History Of Chinese Literature Research Articles

试论草创期外国人撰述中国文学史的体例特点

Following my previous research, which examines the Chinese literary histories of the twentieth century, this paper seeks to examine the characteristics of editors" viewpoints and their editing systems by looking at four of the earliest published Chinese literary histories, those of Russian scholar V.P. Vasilév 《A Brief History of Chinese Literature: Очерк истории китайской литературы; Očerk Istoriī Kitajskij Literatur (中國文學史綱要)》 (1880), Japanese scholar Sadakichi Kojo(古城貞吉) 《A History of Chinese Literature: 支那文學史》 (1897), English scholar Herbert Allen Giles 《A History of Chinese Literature》 (1901), and German scholar Wilhelm Grube 《A History of Chinese Literature: Geschichte der chinesischen Litteratur》(1902). V.P. Vasilév’s 《A Brief History of Chinese Literature》 was the first Chinese literary history to take a comprehensive analysis of the different literary genres. It therefore not only examined poetry and prose, but also Confucian canon, history, philosophy, and personal literary works. Vasilév also partially explored novels and drama, which was influenced by his more Western literary ideas. Sadakichi Kojo’s 《A History of Chinese Literature》, which was the first Chinese literary history to base periodization on dynasty change, focused on more traditional literary concepts, and therefore mostly neglected the novel and drama genres. Herbert Allen Giles’ 《A History of Chinese Literature》, which also based periodization on dynasty change, was remarkable for including an examination of the literature of the late Qing dynasty, which was the ruling dynasty at the time of the book’s publication. Like his Western contemporaries, he held the novel and drama genres favorably and included them in his book, alongside poetry and prose. Unfortunately, much of his descriptions of the novel and drama text were incorrect, owing to his limited research into Chinese novels and drama. Wilhelm Grube’s 《Geschichte der chinesischen Litteratur》, while including analysis of literature from early Confucian works to the novels of Ming and Qing dynasty, placed a large emphasis on early Chinese works. Four of the book’s 10 chapters focus on literature from before the Han dynasty. What is most unique about his work however is that he quotes a substantial amount of text translated from novels and drama, and compares it to Western texts. After comparing these first four scholars with those of three Chinese scholars (Dou Jing fan竇警凡, Lin Chuan jia林传甲, Huang Ren黃人) who were published shortly after, I can affirm that the most important issue at the time was concerning the idea of literary concepts. Most of the scholars generally hold fast to the Chinese idea of traditional literary concepts, which favor poetry and prose, considered as elegant literary genres by traditional scholars, while ignoring or excluding novels and drama, as these were considered vulgar literature. Dou Jing fan, Lin Chuan jia, and Sadakichi Kojo are most representative of this idea. While V.P. Vasilév mostly based his writing on traditional literary concepts, he also included novels and drama due to his more Western point of view. This viewpoint is even more apparent in the works of H,A. Giles and W. Grube. If we evaluate these early texts’ acceptance of traditional literary concepts, it is easy to critique their viewpoints based on current thought. But they have own historical importance as not only the first literary histories, but as source material that sparked discussion on traditional literary concepts and helped shape future Chinese literary histories.

“Seeing Her Through a Bamboo Curtain”: Envisaging a National Literature through Chinese Folk Songs

In 1922, Chang Hui (1894–1985) published in Folk Song Weekly ten ballads with a shared motif: “seeing her through a bamboo curtain” (gezhe zhulian kanjian ta). Regarding the ballads as at once ten place-based, local folk songs and one placeless, national poetry, Chang urged attention to the exemplary influence of folk songs on the unification of languages in early twentieth-century China. Throughout the folk song campaign (c. 1918–c. 1927), however, the potential of folk songs to facilitate nationalization of Chinese language and literature remained arguably unfulfilled. This article examines the reasons for folk songs’ lack of influence on modern Chinese literary history. Through an analysis of contesting ideas and agendas regarding the literary nature of folk song, the author reveals that folk songs were rediscovered at a moment of modern Chinese history when prevalent discourses on Chinese language and literature could not fully accommodate the folk, the dialect, or the oral nature of folk song.

