui unites several communities.

The Japanese army launches a major campaign.

Mountain warfare begins.

The resistance wins several tactical victories.

Belin sacrifices himself during the retreat from Lucang.

ACT V — THE LAST MOUNTAIN

The Japanese occupy the villages.

Rih-A-Gui retreats into the mountains.

Nobuo and Mei-Lan face separation from her family.

Rih-A-Gui refuses surrender.

He dies in the mountains.

His defeat becomes a form of historical victory: his resistance survives in memory.

TELEVISION SERIES POTENTIAL

The material may be even better suited to a limited historical television series than to a single feature film.

A proposed format would be:

8-Episode Limited Series

Episode 1 — The Mountain Kingdom
The world of Nanzhuang before the conflict.

Episode 2 — The Japanese Arrive
Mitsui enters the region. Nobuo meets Mei-Lan.

Episode 3 — The Contract
Corporate manipulation and the struggle over local resources.

Episode 4 — The Marriage
Nobuo and Mei-Lan marry while tensions escalate.

Episode 5 — The Mine
The Jiali coal mine disaster changes everything.

Episode 6 — The Blood Debt
Chang-Gui is killed. Rih-A-Gui chooses resistance.

Episode 7 — The Mountain War
The resistance confronts the Japanese military.

Episode 8 — The Last Fire
Defeat, retreat, sacrifice, and Rih-A-Gui's final years.

This structure would allow the adaptation to explore not only battles but also the emotional lives of the characters, corporate politics, indigenous culture, family relationships, and the moral conflict within the Japanese community.

INTERNATIONAL SCREEN POSITIONING

The project could be positioned as a historical drama combining the emotional appeal of an epic romance with the political depth of a colonial resistance story.

Its international appeal lies in the fact that the story is simultaneously:

A Taiwanese story.

An Indigenous story.

An Asian colonial story.

A cross-cultural love story.

A family tragedy.

And a universal story about dignity and freedom.

The historical conflict also provides a distinctive setting rarely represented in mainstream English-language cinema: Taiwan's mountainous interior during the first decade of Japanese colonial rule.

6. THEMATIC CORE

At its deepest level, The Nanzhuang Uprising is about the price of modernization when modernization is imposed through unequal power.

The novel asks:

What happens when economic development becomes a justification for taking another people's land?

What happens when law serves power rather than justice?

Can friendship survive political conflict?

Can love cross an imperial boundary?

What does resistance mean when victory is impossible?

And ultimately:

How does a defeated people preserve dignity when history remembers the conqueror more clearly than the conquered?

The novel's answer is found in Rih-A-Gui's refusal to surrender his dignity.

7. AUTHOR'S RESEARCH AND HISTORICAL FOUNDATION

The manuscript is rooted in the author's long-term investigation of the Nanzhuang historical conflict.

According to the author's statement, the historical materials concerning the 1902 Nanzhuang uprising are limited. The author therefore conducted field research, visited local elders, and investigated several historical battlefields before reconstructing the story.

The novel intentionally transforms historical material into dramatic fiction rather than presenting itself as a conventional academic history.

This approach allows historical events to be experienced through characters, relationships, conflict, dialogue, landscape, and emotional consequence.

The author explicitly describes the work as dramatizing historical material while preserving the spirit of the historical events rather than being mechanically bound to every surviving historical record.

8. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

CHEN WEN-HAN

Pen Name: CHEN QING-YANG

Chen Wen-Han (陳文翰), writing under the pen name Chen Qing-Yang (陳清揚), is a Taiwanese novelist, poet, literary critic, rhetoric scholar, and screenwriter.

His creative and scholarly work crosses the boundaries of literature, rhetoric, narrative studies, poetry, fiction, film, and television.

He has devoted extensive attention to Taiwanese literature, modern Chinese-language poetry, narrative structure, literary criticism, rhetoric, and screenwriting. His literary interests include historical fiction, romance, fantasy, social themes, cultural memory, and the adaptation of literary works for film and television.

