Cultural Lipstick: Interpreting Yu Qiuwei's Cultural Prose: Interpreting Yu Qiuwei's Cultural Prose

Author: Zhou Bingxin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-11-01
Features: This book about the dramatist and essayist Yu Qiujiu can be said to be a literary reflection memo of the 1990s Yu Qiujiu phenomenon in a theoretical sense. Mr. Yu Qiujiu accepted the praise he received from the audience and readers with grace, but scholars and critics who made objective evaluations of him and his works were uniformly condemned as "cultural killers." The "Yu Qiujiu reading phenomenon" has persisted for some time today. In the current state of and literary decline in the literary world, the "Yu Qiujiu phenomenon" floats like bubbles in the air above the literary world. Therefore, this collection of critiques on the "Yu Qiujiu phenomenon," organized by some literary critics, is believed to provide later literary researchers with some materials on 1990s literary history, as well as a more comprehensive understanding of the literary ecosystem and current state of their era.
After the tide of ideological liberation in the 1980s receded, the entire 1990s descended into a completely mediocre and pale era. Amidst this mediocrity and paleness, Yu Qiujiu rose to prominence in the literary world with his book Cultural Hardship, which became a sensation overnight, with everyone eager to read his works. Soon after, Fragments of Civilization, Notes from a Mountain Residence, and The Long River in Frost. Yu Qiujiu's advocated "cultural essays" spread by word of mouth, and Yu Qiujiu himself became a prized darling of the media and an of the era's culture. He spoke eloquently about the current state of Chinese culture and its direction in the next century, playing the role of an all-knowing prophet. He seemed to be a chariot that would pull Chinese culture toward revival. He had every right to do so, because the young people who liked his works were already completely ignorant of his past—they knew at most that he was an expert in traditional opera and that he gave up his position as President of the Shanghai Theatre Academy for "freedom." Thus, Yu Qiujiu could "look to the future" with ease and happily embarked on the "Millennium Journey" on Hong Kong's Phoenix TV.
However, no one's history can be erased. Just as Mr. Yu Qiujiu embarked on a glorious "hard journey" into the long river of Chinese history, I too wish to delve into the historical processes in which Yu Qiujiu himself participated and engage in a sincere yet difficult dialogue and intellectual debate with him. This is necessary and unavoidable for myself, for Mr. Yu Qiujiu, and even for all contemporary Chinese intellectuals. Therefore, despite Mr. Yu Qiujiu's claims in many instances that those who criticize him are seeking fame or are "gunners" hired by publishers of pirated books, I am still willing to bear this "reputation" to engage in a serious and heavy discussion.
For me, the "Yu Qiujiu phenomenon" is merely a case study. The humanistic significance it embodies has long surpassed the concrete individual of Yu Qiujiu and has taken on a universal "commonality." Through the analysis of this case, I hope to reveal the absence of the soul and the decline of independent consciousness among Chinese intellectuals over the past century and to find a path to spiritual rebirth.
Historical and Soul Examination In a series of Mr. Yu Qiujiu's "cultural grand essays," a clear theme runs through: the tracing, reflection, and questioning of Chinese history and culture. The history of a nation is its collective spiritual wealth, a "sediment" formed by the interweaving of positive and negative factors in its national character. History is the ladder to the future; forgetting history means losing the foothold to reach the future. Therefore, in this sense, it was undoubtedly a wise choice for Mr. Yu Qiujiu to take "history" as the core material of his reflections at a specific moment in the early 1990s and to engage in a laborious "rumination" on history.