明淸輯選注解中的徐庾文評

With the restorative trend and debating on parallel prose, the comments on XU Ling and YU Xin’s paralled prose were becoming more day by day in proofreading, note-offering, and annotation in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. we find there existed some huge differences from general comments, which looks like impression type or a label to be pasted. They could find XU-YU’s advantages and affirmative their positions and values in Chinese literary history, even give some sympathies and understandings to their norms of action. Their comments, transcended the Tang-Song Dynasties and common cognitions, are worth learning by our literary researchers and historians.

Beauty without Borders


 
 
 In this paper I investigate a reprint of a Meiji anthology titled Meiren qiantai shi 美人千態詩 (Poems on a thousand manners of beautiful women) by Shang- hai shuju (Shanghai Press) in 1914. This is the first time that this anthology has received critical attention. I examine the poems collected by the anthologist, contextualize the anthology in relation to traditions and trends in Japan and China, and analyze the significance of the poetic tradition centered on images of women for understanding border-crossing literati culture from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries.
 My study revises both Japanese and Chinese literary history. I show that the practice of kanshi composition was sustained by major Japanese men of letters through the late Meiji (and even into the Shōwa) era. With the rise of modern Japanese literature, especially in the genre of fiction, it is generally held that there was a rupture between Edo and Meiji-Taisho literature. Within the discursive space carved out by the beauty anthology, however, we see a continuity that unified the Edo and Meiji eras. Furthermore, the Japanese poets’ particular engagement with the subgenre on beautiful women and related sentiments was concurrent with developments among the Chinese literati from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century.
 
 

The First Wife: A Tale of Polygamy by David Brookshaw

hopes, each character acts selfishly in an attempt to realize their dreams. In this way, Chang does not create the typical setup of heroes and villains. As the novel dives deeper into the inner thoughts of the characters , the reader will find that although their actions may be reprehensible, their motivations are relatable. A striking aspect of the novel is the strength and resilience of the characters. This is especially true of the women. Faced with a crushing patriarchy, Manzhen, her sister, and her mother all make sacrifices in order to endure. This lasting spirit despite tragedy not only makes this novel particularly powerful but also ensures Eileen Chang a place in Chinese literary history for years to come. Amy Lantrip University of Colorado Boulder Paulina Chiziane. The First Wife: A Tale of Polygamy. Trans. David Brookshaw. New York. Archipelago Books. 2016. 494 pages. In The First Wife, Paulina Chiziane, the first Mozambican woman to publish a novel, writes from the perspective of Rami, who is Tony’s only wife—but not his only lover. The novel begins with Rami’s quest to win back her husband through fighting his other women—now mothers of his children as well—and “improving” herself through classes on sorcery, cooking, and sex. When Tony continues to spurn Rami, she decides to take a different tack, especially since her encounter with the other women makes her realize that she likes them and even pities their situation, having no marriage to legitimize their relationships and children. Instead of trying to force her life into the pigeonhole of monogamy introduced to her culture through colonization, Rami decides to return to the cultural practice of polygamy as a way to legitimate all the women in Tony’s life—and to shame him. By inviting elders into the conversation , Rami learns of the role of the first wife—setting up the rota (wife rotation) and cultivating the community among the wives—and takes to heart her newfound status of leader. Rami learns quickly there is agency to be found in polygamy, for now she is part of a community of women that supports each other. With each other’s help, the women develop small businesses and find an economic independence they would never had had access to if they had not embraced polygamy. Soon thereafter, the women come to realize that Tony is more of a liability than a blessing. They wish to have their weeks with Tony shortened, as taking care of his needs—and his inability to take care of their sexual needs—leaves them wishing for more time without him in the house. Within the wives’ group, there is often discussion of the differences between the cultural practices of those from the north and south of the country; however, any arguments are quickly resolved, as the women know that their community is stronger when they are united in purpose. The proof of their resolve comes in the plot’s climax: when the women feel they have lost control over Tony, Rami sets up an orgy to show Tony that his machismo does not translate into satisfying all his wives in one night. The First Wife is a meditation on polygamy and the ways women gain and lose agency in both monogamous and polygamous households. The repetitive nature of the narrative mirrors the relentlessness of Rami’s situation—her desire for agency and her acceptance that only her mother’s generation’s marriage practices create any space for women to find power in the household—to such an extreme that the novel ends with a surprise borne of traditional ways. This novel prizes community over solitude among women. The First Wife’s didactic nature acknowledges that the reader may not know the nuances of bride price, polygamy, and other specific cultural practices and explains them without being too disruptive to the reader’s experience, and the reader leaves with a deeper understanding of one woman’s experiences after living in two different marriage models. Colleen Lutz Clemens Kutztown University Virginie Despentes. Bye Bye Blondie. Trans. Siân Reynolds. New York. The Feminist Press. 2016. 248 pages. An aging punk named Gloria comes face to face with...

