History of Modern Chinese Literature

Author: Ren Fangqiu et al.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1988-01-01
Features: Throughout the history of human civilization, there are few cultures as magnificent, enduring, and continuous as that of the Chinese nation. The Chinese civilization, which developed in a relatively isolated geographical and cultural environment and formed its own distinct identity, once had a glorious past and produced astonishing cultural and literary achievements. However, with the advent of modern times, especially the continuous invasion of Western imperialism and the large-scale influx of Western learning into China, the unified Chinese nation and culture faced severe challenges and shocks. This not only posed a serious question for the survival of the nation but also for its culture and literature—how to confront and embrace these inevitable challenges and shocks, and to reestablish its position and choose its path amidst them. After generations of arduous and winding exploration and decades of long and rapid transformation, by the May Fourth period, Chinese culture and literature finally underwent a new turning point. If we regard the evolution of Chinese literature over the past century as an ongoing, contradictory, difficult, and tortuous process of modernization, then undoubtedly, this process originated in the modern era.