Imperial Decline and the End of the Century: A Study of Chinese Literature and Culture

Author: Chen Jianhua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: The dozen or so essays on Chinese literature and culture collected in this volume are divided into two categories in terms of time, presenting an incongruous coincidence centered around the concept of "the end." One category belongs to the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties—specifically the late Yuan, late Ming, and late Qing—periods, all of which marked the decline of imperial rule in Chinese history. The other category concerns the 1990s, termed "the end of the century," when China entered a period of rapid economic growth and globalization, characterized by vibrant and bustling activity. Several essays merely touch upon a few highlights of literature and culture, offering only a fleeting glimpse, yet they reveal the clamor of this era. Ultimately, modernity is a sense of time, a delicate time box that resists the fear of death and forgets the monotony. Theories of modernity are abundant, all containing a fundamental paradox: in claiming the "present," they highlight a self-awareness that breaks away from the "past," thereby driving the "progress" of civilization. Yet in the flow of time, the self cannot definitively establish the "present"—any attempt to do so immediately transforms it into the "past."