Remaking History


 
 
 Of the three powers—Wei, Shu, and Wu—that divided China for the better part of the third century, Wei has received the most attention in the standard literary historical accounts. In a typical book of Chinese literary history in any language, little, if anything, is said about Wu and Shu. This article argues that the consideration of the literary production of Shu and Wu is crucial to a fuller picture of the cultural dynamics of the Three Kingdoms period. The three states competed with one another for the claim to political legitimacy and cultural supremacy, and Wu in particular was in a position to contend with Wei in its cultural undertakings, notably in the areas of history writing and ritual music. This article begins with an overview of Shu and Wu literary production, and moves on to a more detailed discussion of Wu’s cultural projects, both of which were intended to assert Wu’s legitimacy and cultural power vis-à-vis Wei and Shu’s claims to cultural and political orthodoxy. Ultimately, this article implicitly asks the question of how to write literary history when there is scant material from the period under question, and suggests that we perform textual excavations and make use of what we have to try and reconstruct, as best as we can, what once was. A good literary history of the Chinese medieval period, the age of manuscript culture and that of heavy textual losses and transfigurations, should be written with the awareness of the incomplete and imperfect nature of the data we do have, and incorporate the phenomenon of textual losses and transfigurations as well as some reflections on the underlying reasons into its narrative and critical inquiry.
 
 

Tung Pok Chin: A Paper Son Poet in New York

Classical-style poetry is a neglected genre in the study of Chinese American literature. Except for the Angel Island Poetry and the Songs of Gold Mountain ( Jinshan geji 金山歌集), no substantial research has been done on the enormous amount of classical-style poems published in San Francisco and New York. This article attempts to explore this uncharted territory by examining the poetry of Tung Pok Chin 陳松柏 (1916–88, aka Lai Bing Chan 黎屏塵) and his story as a Chinese immigrant. Chin moved to the United States in 1934 as a paper son. He joined the American navy during World War II and eventually established his own laundry business in Brooklyn. Since the late 1940s, Chin published a significant amount of his classical-style poetry in the China Daily News ( Meizhou huaqiao ribao 美洲華僑日報), a left-wing newspaper operated by the pro-communist Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance. With the help of his daughter, he also wrote a memoir in English narrating his assimilation into American society. His poetry, though not particularly refined, similarly records his experiences and comments regarding American life and politics. Based on the source materials found in the Tung Pok Chin Papers archived in New York University, his memoir, and the poems he published in the China Daily News , herein I illuminate how Chin adopted a traditional form of poetry as his expressive vehicle and, with the narrative power of his English memoir, how he used his poems to construct a social identity. The article also relates Chin’s work to the broader context of Asian American studies, as well as the classical poetry community and its development in New York, and ponders his significances in the history of Chinese American literature.

A Report on the International Conference on Chinese Baojuan (Precious Scrolls), Yangzhou, China, 2014

