Historical Dictionary of Modern Chinese Literature

407 Pages·2009·19.333 MB·English

by  Li-hua Ying

Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the
Arts Jon Woronoff, Series Editor
1. Science Fiction Literature, by Brian Stableford, 2004.
2. Hong Kong Cinema, by Lisa Odham Stokes, 2007.
3. American Radio Soap Operas, by Jim Cox, 2005.
4. Japanese Traditional Theatre, by Samuel L. Leiter, 2006.
5. Fantasy Literature, by Brian Stableford, 2005.
6. Australian and New Zealand Cinema, by Albert Moran and Errol Vieth, 2006.
7. African-American Television, by Kathleen Fearn-Banks, 2006.
8. Lesbian Literature, by Meredith Miller, 2006.
9. Scandinavian Literature and Theater, by Jan Sjåvik, 2006.
10. British Radio, by Seán Street, 2006.
11. German Theater, by William Grange, 2006.
12. African American Cinema, by S. Torriano Berry and Venise Berry, 2006.
13. Sacred Music, by Joseph P. Swain, 2006.
14. Russian Theater, by Laurence Senelick, 2007.
15. French Cinema, by Dayna Oscherwitz and MaryEllen Higgins, 2007.
16. Postmodernist Literature and Theater, by Fran Mason, 2007.
17. Irish Cinema, by Roderick Flynn and Pat Brereton, 2007.
18. Australian Radio and Television, by Albert Moran and Chris Keating, 2007.
19. Polish Cinema, by Marek Haltof, 2007.
20. Old Time Radio, by Robert C. Reinehr and Jon D. Swartz, 2008.
21. Renaissance Art, by Lilian H. Zirpolo, 2008.
22. Broadway Musical, by William A. Everett and Paul R. Laird, 2008.
23. American Theater: Modernism, by James Fisher and Felicia Hardison Londré, 2008.
24. German Cinema, by Robert C. Reimer and Carol J. Reimer, 2008.
25. Horror Cinema, by Peter Hutchings, 2008.
26. Westerns in Cinema, by Paul Varner, 2008.
27. Chinese Theater, by Tan Ye, 2008.
28. Italian Cinema, by Gino Moliterno, 2008.
29. Architecture, by Allison Lee Palmer, 2008.
30. Russian and Soviet Cinema, by Peter Rollberg, 2008.
31. African American Theater, by Anthony D. Hill, 2009.
32. Postwar German Literature, by William Grange, 2009.
33. Modern Japanese Literature and Theater, by J. Scott Miller, 2009.
34. Animation and Cartoons, by Nichola Dobson, 2009.
35. Modern Chinese Literature, by Li-hua Ying, 2010.
Historical Dictionary
of Modern Chinese
Literature
Li-hua Ying
Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts,
No. 35
THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC.
Lanham • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
2010
Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2010 by Li-hua Ying
All rights reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including
information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ying, Li-hua.
Historical dictionary of modern Chinese literature / Li-hua Ying.
p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of literature and the arts ; no. 35)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8108-5516-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8108-7081-9 (ebook)
1. Chinese literature—20th century—Dictionaries—English. 2. Chinese literature—20th century—Bio-bibliography. 3. Authors,
Chinese—20th century— Biography—Dictionaries. I. Title.
PL2303.Y59 2010
895.1'09'00503—dc22
2009027237
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information
Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
Editor’s Foreword
Chinese literature is an amazingly hardy breed. During the modern period, roughly since the
beginning of the 20th century, it has had to contend with the most adverse conditions:
Confucianism, Buddhism, and imperial rule; invasion and occupation by Japan; the long civil
war between the Nationalists and the Communists, and then under communism the dictates of
Mao Zedong and other leaders; and the rampant materialism of the present day. Yet, in every
period, it has found forms of expression and in some cases flourished, leaving an impressive
legacy that is still being enriched at present. Alas, while those who know Chinese can enjoy it,
this privilege is only gradually being shared with outsiders as more and more works are
translated into English and other languages. This is finally encouraging its spread to new
readers and new admirers, who are becoming familiar with a plethora of new authors—
novelists, essayists, playwrights, and poets—and masses of intriguing works. Yet, this did not
emerge from a vacuum, and Chinese literature is much easier to fathom in the context of its
historical and literary trends.
