Rethinking and rewriting history

Abstract

Since 1980s, the writings of a young but promising novelist Su Tong and his generation of fiction‐writers have been considered “vanguard literature” and “new realism” by many critics in contemporary China. Su Tong and the new generation have made a significant difference in historical perspective of contemporary Chinese literature. They destroyed the myths of “revolutionary historical fiction,” and started rethinking and rewriting the history of the 1920s‐1950s in China. This paper tries to examine the important cultural phenomena through analyzing Su Tong's historical fiction.