A REPORT ON THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHINESE BAOJUAN (PRECIOUS SCROLLS), YANGZHOU, CHINA, 2014 ROSTISLAV BEREZKIN Fudan University The International Conference on Research on Chinese Baojuan [Precious Scrolls] (Zhongguo baojuan guoji yanjiu hui 中國寶卷國際研究會) took place on October 17–18, 2014, at Yangzhou University. The main purpose of this conference was to commemorate the achievements of Che Xilun 車錫倫 (1937–), Professor Emeritus of Yangzhou University, who started to study baojuan literature in the 1980s. Che Xilun is the author of what is currently the most complete catalogue of baojuan texts (latest edition is 2000)1 and a collection of articles about the history and present state of baojuan literature (2009)2 that received prestigious Chinese prizes. To my knowledge, it was the first conference devoted specifically to the study of baojuan either in China or abroad. At the same time it was combined with the annual meeting of the Chinese Association for the Study of Popular Literature (Zhongguo suwenxue xuehui 中國俗 文學學會), which also fitted well the scholarly activities of Che Xilun, who has also studied other genres of Chinese prosimetric literature, drama, and folklore. Because of this added feature, the conference alsoattracted the attention of several Chinese scholars who were not specifically engaged in research on baojuan. There were thirty-two papers presented at the conference by scholars from mainland China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, The Netherlands, and Russia. The papers were printed up and distributed in a bound volume at the conference. In this short note I do not intend to discuss all of them, but would like to introduce the most interesting of them. The papers presented at this conference can be grouped into four parts according to their contents: 1) overview of the history of Chinese and foreign studies of baojuan; 2) baojuan collections outside China; 3) discussion of particular baojuan texts and their place in the history of Chinese literature (including connections with other literary genres), and 4) the results of fieldwork research on modern baojuan performances, known mainly as scroll recitation (xuanjuan 宣卷). In the first of these four categories we should definitely note the article by Wilt L. Idema (Harvard University) on English-language studies of baojuan. It is an expanded version of an article originally printed in this journal (volume 31 1 Zhongguo baojuan zongmu (Comprehensive catalog of the baojuan of China; Beijing: Beijing Yanshan, 2000). 2 Zhongguo baojuan yanjiu (Research on Chinese baojuan; Guilin: Guangxi shifan daxue, 2009). CHINOPERL: Journal of Chinese Oral and Performing Literature 34. 2 (December 2015): 169–173© The Permanent Conference on Chinese Oral and Performing Literature, Inc. 2015 DOI 10.1080/01937774.2015.1096560 [2012]), and translated into Chinese by his Ph.D. student Sun Xiaosu 孫曉蘇 (Harvard University). Idema’s article represents a complete annotated list of baojuan studies in the West. Chen Anmei 陳安梅 (Yangzhou University) presented an overview of Japanese collections of baojuan and related research; though she herself is not a specialist in this genre, she completed a quite good survey of Japanese studies of the genre, starting with the 1930s and continuing to the present time. Her catalogue of baojuan texts in Japanese collections, although not complete and mainly based on materials already available in print, still provides quite a good picture of Japanese collections. Guan Jiazheng’s 關家錚 (Shandong University) paper dealt with the earliest period of baojuan studies in China (1930s–1940s), when several scholars of Chinese literature published newspaper articles, many containing lists of baojuan texts in circulation in China at that time. There was also an overview article by Qiu Huiying 丘慧瑩 (Zhanghua Normal University) on the quite numerous Taiwanese studies of baojuan. These works were successful in presenting quite a complete picture of baojuan studies all over the world. As for the second area of research, several articles introduced a number of rare manuscript and printed copies of baojuan texts held only in overseas collections and not recorded in Che’s catalogue, thus contributing to the creation of a more complete inventory of these texts. Cui Yunhua 崔蘊華 (Chinese University of Political Science and Law, Beijing) offered up an article about the collection of printed baojuan texts held by Oxford University, which partially reflects the situation with the collecting of baojuan in the U.K...

Guwen(Ancient-Style Prose), Sound, and the History of Chinese Poetics

While few would contest the importance of phonology and aural considerations in the study of classical Chinese poetry, the musicality of guwen (ancient-style prose essays) writing has attracted little attention thus far. This article redresses this imbalance by examining the critical discourse of the Tongcheng 桐城 guwen writers of the Qing dynasty 清 (1644–1911). Liu Dakui 劉大櫆 (1698–1779), Yao Nai 姚鼐 (1731–1815), Mei Zengliang 梅曾亮 (1786–1856), 方東樹 (1772–1851), Zhang Yuzhao 張裕釗 (1823–1894), Zeng Guofan 曾國藩 (1811–1872), and Yao Yongpu 姚永樸 (?–1939) all were deeply concerned with, and actively reflected on, the role of sound in guwen writing: both its effect on the reader and its significance in the training of the writer. For them, sensitivity to sound would not only ensure the perfect, empathic comprehension of a given essay but also would support the composition of essays capable of producing a perfectly empathic response in a reader. Furthermore, in a demonstration that this was not an unprecedented development in the history of Chinese literature, the authors trace the relationship between musical and poetic aesthetics from the Shijing up to the Qing dynasty. In doing so, they point to several key moments when these two sets of concerns were sharply distinct, and others when they cross-pollinate to significant effect.

