Abstract
This chapter presents the history of Chinese youth literature within the dynamic sociopolitical and cultural context of modern China. Broadly defined as non-curriculum reading materials published for and read by children and young adults, youth literature is an important type of home literacy resource for young learners, even though it is still uncommon for Chinese school system to integrate the medium into formal teaching practices. The author discusses characteristics of youth literature during five periods of Chinese history beginning with the May Fourth Movement through contemporary times. Examples of typical works for children and young adults in each period are also provided. Close examination of notable titles shows that Chinese youth literature has been both a medium for children’s literacy acquisition and an end in itself by being made a distinct bearer of changing ideas, values, and ideologies to be instilled in young minds. The intricate relationship between youth literature and China’s education system is also highlighted.
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Notes
- 1.
In Chinese language it is still uncustomary to acknowledge the distinction between children’s (age 0–12) and young adult (age 12–18) literature. The term er tong wen xue (literarily meaning “children’s literature”) is often inclusive of trade publications for all underage readers, whereas in English “youth literature” seems a more accurate term for that scope.
- 2.
Sources vary on the exact year when The Child Paper was launched, but generally give a date between 1874 and 1876 (See, for example, Shen 2002, p. 82).
- 3.
Most Chinese full names in this essay have been inverted to conform to the Western sequence of first and last names. In a few cases the original Chinese sequence is kept in respect to customary usage in English media.
- 4.
Later the phrase would be shortened into “er tong wen xue,” omitting the character “de” which forms the possessive case but meaning “children’s literature” all the same.
- 5.
Despite the death of the young hero, in a current Chinese language textbook (Beijing, China: People’s Education Press, 2001) a simplified and illustrated version of Erxiao’s story is taught to first grade students.
- 6.
As Hung clarifies, the Chinese word xuan chuan, or propaganda, “meaning to inform and to propagate, carries a more positive connotation than its English counterpart” (1994, p. 9).
- 7.
The first edition of Little Soldier was not published until 4 years later in 1962. During the first half of the 1960s, a series of corrective measures, sandwiched between the disastrous Great Leap Forward campaign (1958–1960) and the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) were initiated by Chinese leaders, resulting in a brief swing to the right of the political tide.
- 8.
The Chinese translation of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, for example, is about 40,000 characters—1% of four million.
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Chen, M. (2012). Chinese Youth Literature: A Historical Overview. In: Leung, C., Ruan, J. (eds) Perspectives on Teaching and Learning Chinese Literacy in China. Multilingual Education, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4822-4_7
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