As a writer-scholar, Chen approaches fiction not only as storytelling but also as a means of preserving cultural memory and examining the relationship between individuals and historical forces.

His body of creative work includes novels and screenplays exploring love, history, identity, social transformation, fantasy, war, and human resilience.

Among his major literary projects are:

• The Nanzhuang Uprising
• You Must Come Back Alive
• Reborn Youth
• Love Letter from Lhasa
• The Medical Dragon of the Deserted Island
• Taipei: Na-ka-si
• and other novels, poetry collections, literary criticism, and screenwriting projects.

His scholarly interests in Chinese rhetoric and modern poetry have also led to extensive research and writing on poetic aesthetics, formal design, expressive techniques, rhetoric, and literary criticism.

Chen's international literary ambition is to introduce significant Taiwanese stories and Chinese-language literary traditions to readers beyond Taiwan, particularly through English-language publication and screen adaptation.

9. AUTHOR'S INTERNATIONAL POSITIONING

Chen Wen-Han / Chen Qing-Yang is particularly well positioned to develop The Nanzhuang Uprising for an international readership because the project combines three aspects of his creative identity:

Literary research — historical and cultural investigation.

Creative writing — narrative, characterization, romance, and literary expression.

Screenwriting — visual storytelling, dramatic structure, conflict, and cinematic scenes.

The result is a novel conceived not only as a literary work but also as a potential international story world capable of expansion into film and television.

10. WHY THIS BOOK, WHY NOW?

For American and international readers, Taiwan is increasingly recognized as a culturally distinctive society with a complex history shaped by multiple colonial, political, and cultural forces.

Yet many chapters of Taiwan's history remain largely unknown to English-language readers.

The Nanzhuang Uprising offers an opportunity to bring one of those forgotten stories into the international literary marketplace.

It does so not through a textbook, but through the lives of people:

a father defending his homeland,

a daughter falling in love across a political boundary,

a young Japanese man rejecting injustice,

a son murdered while seeking justice,

and a mountain leader who chooses resistance rather than surrender.

The story ultimately argues that historical memory is not merely about remembering who won.

It is about remembering who refused to disappear.

CONTACT

Chen Wen-Han / Chen Qing-Yang
Taiwan
Email: 54088rabbit@gmail.com

Available rights: English-language publication rights / Translation rights / Film and Television Adaptation Rights

《南庄抗日事件》

——日阿拐的故事

一部關於原住民抗爭、跨文化愛情、殖民權力與臺灣現代歷史起源的歷史小說

作者：
陳文翰（筆名：陳清揚）

類型：
歷史小說／文學歷史小說／歷史愛情小說／戰爭與殖民小說

時代背景：
1895－1903年

主要場景：
南庄、獅里興社、東河、鹿場、佳里山、新竹及周邊山區

稿件狀態： 完稿

1. 一句話總結

1895年日本接管臺灣之後，一位傳奇的賽夏族領袖、一名愛上他女兒的日本商人，以及南庄地區的原住民族群，被捲入殖民資本、土地掠奪與軍警鎮壓的漩渦，最終爆發成為1902年那場鮮為人知、卻極其悲壯的「南庄抗日事件」。