On the Origin of Chinese Tonal Prosody: Argumentation from a Case Study of Shen Yue's Poems

Abstract Shen Yue 沈約 (441–513) is widely believed to have created the poetic metrical theory of si sheng ba bing 四聲八病 (four tones and eight defects) and divided the four tones into ping 平 (level tone) and ze 仄 (oblique tone) categories, thus forming the binary contrast prosodic system in Chinese regulated-style verse. Victor Mair and Tsu-lin Mei have further argued that the rules of the “eight defects” and the concept of ping-ze contrast were designed by Shen Yue under the influence of Sanskrit prosodic theory. The most challenging puzzle that remains for scholars in the field is to understand why Shen Yue and the other Six dynasties poets failed to follow their own prosodic theory in their composition practices. The rise of regulated-style verse in the history of Chinese literature still remains something of a mystery. Through a case study of Shen Yue's poems, this essay aims to solve the puzzle by exploring: (1) the nature of poetic prosody, (2) tonal prosodic patterns in Chinese regulated verse, (3) problems with the Sanskrit origins hypothesis of Chinese tonal prosody, and (4) the pathways of Chinese poetic metricalization from the Six dynasties (222–589) to the Tang dynasty (618–907).

Making National History with Literary History: Hegel’s Influence via Taine on Meiji Japan and the Late Qing and Early Republican China

Through analyzing Hegel’s influence via Taine on Meiji Japan and later, on the late Qing and early Republican China, this paper will shed lights on the process of the making of national history with literary history in modern Japan and its influences on modern China. It argues that the simultaneous establishment of modern Japanese historiography and the writing of literary history in Japan had a direct impact on the establishment of Chinese historiography in the late Qing, and the writing of Chinese literary history in twentieth-century China. It will focus more on the philosophical ideas of Taine and Hegel and their influence in Japanese literary historiography and, due to the limited length of this paper, only by extension, that of China as well. The primary focus of this paper is the interaction of the modern Japanese and Chinese pursuit of new historical narratives in the construction of new national and cultural identities in the context of global modernity. It also stresses that, an invisible “origin,” the writing of Chinese (literary) history in the early twentieth-century, ironically, directly and indirectly, has been internalized by the writing of Japanese national history in an exclusive framework of nation-building.

《阿房宫赋》的体裁语言特色及对后世文学的影响

《阿房宫赋》是晚唐文人杜牧的作品，作成于唐敬宗宝历元年(公元825年)。这是一篇形式艺术与人文思想俱佳的作品。它甚至得到了“古来之赋，此为第一”的崇高评价。本文将引该赋中的字、句、段落以及古今学者观点以讨论《阿房宫赋》的体裁语言特色及《阿房宫赋》对后世文学的影响。 E Pang Gong Fu was written by Du Mu in the 1st year of Bao Li period of the Tang dynasty (A.D. 825). It is excellent in both language and thought. It had been rated as the best essay in the history of Chinese literature. Here we cited the words, sentences, paragraphs in the E Pang Gong Fu and the perspectives of previous scholars to discuss the language characteristics and the influence of this essay on Chinese literature of later generations.

先秦文学中的讽喻传统溯源

先秦是人类历史发展的早期阶段，也是人类文化发展的发端时期。对后世文学产生深远影响的讽喻传统，最早可以追溯到先秦时期：言谏制度是将讽喻观与政治相结合的早期实践活动，而《诗经》以及《离骚》中体现怨刺精神的诗歌，则是讽喻传统的文学源头。 Pre-Qin period is the early stage of human history, at the same time, it is also the beginning stage of human cultural development. Allegory tradition has a profound influence on the later literature, and it can trace back to the Pre-Qin period at the earliest. The system of remonstrating with the Emperor is a practical activity which combines allegorical view with the politics. Moreover, poetry of resentment in The Book of Songs and Lisao is the literature source of allegory tradition in Chinese literary history.