Providing this context, and introducing the authors and their works, is the main task of this
Historical Dictionary of Modern Chinese Literature . It goes about it in several ways. The
chronology traces the evolution, one with many twists and turns and only rare straight stretches,
which partially account for the variety and diversity. The introduction provides a useful
overview, one in which to insert the authors and their works. The dictionary follows on with
hundreds of entries on writers, in all possible genres, of all possible proclivities, with varying
styles and subject matter. Other entries present the historical and political events that impacted
on this literature and the assorted literary currents and trends that shaped it. Since China is a
vast country, with a population of over a billion, it is helpful to remember that it consists of
regions, some of which have their own traditions, such as Tibet, and also that Chinese writers
not only live and create in the People’s Republic of China but also the Republic of China
(Taiwan), Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia and, indeed, at present in the United States and other
Western countries. Having once discovered how rich this literature is, there will inevitably be
many who will want to read the works either in the original or translation and gain further
background, which is facilitated by the bibliography.
Given the extensive period, the geographical spread, and the broad range of writers and works,
the author of this volume has done an extraordinary job of bringing all the various strands
together and providing a comprehensive picture. Li-hua Ying grew up in the People’s Republic
of China and studied at Yunnan Normal University, where she received a B.A. in English and
also briefly taught. Moving to the United States, and not without maintaining her interest in
English literature, she has increasingly specialized in Chinese literature. With a foot in each
culture, and attuned to the increasing flows between them, she is an excellent guide to the
literature of the world’s largest cultural community, the rapidly expanding literary output of
which is bound to be known and read increasingly in coming years.
Jon Woronoff
Series Editor
Preface
How to define “modern Chinese literature”? The challenge has to do specifically with the
terms modern and Chinese . First of all, when does the modern period begin and end? Second,
by “Chinese,” does one mean “of China” or “in the Chinese language”? If the scope is limited
to 1918 to 1949, then the issue can be settled without much controversy. If the historical line
stretches further down, however, the problem becomes potentially divisive. What about
Taiwan? What about prehandover Hong Kong? And the Chinese diaspora?
In the process of sorting through nearly a century of literary production, I have decided to
adopt a more inclusive, thus more controversial, definition of “modern Chinese literature” in
order to take into consideration the complex and diverse paths of its development. In terms of
historical framework, I begin with the May Fourth generation and continue to the present.
Acknowledging the defining role of the vernacular language, I have chosen to exclude texts
written in classical Chinese during the same period. In terms of geographical boundary, I have
also opted for a more inclusive line of demarcation. In addition to writers in the People’s
Republic of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, those who have settled in the West but continue to
address the topic of, for the lack of a better word, “Chineseness,” are considered as part of the
modern Chinese literary enterprise. Treating modern Chinese literature as a continuous and
borderless entity, this dictionary of Modern Chinese Literature thus adopts a liberal usage of
the words Chinese and modern by selecting from writers publishing since the beginning of the
20th century to the present whose language of expression is Chinese. A more accurate but
cumbersome title could be “A Dictionary of Modern Chinese (Language) Literature.”
I am certainly aware that the inclusion of Taiwanese writers in this dictionary could be a point
of contention. My process of selection, however, is guided by considerations of linguistic as
well as cultural and literary traditions instead of political concerns. In that sense, this project
subscribes to a growing trend that takes a more general view of a literary institution aptly
termed xiandai zhongwen/huawen wenxue (modern literature written in Chinese), which
includes works from not only the PRC, Taiwan, and Hong Kong but also the Chinese diaspora.
Needless to say, the scope is enormous, and in some cases the definition of “Chineseness” is
hard to pin down. I have chosen, for the sake of convenience, to leave out many authors in
Southeast Asia, which has large Chinese communities still creating and reading literature in the
Chinese language. For that and many other reasons, this dictionary is by no means
comprehensive or definitive. The criteria for selection are admittedly arbitrary and subjective.
The writers whose names are precluded are not necessarily deemed less worthy. These
absences could only be attributed, in some cases, to the limited knowledge and lapse of
judgment on my part, and in others, to the continuously evolving arena of modern Chinese
literature.
