Through reading two creatively translated stories by the Zhou brothers, Lu Xun＇s （Zhou Shuren） ＂The Soul of Sparta＂ （Sibada zhi hun, 1903） and Zhou Zuoren＇s ＂The Chivalrous Slave Girl＂ （Xia niinu, 1904）, t...Through reading two creatively translated stories by the Zhou brothers, Lu Xun＇s （Zhou Shuren） ＂The Soul of Sparta＂ （Sibada zhi hun, 1903） and Zhou Zuoren＇s ＂The Chivalrous Slave Girl＂ （Xia niinu, 1904）, this paper takes a close look at the intellectual trend in the first decade of the twentieth-century China of constructing strong and heroic women as the emblem of national power while rendering men as powerless. By focusing on a foreign heroine with traditional Chinese virtues, both translations creatively Sinicized and feminized the foreign power in the original tales. At the same time, male characters, prospective readers of the stories, and even authors themselves were marginalized, diminished, and ridiculed vis-a-vis the newly constructed feminine authority. Comparing this form of cultural masochism to other literary masochisms in modem China analyzed by Rey Chow and Jing Tsu respectively, this paper endeavors to excavate a hybrid model of nationalist agency grounded in the intertwined relationship of race, gender and nation. In my analysis, Gilles Deleuze＇s discussion on masochism is utilized as a heuristic tool to shed light on the revolutionary potential embedded in the ＂strong women, weak men＂ complex in the 1910s. I argue that the cultural masochism in late Qing represents one of the earliest attempts of the Chinese intellectuals to creatively use Chinese traditional gender cosmology to absorb the threat of Western imperialism and put forward a hybrid model of nationalist agency.展开更多
General Yue Fei has long been considered a symbol of loyalty and resistance in Chinese history. His legend has been circulating in various forms since the twelfth century. In the context of the emerging women-authored...General Yue Fei has long been considered a symbol of loyalty and resistance in Chinese history. His legend has been circulating in various forms since the twelfth century. In the context of the emerging women-authored tanci narratives and the political disorder of late 19th century China, this article examines how the gentry woman author Zhou Yingfang （1829-95） enriches the narratives of Yue Fei by inserting a number of domestic themes into her tanci adaptation. She redefines the virtues of both genders and expects transformed family dynamics. In considering scholarly interpretations of the tanci in the modem period, this article also argues that the May Fourth scholars tended to neglect and/or suppress Zhou Yingfang＇s gendered consciousness in her alternative imagination of history.展开更多
Based on original archival and codicological research, this paper in- vestigates the transformations and negotiations between manuscript and printed versions of fifteenth-century poetry through the specific example of...Based on original archival and codicological research, this paper in- vestigates the transformations and negotiations between manuscript and printed versions of fifteenth-century poetry through the specific example of one surprisingly complex debate poem, Le Songe de la Pucelle （The Dream of the Virgin）. Our debate relates the choice that a female narrator must make between the respective appeals of two personifications, Love and Shame, who appear to her in a dream- vision. The manuscript tradition invariably collects the poem with other fifteenth- century debates and moral texts, while the early printed copies tended to have experienced a prior separate circulation and often remain as monotextual pamphlets. Manuscript and printed copies of the same poem seem, then, to target different audiences. My paper investigates this curious divergence in the transmission pattern of the manuscript and printed versions of the Songe and seeks possible answers in the very different sets of images accompanying the text in manuscript and printed versions.展开更多
＂Family＂ as Ba Jin＇s intense concern seems to be a central icon of his literary works, carrying through from his Family （1933） to Cold Nights （1947）. After briefly reassessing Ba Jin＇s literary contribution in...＂Family＂ as Ba Jin＇s intense concern seems to be a central icon of his literary works, carrying through from his Family （1933） to Cold Nights （1947）. After briefly reassessing Ba Jin＇s literary contribution in his early phase, this essay will focus more on Ba Jin＇s novels written in the 1940s, particularly his Ward Four, which rarely attracts critical attention. For Lu Xun, mental disease in China was more crucial than physical disease. Ba Jin uses both mental and physical diseases to explore humanity in a wartime hospital. Ba Jin＇s early novels were infused with more radical ideas, but as a more mature writer in the 1940s he provided readers with a new perspective to explore and understand society.展开更多
In the context of a global subcontracting system that pushes workers toward a race to the bottom, the present article explores assertions for dignified labor in the Foxconn workers＇ actions and in the literary texts...In the context of a global subcontracting system that pushes workers toward a race to the bottom, the present article explores assertions for dignified labor in the Foxconn workers＇ actions and in the literary texts Na＇ar （2004） and Heroes Everywhere （2005）, as well as in the film The Piano in a Factory（2011）. By tracing the dialectical relationship between memories of dignified labor during the high socialist era, and critical expressions of present day degradation, the article finds a shift from the critique of global capital to proactive nostalgia for the previous era. Proactive nostalgia goes beyond the perception of China＇s high socialist era as traumatic. What is absent in the Foxconn labor experience, but still alive in workers＇ unconscious, is a world of dignified labor. By documenting how labor was once imbued with dignity in the recent past, these texts function as prosthetic memories for the next generation of workers, and a cultural resource for overcoming the current trauma of dehumanizing working conditions.展开更多