Drifting among Rivers and Lakes: Southern Song Dynasty Poetry and the Problem of Literary History by Michael A. Fuller

Reviewed by: Drifting among Rivers and Lakes: Southern Song Dynasty Poetry and the Problem of Literary History by Michael A. Fuller Hilde De Weerdt Drifting among Rivers and Lakes: Southern Song Dynasty Poetry and the Problem of Literary History by Michael A. Fuller. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2013. Pp. xi + 526. $59.95. Drifting among Rivers and Lakes is no ordinary book; it is no ordinary literary history either. It accomplishes three things at once. First, it offers an overview of the major poets and developments in poetic practice during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Second, it anchors this overview in a broader consideration of how understandings of literary practice and the structures of aesthetic experience were changing between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. Finally, this second and central aspect of Fuller’s work also leads to a new model of literary history. In its contextualization of the literary in larger political, social, and cultural processes, the model may appear reminiscent of literary theory after the cultural turn and New Historicism. However, in seeking to ground literary theory in permanent problems relating to human experience, the model also seeks to integrate European and Chinese philosophies of aesthetics. There are several substantial Chinese-language surveys of Song-period literature in general and poetry in particular, but no such work exists in English. In some ways, Fuller’s contribution to The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature foreshadows the more extensive account in Drifting among Rivers and Lakes.1 In that earlier work, Fuller had already begun to tackle the question of how the development of the Neo-Confucian movement of the Learning of the Way [End Page 471] (Daoxue 道學) reshaped writing by challenging the basic assumptions on which literary and poetic practice rested. In Drifting among Rivers and Lakes, Fuller traces the gradual and multifaceted transformations of poetic practice and discourse during the two centuries when the Learning of the Way moved from the periphery to the center of literati life. In so doing, Fuller offers the best account yet of Southern Song poetry. Some of the poets who play a central role in this account are well known (Yang Wanli 楊萬里, Lu You 陸游, Liu Kezhuang 劉克莊, and Wen Tianxiang 文天祥, for example). Traditional surveys accord some space to these figures and represent them as patriotic heroes or average talents in a period that holds little interest for those focused on the traditional genres of Chinese poetry ascendant during the great age of Tang and Northern Song poetry. In contrast to such standard accounts, Fuller’s work contextualizes the work and literary criticism of these poets (and others now forgotten but well known at the time) and explains how poets, both individually and collectively developed and adapted new understandings of poetic practice. In the first chapters, it becomes evident that the Song reconfiguration of the relationships between language, experience, and meaning does not in fact derive from the purported Learning of the Way founders (the Cheng brothers, Zhang Zai 張載, Shao Yong 邵雍, and Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤). The much broader reorientation toward the self and moral cultivation that took place during the eleventh century set the stage for a thorough rethinking of how poets and poetry expressed meaning and activated aesthetic structures. Scholars from the twelfth century onward have recognized and affirmed the central role of Huang Tingjian 黃庭堅 in this transformation of poetic practice. Fuller explains that, in contrast to his more illustrious contemporary Su Shi 蘇軾, Huang Tingjian broke away from the traditional concept of poetic practice as an irrepressible expression of the human response to all sorts of phenomena in the world. Despite sharing the traditional cultural notion that the natural and the human world are coherent and share patterns, Huang Tingjian nevertheless reoriented poetic response away from phenomenal experience and toward texts. The Chinese textual tradition recorded human responses and moral commitments, contained authoritative insights into human nature, and thus provided for attentive readers the opportunity to discover internally the moral order of the phenomenal and human realms— [End Page 472] a moral order whose discovery depended upon aesthetic experience through the reading of texts. The question that Huang Tingjian and his contemporaries left for twelfth-century literati was how the textual...