I want to thank Professor Tan Ye, who got me started on this project. For the readers interested
in Chinese theater, Professor Ye’s Historical Dictionary of Chinese Theater , also published
by the Scarecrow Press, is infinitely more informative than the few entries I have devoted to
the genre. Finally, the unfailing love and support my husband, Charles Chao, and son, Kyle
Chao, have shown me have sustained me throughout the years. To them I owe a debt of
gratitude.
Reader’s Notes
The Pinyin system is used to transliterate Chinese terms, except for names that are commonly
Romanized, therefore, Taipei instead of Taibei, Chiang Kai-shek instead of Chiang Jieshi,
Hong Kong not Xianggang. With regard to writers whose names have more than one
transliteration, the Pinyin transliteration is the primary form used with the additional
transliteration(s) provided in the dictionary as “a.k.a.” (also known as) and in the bibliography
in the parenthesis immediately following the Pinyin name. For the sake of consistency, Beijing
is used instead of Beiping, the official name adopted during the Republican period (1911–
1949).
In the Chinese convention, the surname goes before the given name. When the author’s name is
mentioned for the first time, the full name is used; subsequently, only the surname is given. In
the case of pen names, the conventional use of the full name is adopted. Hence, Lu Xun, instead
of Lu, is used throughout the entry.
When a title is mentioned for the first time, the Pinyin title goes before the English translation.
Subsequent mentions of the same title are in Pinyin alone. Pinyin titles are not capitalized,
except for the first letter of the first word and proper names. English translations of Chinese
titles are, however, capitalized. Whenever possible, published English titles, shown in italics
within parentheses, are used; in the case when no English publication is available, an English
translation, not italicized, is provided by the author. When a term has an entry of its own in the
dictionary, the term appears in boldface the first time it is mentioned in an entry other than its
own. There are a few acronyms and abbreviations used throughout the dictionary; they are
listed below with their full names:
CCP: Chinese Communist Party
DPP: Democratic Progressive Party
KMT: Kuomintang (Nationalist Party)
PRC: People’s Republic of China
ROC: Republic of China
Chronology
1891 Su Manshu publishes his translation of Lord Byron’s poems, Bailun shi xuan (Poems by
Byron), the first collection of Western poetry in Chinese.
1898 “Lun baihua wei weixin zhi ben” (The Vernacular Language as the Basis for Reforms) by
Qiu Tingliang published.
1902 Liang Qichao creates in Japan the first modern Chinese fiction journal Xin xiaoshuo
(New Fiction).
1906 Chunliu she (Spring Willow Society) established to perform spoken drama.
1911 Qing dynasty toppled. Republic of China founded.
1914 Libailiu (Saturday) created to publish mainly works by authors of the Mandarin Ducks
and Butterflies school. Wan’ou zhi jia , Chinese translation of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House,
premieres in Shanghai.
1915 Xin qingnian (New Youth) founded to promote xin wenxue (new literature) and
progressive ideas; its first issue is edited by Chen Duxiu, a cofounder of the Chinese
Communist Party.
1916 Chinese National Language Research Association founded.
1917 Xin qingnian publishes Hu Shi’s article “Wenxue gailiang chu yi” (Preliminary Opinion
on Literary Reform) and Chen Duxiu’s article “Wenxue geming lun” (On Literary Revolution),
formally sounding the call for a new, revolutionary literature. Poems written in bai hua
(vernacular Chinese) by Hu Shi also published.
1918 The first Romanized phonetic system introduced. Xin qingnian publishes Lu Xun’s short
story “Kuangren riji” ( Diary of a Mad Man ), vernacular poems by Hu Shi, Liu Bannong, and
others, translations of Ibsen’s plays, and Zhou Zuoren’s article “Ren de wenxue” (A Literature
for Humanity).
1919 May Fourth Movement erupts.
1920 Hu Shi’s poetry collection Changshi ji (Experiments) and Guo Moruo’s poem
“Fenghuang niepan” (The Phoenix Rising from the Ashes) published.
1921 Wenxue yanjiu hui (Literary Society), Chuangzao she (Creation Society), Minzhong xiju
she (Society of People’s Theater), Shanghai Xiju xie she (Shanghai Theater Association), and
the Chinese Communist Party founded. The first issue of Xiju (Theater Weekly) published. Yu