19世紀清治台灣後期的嘉義城，其地方社會發展為了因應屢遭圍困的攻城戰事、司法治安上的公權力不彰，因而自地方社會內部發展出，一套結合政治與宗教（政教合一）、政治與商經關係互構，由內在自發性形成的社會秩序安全管理模式；因此，本文要旨即在還原19世紀嘉義城的社會發展概況，以及探討整個舊城市在匪亂滋擾、1895年乙未變天等巨驟的歷史變遷中，內在信仰的空間環境、實質外在的舊城地環境，如何在日治初期（1895-1912年）這段期間，舊城市文脈被改造變革的過程。 本研究嚐試藉由台灣總督府公文類纂等文獻史料的蒐集整理為礎石，尤以日人從事之舊慣調查資料，還原解讀19世紀的嘉義城社會發展概況，並且剖析日人於對於嘉義城進行諸項改造施政，包括信仰環境如何被解構再重整、市區改正建設第一期計劃道路工事過程中，舊街路系統空間文脈如何被轉變等，以還原描繪出清季嘉義城的市貌環境、聚落與信仰等人文地景互動的關係，企圖打破百年時空的阻絕停滯，銜接串起史料化為灰燼的斷代缺憾，找尋在時代的巨大洪流變遷中，嘉義市有沒有不變的、永恆的文化資產仍被保留下來？『如果沒有，它是怎麼消失的？』，以及『如果有，它將會是什麼？』，並且透過本研究的還原再詮釋，使此文化資產再存在進臻於可能。 In the 19th century, a Taiwanese city, Chiayi, ruled by the late Qīng dynasty was coping with the social chaos caused by constant military sieges, a flawed jurisdiction system and a corrupt government. An autonomous social order control system was soon developed which combined religious and secular rule and political-commercial interaction. This essay is concerned with the original social development of the 19th century’s Chiayi city amidst the increasing harassments, the shifting of religion and the city’s external environmental brought about by the historical catastrophe of the Yi-wei Incident (1895). It also deals with how the old city underwent its contextual reformation in the early reign of the Japanese from 1895-1912. This essay attempts to revive and understand the nineteenth century’s social development of Chiayi based on research of the Archives of Taiwan Governor General's Office, especially the old custom studies done by the Japanese. It also looks into the Japanese’s political and social measures aiming at reforming the city of Chiayi regarding religious environmental settings and the old street system’s contextual arrangement in the first phrase of the street construction project. By doing so, the city’s original face of the late Qing dynasty can be revealed. By doing this, the interaction between human activities and the landscape can also be illustrated, as well as the social relationship between towns. Thus not only can a hundred year time difference be broken, but the historical reconnection also makes it possible for us to seek the following questions: Has there been any cultural assets been passed down behind the era-thick stonewall? If so, what are they? And‘ if there weren’t, how did they disappear? By exploring the future issues, this essay attempts find out the implications to the restoration of such cultural assets.