«Послесловие к запискам о надписях на бронзе и камнях» Ли Цинчжао

This article presents the first Russian translation of Postface to a Catalogue on Bronze and Stone Inscriptions (In Chinese: 金石录后序) with detailed comments. This postface was written in about 1135 by the outstanding Chinese poetess and the founder of Yi-an style Li Qingzhao (1084–1155). Her work is not just a supplement written to a fundamental catalogue compiled by her husband Zhao Mingcheng – a famous epigraphist, collector of ancient objects of art and high-rank official. Postface is a unique work because it introduces two genres: an epitaph in commemoration of her husband and an autobiographical essay. Moreover, it is the first female autobiography in the history of Chinese literature. The number of hieroglyphs in this text varies from 1866 to 1877 in different editions. We have revealed the distinctive features in Chinese and English traditions of commenting and studying the Postface. Chinese works are characterized by dominance of impressionist evaluations, lack of well-defined analytical categories and background knowledge. In addition, English works are characterized by using different approaches to translation of the dates and the reign periods, and by attention to the certain stories and personalities mentioned in the text for better understanding the biography of Li Qingzhao. Different opinions as to when this Postface was written have been analyzed and we have also presented our point of view to this matter.

On Educating[敎學] Chinese Literary History in the G2 Era

On Educating[敎學] Chinese Literary History in the G2 Era

One of the Revelations for Mo Yan’s Winning of Nobel Prize: The Significance and Limitation of Mysterious Writing in Contemporary Chinese Literature

Since the 1990s, the relaxed politic and literary environment has left space for mysterious writing, and a series of mystery novels gain Chinese domestic awards for literature, such as the White Deer Plain, Red Poppies and Right bank of the Argun that won the Mao Dun prize which is the highest honor of novel writings in China. Furthermore, Mo Yan’s winning of the Nobel Prize for Literature indicates that mysterious writing is in the ascendant in contemporary Chinese literature. The contents of this paper are as follows: firstly, the definitions of mystery and mysterious writing are defined, and traces of mysterious writing in ancient Chinese literature and its development in the context of contemporary literature are surveyed; secondly, the manifestations of mysterious writing and its multiple aesthetic dimensions are investigated; thirdly, the aesthetic significance and value connotations of mysterious writing are displayed; Finally, the reflection and planning for the limitations and way out of mysterious writing are illustrated. The results of this paper are: Mysterious writing is consistently existent in the history of Chinese literature with various manifestations; Mysterious writing broadens the scope of literary aesthetics, constructs a special aesthetic style and aesthetic effect, and enriches the value forms and the quality state of contemporary literature. But there are also some disadvantages of Mysterious writing and we should look at it from a dialectical perspective.

Tao Yuanming: A Symbol of Chinese Culture

A writer of enormous impact on Chinese literary history, Tao Yuanming 陶淵明 (ca. 365–427) became a cultural symbol through his deep and pervasive influence on generations of scholar-officials. What emerged was the image of an individual pure and high-minded, freethinking in spirit, reconciled to poverty, and upholding “ineptitude.” Through a survey of the mu Tao 慕陶 (idolizing Tao) phenomenon in Chinese cultural history, this essay discusses the process by which Tao assumed the status of a wenhua fuhao 文化符號 (cultural symbol) and explores the factors that made it possible. Specifically, this essay maintains that Tao achieved this exemplary role through the cultural work of later scholar-officials who reimagined, constructed, and selectively formulated a paradigmatic character-type on top of the base supplied by his own core character. Finally, this essay discusses the international and contemporary significance of Tao Yuanming.

An alienated mind dreaming for integration: Constrained cosmopolitanism in Wumingshi’s ‘Modern Literati Novel’

Mainstream scholarship on Wumingshi – a marginal figure in modern Chinese literary history, but a very popular writer in the 1940s – interprets his writings as ‘neo-romanticism’, ‘late romanticism’ or ‘popular modernism’. This study, through the practice of political hermeneutics, contends that his works are in fact an example of ‘modern literati fiction’ or ‘fiction of ideas’ – a sort of middlebrow fiction for the popular culture market of modern China.

The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature ed. by Kang-I Sun Chang and Stephen Owen (review)

The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature ed. by Kang-I Sun Chang and Stephen Owen (review)