發生在一百二十年前的清法越南戰爭，在法國似已逐漸成為被人遺忘的戰事，其歷年來出版的大量回憶錄、檔案文件、學術研究等大抵達成窮盡考察的共識，因此在既有的歷史定論下，反而容易自集體記憶中逐漸褪色，甚至消失，畢竟法屬印度支那才是主體，清法戰爭只不過是插曲而已。 　　反觀中國方面，自清代以來，迄今已出版的文集、資料、研究幾可說是「汗牛充棟」。然而，對於清法戰爭中的若干史實仍有歧見，或有未盡充分明白之處，所以相關的評價自然也就矛盾互見各不相容。在經過兩個甲子的時光之後，清法戰爭仍籠罩在一片民族主義的迷霧中。正如西哲所謂：「人創造歷史，卻不了解他所創造的歷史」。 　　臺灣無端被捲入清法戰火，無論是外交談判失誤或邊將啟釁，在在顯示戰爭本質的荒謬。本文將淡水、基隆戰役中的史實，透過清法兩國當時的通俗讀物──畫報所呈現給其民眾的「戰況」進行對比，從而指出史實與集體記憶的差異面相。產生集體記憶的扭曲的機制有許多因素，如選擇性記憶或動機性遺忘等，其目的無非使這個群體的集體記憶有簡單的解釋，經由選擇、美化將歷史事件放在特殊的背景中達到集體形象的自我滿足。 　　新的研究成果不斷出現，但是對於大部分民眾的集體記憶似乎不受影響，尤其當牽涉感情因素、宗教信仰，更使史實難以彰明。無論如何，客觀研究應實事求是，對官文書紀錄、市鎮史誌的書寫，不應「誤導」民眾。

The Sino-French War of 1884-85 appears to have been forgotten by the French people, despite large quantities of veritable memoirs, archives, documents and researches resulting in an acceptable history of this war that have been done over the past 120 year. These efforts tend to fade away from the collective memory of the French people and are likely to disappear eventually. After all, only the past colonial Indochina has remained their main concern, whereas the Keelung and Tamsui Battles in Taiwan were but just some of the episodes in the nearly forgotten war. In China, by contrast, there is a bulk of published books, documents and researches concerning the Sino-French War. These accounts include several major historical events which provoked heated debates and are not yet clarified in the related literature. Futhermore, there are inconsistencies in the relevant evaluations. As time passes by, the story/history of the Sino-French War is still clouded in a complete fog of nationalism in China, as described by Hegel: "People create history, but they don't understand the history created by them." Taiwan was involved in this war of 1884-85 for no good reason but for the gage. The diplomatic failure or the disobedience of the generals, which led to the battles in Taiwan, showed the absurdity of this war. This paper first compares the battles in Keelung and Tamsui by popular pictorial newspapers available at that time in China and France, and further indicates the differences between the historical events and their collective memory/memories. Selected memory, motivational omission, fabrica- tion and/or exaggeration might be one or more of the mechanisms for the distortion in collective memory. They tend to give simplified explanations and to obtain a self- satisfied image by exaggerating or embellishing the historical context. The research findings on the related literature have been published continuously, but these do not seem to have crucial effect on the people's collective memory of the period, particularly when their emotions and religious beliefs are involved. This makes clarifications in the historical events very difficult. All in all, objective research must seek truths from facts, and the public shouldn't be misled even by official records and writings.

清法戰爭、淡水、基隆、法越戰爭、點石齋畫報、集體記憶

the Sino-French War, Keelung, Tamsui, French-Vietnamese War, Dian shi zhai pictorial, collective memory