A brief overview of the reception of “The Tale of Igor's Campaign”

Abstract

The subject of this research is the process of reception of “The Tale of Igor's Campaign” in mainland China. The analysis of China’s historical conditions and comparison of the statistics at different periods indicate changes in the process of reception of Russian literature as a whole, and the Old Russian literary landmark in particular in the course of historical development of Celestial Empire. The novelty of this research is defines by insufficient coverage of the process of reception of “The Tale of Igor's Campaign” in China as a special cultural phenomenon, inseparable from the overall process of cultural and literary development of the country. Reception of the Russian literature is viewed in the socio-historical system, in which it organically interacts with the national culture and literature. The article employs descriptive, conceptual, and comparative-historical methods for solving the scientific task; determines the key stages in the general process of reception of “The Tale of Igor's Campaign” in China; and reveals the peculiarities of each stage with description of the major achievements. The author concludes that for almost two centuries, the Old Russian literary landmark has undergone a propaedeutic reception in China, which gradually intensified after the May Fourth Movement. It experienced stagnation after the first complete translation of the “Tale” into Chinese language, and a breakthrough in the image of this work in modern Chinese science, which currently interprets “The Tale of Igor's Campaign” as a literary-historical text.