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Chinese Literature
Chinese literature has contrasted with its earlier literary traditions for the last century in both form and content. Most of the renowned modern Chinese writers have heavily relied on the subject matter, forms, literary concepts, and writing techniques of the West. They have viewed the traditional past with an attitude of either rejection or criticism. This is evident in the writers of the May Fourth Movement from 1917-21 and those who were active in the People’s Republic (Odell). However, in the early 1950s, some writers in the People’s Republic began a process of trying to reconcile with the past. Therefore, the modern Chinese writers could not escape referencing the traditional beliefs, ideologies, literary forms, and poetic connotations of the past, no matter how much they try to renounce it.
It is important to note that the Chinese people themselves view their past with an attitude of renunciation because of the humiliation China suffered after clashing with the West. At the time, China was grappling with a cultural superiority complex, which led to its defeat by Western and Japanese powers between 1842 and World War II (Odell). Therefore, the Chinese writers of the May Fourth Movement reacted to this by fully rejecting the traditional values of the West.
Major journals published in the May Fourth Movement fiercely attacked the Confucian ethics. In the two decades after the May Fourth Movement, writers used literature to castigate evils of the past. Lu Xun started exploring renunciation of the traditional values as a major theme in his literary works, particularly “Father of Modern Chinese Literature” (Yang 43). In his novels, essays, and short stories, Xun emotionally attacked the corruption, cruelty, and blindness of feudalism, as he witnessed in the first three decades. Xun denied the past in his popular short story, “ A Madman’s Diary,” where he described it as “four thousand years of man-eating history” (Odell). Such a magnitude of renunciation of the past had never been witnessed in Chinese literature.
Despite the negative attitude the May Fourth Movement instilled against the past, the traditional literary forms continue to feature in present Chinese literature. Several popular writers such as Chin Yung, Huang Zunxian, and Su Man-Shu pursued literature in the classical novel form. Several female and male writers emerged and started incorporating Chinese classical literature in their fiction (Odell). For instance, Feng Yuanjun “The Journey” expresses the concerns women writers had at the time in a male-dominated art field. Her story depicts a poignant conflict between the desires of modernity and strong attachment to family and tradition. She was hesitant to express a desire for modernity since male ideas dominated it.
San wen (prose) was a common form of modern Chinese literature after the May Fourth Movement. The literary writing technique constitutes lyric prose or essay with a unique artistic unity. Apart from the vernacular language of the literary form, the success of this artistic technique was due to traditional rather than Western literary influence (Ning). The classical literature background prompted writers to embark on polishing these prose writings with a view to attracting the full attention of the readers (Odell). While it is not possible to mix traditional Chinese beliefs with modern ones, traditional literature continues to largely influence the modern Chinese literature since the Cultural Revolution.
Works Cited
Ning, Wang. “Rethinking Modern Chinese Literature in a Global Context.” Modern Language Quarterly, vol 69, no. 1, 2008, pp. 1-11. Duke University Press, doi:10.1215/00267929-2007-021. Accessed 14 May 2020.
Odell, Ling Chung. “The Traditional Past in Modern Chinese Literature.” Books Abroad, vol 47, no. 2, 1973, p. 289. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/40127063.
Yang, Haosheng. A Modernity Set to a Pre-Modern Tune. Brill, 2016, pp. 39-49.