《馬來亞少年》創刊於1946年，為馬來亞華人於戰後發行的首份華文兒童刊物，並由當時著名的南洋研究學者許雲樵任編輯。每期平均銷售量達兩萬份，歷時十年之久，影響深遠。本文嘗試以此刊為研究對象，探討戰後初期馬來亞地區的兒童形象與文化內涵，如何反映到這份由華人出版發行和編輯的報刊上。戰前，南來華人對僑居於馬來亞的第一代華族少年兒童問題關注有限。直到戰後，特別是英殖民勢力的捲土重來，才令長期處於萌芽狀態的在地華人兒童研究有了新的發展。而《馬來亞少年》作為當時率先發行的華文刊物，通過研究其營運狀況、編輯方針和傳播影響，在很大程度上可以反映出戰後身處馬來亞的華人，如何於多元複雜的政治與社會環境中看待「兒童」此一特定群體。研究結果顯示，《馬來亞少年》反映出來的兒童形象，其內涵的蘊釀與形成，主要是一種來自於以南洋書局編輯部為代表的華人群，基於建國此一訴求，對戰後新公民、新國族形象的想像與建構。通過「關懷兒童」、「關懷馬來亞」兩大編輯方針，《馬來亞少年》努力營構能體現戰後馬來亞發展需求的新公民、新國族形象。此項建構工程，因其處於多元語境，加上戰後十年的局勢變化，以及多重認同意識的拉鋸，結果呈現不斷調整流動的特質，包括：(1)嚮往包容糅合的南洋和本土情懷；(2)殖民與去殖民的矛盾心理，以及(3)中國化∕中華化或去中國化∕去中華化的拿捏取捨。這些複雜交錯的特質，反映了戰後馬來亞華人對多元文化、多元民族共生共榮的渴盼和想像。

Young Malayans was the first Chinese-language press for children that established by the Nanyang Bookshop in 1946. And the famous Chinese overseas scholar Hsu Yun-Tsiao was assigned as its editor. With the average sales of 20,000 copies per number for 10 years, this publication gained itself a good reputation and was greatly welcomed by large number of readers. Due to poverty, the effect of war and citizen identification, issues of Chinese overseas children in Malaya had received limited attention by the local society and the first generation of Chinese migrants. This situation began to change after World War II when the British colonists returned to Malaya. Under the changing political and social circumstances, concerns and research on children education and culture significantly increased in comparison to the period before World War II. It is noteworthy that, “children” become a special group of individuals who represents and conveys the new concept of Malaya citizen. As the first and most popular children publication that was established just after World War II, Young Malayans played an important role in constructing the new image of children in Malaya. And the editing principal and strategy of the editor(s) / editorial board (known as “Caring for the Children” and “Caring for Malaya”), even showed a significant groups of overseas and local Chinese’s concerns on their young generation, and most importantly their eager anticipation in multicultural coexistence, their imagination of an ideal Malaya citizen/citizenship in a new age.