Imperial Decline and the End of the Century: A Study on 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 in time into two categories, presenting an incongruous coincidence centered around the concept of "the end"—interweaving with the character "" (mò). One category belongs to the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, specifically the late Yuan, late Ming, and late Qing periods, all marking the decline of imperial rule in Chinese history. The other concerns the 1990s, termed "the end of the century," during which China entered a period of rapid global economic growth, characterized by vigorous and lively scenes. Several essays merely touch upon a few highlights of literature and culture, offering only fleeting glimpses, 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 weariness of existence. Theories of modernity are abundant, all containing a fundamental paradox: in claiming "the present," they highlight a self-awareness that breaks with "the past," thereby driving the "progress" of civilization. Yet in the flow of time, the self cannot definitively establish "the present"—any definitive assertion immediately becomes "the past."