The Acceptance and Transformation of Socialist Realism Theory in China

Author: Chen Shunxin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-10-01
Features: This monograph on the spread and reception of socialist realism in China is the author's doctoral dissertation. In the early 1990s, Chen Shunxin studied contemporary Chinese literature under Professor Xie Mian at Peking University. I remember one day in winter 1995, a dissertation defense was held in a conference room on the fifth floor of the Chinese Department building at Peking University. In addition to Professor Xie Mian, the defense committee members included Professors Yan Jiayan, Qian Zhongwen, Du Shuying, He Xilai, and Wen Rumin, among others. The academic evaluation reports written by the committee members and their remarks during the meeting all gave the thesis enthusiastic affirmation. This affirmation was partly due to the scholars' concerns at the time. They were dissatisfied with the certain degree of superficiality and vagueness that had been growing in academic research circles. Therefore, when reading this thesis, one would feel that it reflected the rigor of academic work, and they were genuinely pleased by this. Emphasis on extensive collection and organization of primary materials, meticulous and rigorous analysis, and arguments supported by ample historical evidence—these were nearly unanimous evaluations from the attendees. Of course, the affirmation of the thesis was primarily based on its overall academic standard, which involved its topic, the clarification of complex historical phenomena, the quality of the questions raised, and the extent to which these questions were addressed, and so on.