Camel Xiangzi (New Curriculum Standard Reading Series)

Author: Lao She
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-05-01
Features: Camel Xiangzi is the representative work of Lao She. It was written in Qingdao in 1936. Lao She had always considered teaching as his primary occupation and writing as a secondary one. By the summer of 1936, he resigned from his teaching position at Shandong University and devoted himself entirely to writing. In his own words, Camel Xiangzi was his "cannon as a professional writer." The success of Camel Xiangzi lies first and foremost in the success of its characters. In the history of modern Chinese literature, writers such as Hu Shi, Liu Banruo, and Lu Xun have written about rickshaw pullers from various perspectives, but they did so from the perspective of intellectuals looking down upon them, offering sympathy or praise for this profession or, more broadly, for the lower classes. Although Lao She was a master of humor, Camel Xiangzi is a tragic work. The author did not deliberately inject humor but instead depicted life as it truly was. The characters in the story are all on a downward path, from Xiangzi, Huxiu, Xiaofu, Erqiangzi, the old man and his grandchild, Lao Ma, to Liu Siye, who once commanded great prestige, all heading toward despair and dimness. The tragedies of these characters form the great tragedy of the entire society.