2. 故事大綱

《南庄抗日事件》是一部以1902年南庄日阿拐抗日事件為歷史背景發展而成的長篇歷史小說。

故事從1895年清廷將臺灣割讓給日本開始。

日阿拐原本是漢人，八歲時隨父母來到臺灣，父母因水土不服病逝後，被親戚扶養，後來又被賣給賽夏族的日來有收為養子。

他在賽夏族社會中成長，憑藉聰明才智、堅毅性格與卓越領導能力，逐漸獲得賽夏族、泰雅族以及客家族群的信任，最後成為聯興庄總頭目。

他以獅里興社為事業與家族的大本營，經營林場、樟腦、鹿場及各種山產，形成一個具有相當規模的地方社群與經濟體系。

然而，日本殖民統治開始之後，南庄豐富的森林、樟腦、鹿皮、煤礦與土地資源，很快成為日本商社與政府覬覦的目標。

三井會社派出宮本武雄、大橋以及年輕的佐久信夫進入南庄。

其中佐久信夫精通漢語，個性正直善良，重視誠信，不喜歡欺騙與利用。他原本只是奉命進入聯興庄進行商業調查，卻在這裡遇見日阿拐的女兒——日美蘭。

日美蘭聰慧、善良、美麗而有主見，熟悉山林、動物、狩獵與部落生活，同時精通編織與女紅，是日阿拐唯一的女兒。

信夫與美蘭從相識、相知逐漸發展出愛情。

然而，兩人的愛情並不是單純的男女戀情。

信夫是日本人，而美蘭則是殖民統治下原住民社群的女兒。

兩人的感情從一開始，就被歷史與政治力量包圍。

商業契約的陰謀

三井會社表面上希望與聯興庄合作開發林場與樟腦事業，實際上卻企圖利用不平等契約逐步控制聯興庄的產業。

宮本武雄等人甚至暗中修改契約條文，企圖將聯興庄的產業納入三井控制。

信夫得知真相後，拒絕與自己的公司同流合污。

在宮本帶著地方官員進入聯興庄、要求全面接管產業時，信夫當面揭穿陰謀，甚至撕毀被動過手腳的契約。

日阿拐因此對信夫刮目相看，最後同意女兒美蘭與信夫結婚。

這一段形成小說第一個重要的戲劇轉折：

一名日本青年選擇站在人與正義的一方，而不是站在帝國與公司的權力一方。

煤礦成為新的衝突引爆點

就在信夫與美蘭的愛情逐漸成熟之際，佳里山麓發現煤礦。

三井與住友兩大日本企業開始爭奪採礦權。

最後，住友取得佳里煤礦開採權，並要求聯興庄提供土地修築運煤鐵路。

聯興庄拒絕。

對日阿拐而言，問題已經不只是土地價格，而是：

誰有權決定土地的未來？

住友希望把南庄的土地、煤礦、交通與經濟發展納入殖民資本體系，而聯興庄則試圖維持自身的土地權利與生活方式。

因此，商業衝突逐漸演變成政治衝突。

佳里煤礦爆炸

佳里煤礦開始開採後，由於管理不善，事故接連發生。

最後，一場瓦斯爆炸造成一百多名礦工死亡。

住友會社卻避不出面處理。

罹難者家屬求助無門，只好尋求日阿拐協助。

信夫與日長貴站在家屬一方，協助他們向政府陳情。

然而，地方警備隊長三本清吉卻採取武力鎮壓。

請願民眾遭到槍擊，多人死亡或受傷，信夫與長貴也被逮捕。

信夫後來因三井大社長藤井大照取得保釋令而獲釋。

但是日長貴卻落入三本清吉手中。

三本將私人恩怨與政治權力混為一談，對長貴刑求逼供。

最後，長貴被活活打死。

抗日戰爭正式爆發

長貴之死成為整個故事最大的轉折點。

日阿拐原本試圖以談判、商業合作與地方自治來維護聯興庄。

但是當法律無法保護人民、政府與企業聯手侵犯地方權利、警察以槍械和酷刑對待平民時，日阿拐終於失去和平解決問題的可能。

他決定反抗。

日阿拐聯合賽夏族、泰雅族、客家族群以及地方居民，組織數百名義勇軍。

日本政府則調集正規軍警，準備全面鎮壓。

從這一刻開始，小說從歷史愛情與商業鬥爭，正式轉入史詩式戰爭敘事。

