本文以基姆·斯丹利·羅賓森的或然歷史小說《米鹽紀》為中心,探討小說關于"地理大發現"和"文明沖突論"的戲擬性敘事以及中國在其中扮演的關鍵角色,以揭示后冷戰時代歷史想象的結構性變革。通過對同主題的或然歷史、專業史學、通俗歷史的互文式對讀,本文分析了對"非西方現代性"的想象如何推動了后冷戰時代的反歐洲中心話語。借助德里達的視角,本文進一步指出,《米鹽紀》中奇異的"轉世論"元敘事旨在召喚烏托邦的幽靈,幫助我們想象資本主義現代性之外的歷史可能。

Focusing on Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Years of Rice and Salt(2002), this essay investigates the role of China in the novel’s playful representations of "New World Discovery" and "Civilizational Clashes," seeking to unveil the structural transformations of post-Cold War historiography. Tracing the intertextual connections among alternate history fiction, academic historiography, and pseudohistory, this essay explores how non-Western modernity contributes to a post-Cold War discourse on provincializing Europe. Following Derrida, this essay further argues that the novel’s uncanny meta-narrative of "reincarnation"invokes a spectral utopia that allows us to envision possible alternatives to capitalist modernity.