Abstract
Modern Chinese literature started with the Literary Revolution in the latter half of the 1910s, when the colloquial language replaced classical Chinese as a medium for writing. This single event had a powerful effect in liberating the creative energies of the Chinese intellectuals and made literature accessible to general readers. The vernacular is more expressive and spontaneous than is the classical language, and it brought a new style of being modern. Aside from aesthetic and linguistic considerations, this change answered the demands of the Chinese in a new age that marked a demarcation from tradition. The Literary Revolution, which began in 1917, reached its climax in the student movement of May 4th 1919. In the same year, a large number of newspapers and magazines appeared in the new style of writing. In the following year, the Ministry of Education adopted the vernacular in all textbooks for elementary schools. This overwhelmingly successful reform has been referred to as the Chinese renaissance. Insofar as it was an attempt to reform the written language as a result of intellectual awakening, it was indeed a renaissance in the long history of China.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Hsiao Ch’ien (Xiao Qian), Etching of a Tormented Age, 8.
- 2.
Lin Shu as an opponent of the vernacular style had demonstrated the usefulness of the classical language by translating 179 Western novels and plays from 1890 to 1924.
- 3.
Data provided in Weng Yiqin 翁義欽, “The May 4th Movement and Foreign Literature” [Wusi Yundong yu waiguo wenxue 五四運動與外國文學], Fudan University Journal [Fudan daxue xuebao 復旦大學學報], no. 4 (1979): 67.
- 4.
Hsiao Ch’ien (Xiao Qian), The Dragon Beards Versus the Blueprints (London: The Pilot Press, 1944), 16.
- 5.
Yu Dafu 郁達夫, “Introduction” [Dao lun 導論] in A Comprehensive Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature [Zhongguo xin wenxue daxi 中國新文學大系], ed. Zhao Jiabi 趙家壁, VII (Shanghai, 1936). Reprinted Hong Kong: Xianggang wenxue yanjiu she, 1962), 5.
- 6.
Quoted from Hu Shi 胡適, When We Dead Awaken in “Ibsenism” [Yibusheng zhuyi 易卜生主義] 1918a, 489–90. English translation by William Archer in Collected Works of Henrik Ibsen, XI (London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1910), 415–16.
- 7.
Hu Shi 1918a, 490.
- 8.
Ibid.
- 9.
Ibid., 491.
- 10.
Ibid., 502.
- 11.
Fung Yu-lan, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (New York: The Free Press, 1966), 181–82.
- 12.
Hu Shi 1918a, 506.
- 13.
Hu Shi, “Some Tentative Suggestions for the Reform of Literature” [Wenxue gailiang quyi 文學改良謅議], New Youth [Xin qingnian 新青年] 2, no. 5 (January 1918b), various pages.
- 14.
Zhou Zuoren 周作人, “Literature for the Human” [Ren de wenxue 人的文學], New Youth [Xin qingnian], 5, no. 6 (December 1918a): 575–76. English translation in Ernst Wolff, Chou Tso-jen (New York: Twayne, 1971), 97.
- 15.
Zhou, 577–78; Wolff, 99–100.
- 16.
Zhou, 580–02; Wolff, 102–4.
- 17.
Zhou, 579; Wolff, 101–2.
- 18.
Liu Shaoming 劉紹銘 (Joseph S. M. Lau), “Tides and Drops” [Chaoliu yu diandi 潮流與點滴], Ming Pao Monthly [Ming bao yuekan 明報月刊], no. 201 (September 1982): 98.
- 19.
Emma Goldman, “The Modern Drama: A Powerful Disseminator of Radical Thought,” in Anarchism and Other Essays, 2nd rev. ed. (New York: Mother Earth Publishing Association, 1911), 259.
- 20.
Ibid., 216.
- 21.
Ibid., 262.
- 22.
Ibid., 265.
- 23.
Hsiao Ch’ien (Xiao Qian), The Dragon Beards Versus the Blueprints, 17.
- 24.
Zhong Mi 仲密 (Zhou Zuoren 周作人), “Gender in Chinese Fiction” [Zhongguo xiaoshuo li de nannü wenti 中國小說裏的男女問题], Weekly Review [Meizhou pinglun 每周評論] (2 February 1919): 2.
- 25.
Lu Xun 鲁迅, “How I Came to Write Novels” [Wo zhenmo zhao qi xiaoshuo lai 我怎麽造起小说來], in Complete Works of Lu Xun [Lu Xun quanji 鲁迅全集], IV (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1981), 512.
- 26.
Mao Dun 茅盾, “Introduction” [Dao lun 導論], in A Comprehensive Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature: 1917–1927 [Zhongguo xin wenxue daxi 中國新文學大系: 1917–1927], ed. Zhao Jiabi 趙家壁, III (Shanghai: 1936. Reprinted. Hong Kong: Xianggang wenxue yanjiu chubanshe, 1962), 14.
- 27.
Bing Xin 冰心 (Xie Wanying). “Preface” [Xu 序], in Stories by Bing Xin [Bing Xin xiaoshuo ji 冰心小说集] (Shanghai: Beixin shudian, 1935), xi.
- 28.
Hsiao Ch’ien (Xiao Qian), The Dragon Beards Versus the Blueprints, 17.
- 29.
Ibid., 18.
- 30.
Song Chunfang 宋春舫, “My Opinion on the New Plays in China” [Zhongguo xinju juben zhi shangque 中国新劇劇本之商榷], in Dramatic Criticism of Song Chunfang [Song Chunfang lun ju宋春舫論劇] (Shanghai: Chung-hua Book Company, 1930), 267.
- 31.
Wen Yiduo 聞一多, “A Problematic Development in Drama” [Xiju de qitu 戲劇的歧途], Morning Post Supplement [Chenbao fukan 晨報副刊]. 26 June 1926.
- 32.
Cited by Hsiao Ch’ien (Xiao Qian) in “Ibsen in China,” in The Dragon Beards Versus the Blueprints, 20.
- 33.
Lu Xun, “Editor’s Note” [Bianjiao houji 編校後記], The Current [Benliu 奔流] 1, no. 3 (20 August 1928). Reprinted in Complete Works of Lu Xun [Lu Xun chuan ji 魯迅全集], VII (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1981).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tam, Kk. (2019). Chapter Five Ibsenism as Individualism of the Self. In: Chinese Ibsenism. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6303-0_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6303-0_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-6302-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-6303-0
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)