山林中的戰爭

聯興庄義勇軍最大的優勢，不是武器，而是山林。

林永年老教頭具有豐富的軍事經驗，並培養出瓦拉奈、李淵明等軍事人才。

義勇軍熟悉山區地形，因此採取誘敵深入、奇襲、伏擊、爆破與分散作戰等策略。

小說後半部逐漸形成一幅龐大的山地戰爭圖景。

日軍從苗栗、新竹、竹東等方向進軍，企圖包圍獅里興社，再一路進入東河、鹿場及加里山山區。

義勇軍則利用山徑、溪谷、高地與隘口進行阻擊。

這種戰略使武器與兵力占優勢的日軍，在山區一度遭遇嚴重挫敗。

貝林的犧牲

泰雅族青年瓦歷斯．貝林是小說中極具魅力的人物之一。

他年輕、勇敢、善於射箭，曾經暗戀美蘭，但最終尊重美蘭與信夫的婚姻。

後來，他與日本籍女子中森小雪相戀。

這段跨文化戀情與信夫、美蘭的愛情形成呼應。

然而，在鹿場戰役中，為了讓聯興庄義勇軍撤退，貝林決定留下斷後。

他帶著數十名泰雅族戰士迎擊日軍，最後壯烈犧牲。

更具悲劇意味的是，此時小雪已經懷有他的孩子。

因此，貝林的死亡不只是戰場上的死亡，也意味著一個尚未出生的孩子失去了父親。

日阿拐最後的選擇

隨著日軍逐漸控制南庄各部落，聯興庄產業也被官廳沒收。

日阿拐拒絕投降。

他帶著少數族人退入佳里山區。

日軍因不熟悉山區地形，不敢貿然深入，因此無法徹底消滅這位抵抗領袖。

年老、疾病與戰爭失敗的陰影逐漸侵蝕日阿拐。

最後，他對信夫與美蘭說：

「把美蘭帶走，走得越遠越好。」

他希望女兒離開戰爭，重新開始自己的人生。

信夫卻不願離開岳父。

這場父女、翁婿之間的離別，使整部小說從戰爭史詩回到最深沉的人性與親情。

日阿拐最終在山中病逝。

他沒有向殖民政府投降。

他的軍事抵抗雖然失敗，但是他的尊嚴與精神沒有被征服。

3. 目標讀者

第一類：歷史小說讀者

適合喜愛戰爭、殖民、帝國、歷史人物與家族命運題材的讀者。

第二類：亞洲歷史讀者

美國讀者對臺灣的現代歷史仍相對陌生。

本書可以提供一個罕見的歷史入口：

1895年日本殖民統治開始之後的臺灣。

尤其是一般國際讀者較少接觸的原住民山區歷史。

第三類：原住民族與後殖民文學讀者

作品涉及：

• 原住民族土地權；
• 殖民統治；
• 資源掠奪；
• 文化認同；
• 武力壓迫；
• 民族抵抗；
• 跨族群合作；
• 歷史記憶。

第四類：歷史愛情小說讀者

信夫與美蘭的愛情提供了一條非常強的情感敘事線。

他們的婚姻跨越：

日本／臺灣

殖民者／被殖民者

商業利益／地方權益

個人愛情／國家政治

因此具有相當鮮明的國際閱讀潛力。

4. 本篇小說特色

一、挖掘一段被遺忘的臺灣歷史

1902年的南庄抗日事件，比1930年著名的霧社事件早28年。

但相較於莫那魯道與霧社事件，日阿拐及南庄事件在國際上的知名度非常低。

作者因此透過長期田野調查、尋訪地方長者以及古戰場考察，重新整理這段歷史。

這使作品具有「重新發現歷史」的特殊價值。

二、日阿拐是一個具有複雜身分的歷史人物

日阿拐不是單純的抗日英雄。

他同時是：

父親、企業經營者、地方領袖、談判者、軍事領導者與抵抗者。

更重要的是，他本人原為漢人，後來成為賽夏族社會的一員。

因此他的生命本身就具有「跨族群身分」的意義。

三、愛情與殖民歷史交織

信夫與美蘭的愛情，是小說最重要的情感支柱。

兩個相愛的人，本來可能成為兩個文化之間的橋樑。

然而，殖民政治卻不斷破壞這座橋樑。

這使愛情不只是浪漫元素，而成為小說探討殖民、文化與人性的核心工具。

四、商業資本與殖民政治結合

作品沒有把殖民壓迫單純寫成軍隊鎮壓。

小說首先寫：

契約 → 資源 → 土地 → 礦業 → 鐵路 → 警察 → 軍隊 → 戰爭

也就是說，殖民統治首先可能以「商業合作」的形式進入。

當經濟利益受到阻礙，最後才轉化成武力。

這使小說具有相當現代的問題意識。

五、原住民族文化不是背景，而是故事力量

山林、狩獵、鹿場、矮靈祭、森林資源、部落生活與傳統習俗，都融入故事。

尤其小說描寫美蘭與信夫討論動物、森林以及矮靈祭的情節，使文化交流成為人物關係的一部分。

因此，南庄不是一個單純的「戰場」。

它是一個具有文化、歷史與生命系統的地方。

六、具有史詩式戰爭場面

小說後半部具有高度視覺化的戰爭場景：

• 山林伏擊；
• 奇襲；
• 爆破；
• 部落防禦；
• 日軍進山；
• 鹿場決戰；
• 戰士斷後；
• 山區撤退；
• 最後的山中抵抗。

這些元素具有很強的電影敘事潛能。

5. 電影與電視劇改編潛能

電影潛能：極高

本書最適合的電影定位是：

Historical Epic + Romance + War Drama

也就是：

歷史史詩＋跨文化愛情＋殖民戰爭

電影可以以三個人物作為核心：

日阿拐——守護土地的父親與領袖

日美蘭——夾在愛情與家族命運之間的女性

佐久信夫——來自殖民者陣營、最後卻選擇正義的日本青年

三人的關係形成非常清楚的戲劇三角。

電影五幕結構建議

第一幕：日本人來了

1895年。

日本接管臺灣。

三井進入南庄。

信夫來到聯興庄。

他遇見美蘭。

第二幕：愛情與契約

三井企圖利用不平等契約控制聯興庄。

信夫揭穿陰謀。

信夫與美蘭相愛。

兩人結婚。

短暫的和平似乎出現。

第三幕：煤礦爆炸

佳里煤礦發生重大事故。

百餘名礦工死亡。

家屬要求賠償。

警察鎮壓。

長貴遭酷刑死亡。

日阿拐決定反抗。

第四幕：山林戰爭

日阿拐組織聯興庄義勇軍。

賽夏、泰雅與客家族群共同抵抗。

日軍大軍進入山區。

鹿場大戰爆發。

貝林斷後犧牲。

第五幕：最後的山

聯興庄失守。

產業被沒收。

日阿拐退入山區。

信夫與美蘭面臨離別。

日阿拐拒絕投降。

最後病逝山中。

他的戰爭失敗了。

但他的精神留下來。

電視劇潛能

事實上，這部作品的內容非常適合發展成：

8集歷史電視劇／Limited Series

Episode 1 — The Mountain Kingdom

南庄、日阿拐及部落世界。

Episode 2 — The Japanese Arrive

日本人進入南庄，信夫與美蘭相遇。

Episode 3 — The Contract

三井的商業陰謀。

Episode 4 — The Marriage

信夫與美蘭結婚，兩個家庭開始建立關係。

Episode 5 — The Mine

佳里煤礦爆炸。

Episode 6 — The Blood Debt

長貴死亡，和平談判徹底破裂。

Episode 7 — The Mountain War

日阿拐率領義勇軍與日軍作戰。

Episode 8 — The Last Mountain

失敗、撤退、犧牲與日阿拐最後的人生。

國際影視市場定位

本作品的影視改編可以定位為：

A Taiwanese historical epic about love, colonialism, indigenous resistance, and human dignity.

它同時具有：

臺灣故事

原住民族故事

亞洲殖民歷史

跨文化愛情

家族悲劇

戰爭史詩

因此不是單純的「抗日故事」。

它是一個關於：

土地、尊嚴、愛情、文化與自由

的普世故事。

6. 核心主題

《南庄抗日事件》最深層的問題，是：

當「現代化」是以不平等的權力強加於一個地方時，誰有權決定土地的未來？

小說同時追問：

法律是否一定代表正義？

商業合作是否可能成為殖民控制的工具？

個人的愛情能否超越國家與民族？

朋友能否在戰爭中保持信任？

當一個弱小群體注定無法在軍事上戰勝強大的帝國時，抵抗還有沒有意義？

小說最後給出的答案是：

即使無法贏得戰爭，也可以拒絕失去尊嚴。

7. 作者田野調查與歷史基礎

本作品並非單純架空的歷史冒險小說。

作者長期進行南庄地區田野調查，尋訪當地長者，並考察數處歷史古戰場，在史料有限的情況下逐步整理出這段百餘年前的原住民族抗日事件。

小說採取的是：

「歷史精神真實＋文學戲劇重構」

的創作方式。

也就是以歷史事件與人物為基礎，但透過小說人物、愛情、對話、衝突與戲劇情節重新建構，使讀者能夠從人物生命經驗中感受歷史。

作者在原作中也明確說明，本作是以戲劇手法處理史料，重視歷史精神而不拘泥於史料形式。

8. 作者簡介

陳文翰

筆名：陳清揚

陳文翰（筆名：陳清揚）為臺灣小說家、詩人、文學評論家、修辭學者及電影電視編劇，長期從事臺灣文學、現代詩、小說、文學評論、修辭美學、敘事學及影視劇本創作。

其創作與研究跨越：

小說、詩、新詩理論、修辭學、文學批評、電影、電視與文化研究。

在文學創作方面，陳文翰／陳清揚長期關注歷史、愛情、戰爭、文化記憶、社會變遷、人性與生命等主題，並嘗試將文學敘事與影像敘事結合，使小說作品同時具備文學閱讀與影視改編的可能性。

主要創作與國際出版推廣作品包括：

• 《南庄抗日事件》
• 《你要活著回來》
• 《再版的青春》
• 《拉薩情書》
• 《荒島醫龍》
• 《台北。那卡西》
• 以及其他小說、詩作、文學評論、修辭學著作與電影電視劇本。

在學術研究方面，作者長期研究華文現代詩、修辭美學、形式設計、表現技法與文學批評，並建立以修辭、敘事結構與影像思維分析文學作品的研究方向。

其文學創作的重要特色，是將：

文學創作 × 歷史研究 × 修辭美學 × 敘事學 × 電影劇本

結合在一起。

9. 作者的國際出版定位

陳文翰／陳清揚的創作具有鮮明的臺灣文化背景，同時具有跨文化敘事的企圖。

《南庄抗日事件》尤其適合進入國際市場，因為它不是只講臺灣的地方史，而是透過一個具體的歷史事件，處理全世界讀者都能理解的問題：

殖民與自由。

土地與資源。

愛情與國家。

個人與權力。

文化與身份。

失敗與尊嚴。

因此，這部作品可以成為英語世界讀者理解臺灣歷史與原住民族文化的一個重要文學入口。

10. 為什麼是現在？

今日國際讀者對臺灣的政治、科技與民主發展已有相當程度的關注，但臺灣的歷史與文學仍有大量內容尚未被英語世界充分理解。

尤其是1895年日本殖民統治初期，以及1930年霧社事件之前的原住民族抵抗歷史，更少被國際大眾讀者認識。

《南庄抗日事件》正好提供了一個獨特的切入點。

它不是一本歷史教科書。

它是一個關於人的故事：

一個守護家園的父親；

一個被戰爭逼入絕境的女兒；

一個選擇正義而非帝國利益的日本青年；

一個被酷刑殺害的兒子；

一群不願放棄土地與尊嚴的山林戰士；

以及一位即使知道自己可能無法獲勝，仍然拒絕投降的老人。

這是一段戰敗者的歷史。

但更重要的是：

這是一段拒絕被歷史遺忘的生命史。

作者聯絡資料

陳文翰／陳清揚

Taiwan

Email: 54088rabbit@gmail.com

Available Rights:
English-language Publication Rights
Translation Rights
Film Adaptation Rights
Television Adaptation Rights