This article examines Liu Cixin＇s ＂The Western Ocean＂ （Xiyan~, a story in which Liu satirizes Zheng He＇s voyages into the Indian Ocean and presents an alternate history of China from the fifteenth century to the ...This article examines Liu Cixin＇s ＂The Western Ocean＂ （Xiyan~, a story in which Liu satirizes Zheng He＇s voyages into the Indian Ocean and presents an alternate history of China from the fifteenth century to the present. The combination of China＇s imagined future and the historical memory of its past provides a political and social commentary on the Chinese narrative of ＂peaceful rise.＂ ＂The Western Ocean＂ is also a good example of how the subgenre of alternate history can become a tool for Chinese writers to tactfully express their concerns and criticism of contemporary world politics while strict restrictions on the media and internet, as well as self-censorship among PtLC intellectuals in general, still prevail in the country.展开更多
Ever since the Cold Spring Pavilion （Lengquan ting 冷泉亭） was built, it has been extolled by scholar-literati as a place of purity, where the dust of the mundane world could be cleansed by the cold spring water flo...Ever since the Cold Spring Pavilion （Lengquan ting 冷泉亭） was built, it has been extolled by scholar-literati as a place of purity, where the dust of the mundane world could be cleansed by the cold spring water flowing beside it. For centuries, people tried to reinforce the image of the pavilion as an innocent haven through writing poems, stories, and essays about their visits there. But they were unaware, or refused to admit, that their admiration of the place also possessed the power to destroy whatever sacredness and serenity it stood for. This paper examines representations of the Cold Spring Pavilion in Chinese literature through the lens of a paradox that has haunted the pavilion since it was first built. The paper argues that, ever since the pavilion was built, it has, through its literary-historical representation, been slowly but inevitably absorbed or assimilated into what it had originally been built to fend off. Like the Cold Spring, which flowed into West Lake, the Cold Spring Pavilion, which was created to help people resist the temptations of city life, was inevitably absorbed into the very fabric of the city.展开更多
This article is a study of the writings on food, cooking, and dining by the eighteenth-century poet, essayist, and gourmet Yuan Mei （1716-98） as found in his recipe book Suiyuan shidan. Starting with an overview of ...This article is a study of the writings on food, cooking, and dining by the eighteenth-century poet, essayist, and gourmet Yuan Mei （1716-98） as found in his recipe book Suiyuan shidan. Starting with an overview of the organization and content of Suiyuan shidan, the article offers an analysis of Yuan Mei＇s cultural attitudes reflected there and in his works in other genres. The value underlying Suiyuan shidan exemplifies Yuan＇s personal response to the Chinese intellectual environment at the end of the eighteenth century. Building a connection between the recipe book and Yuan Mei＇s controversial reputation in the literati community, the article explores the changing meaning of culture in eighteenth-century China and Yuan＇s way of surviving the intense competition for voice and influence among the cultural elites of the time.展开更多
文摘Through reading two creatively translated stories by the Zhou brothers, Lu Xun＇s （Zhou Shuren） ＂The Soul of Sparta＂ （Sibada zhi hun, 1903） and Zhou Zuoren＇s ＂The Chivalrous Slave Girl＂ （Xia niinu, 1904）, this paper takes a close look at the intellectual trend in the first decade of the twentieth-century China of constructing strong and heroic women as the emblem of national power while rendering men as powerless. By focusing on a foreign heroine with traditional Chinese virtues, both translations creatively Sinicized and feminized the foreign power in the original tales. At the same time, male characters, prospective readers of the stories, and even authors themselves were marginalized, diminished, and ridiculed vis-a-vis the newly constructed feminine authority. Comparing this form of cultural masochism to other literary masochisms in modem China analyzed by Rey Chow and Jing Tsu respectively, this paper endeavors to excavate a hybrid model of nationalist agency grounded in the intertwined relationship of race, gender and nation. In my analysis, Gilles Deleuze＇s discussion on masochism is utilized as a heuristic tool to shed light on the revolutionary potential embedded in the ＂strong women, weak men＂ complex in the 1910s. I argue that the cultural masochism in late Qing represents one of the earliest attempts of the Chinese intellectuals to creatively use Chinese traditional gender cosmology to absorb the threat of Western imperialism and put forward a hybrid model of nationalist agency.
文摘General Yue Fei has long been considered a symbol of loyalty and resistance in Chinese history. His legend has been circulating in various forms since the twelfth century. In the context of the emerging women-authored tanci narratives and the political disorder of late 19th century China, this article examines how the gentry woman author Zhou Yingfang （1829-95） enriches the narratives of Yue Fei by inserting a number of domestic themes into her tanci adaptation. She redefines the virtues of both genders and expects transformed family dynamics. In considering scholarly interpretations of the tanci in the modem period, this article also argues that the May Fourth scholars tended to neglect and/or suppress Zhou Yingfang＇s gendered consciousness in her alternative imagination of history.
文摘Based on original archival and codicological research, this paper in- vestigates the transformations and negotiations between manuscript and printed versions of fifteenth-century poetry through the specific example of one surprisingly complex debate poem, Le Songe de la Pucelle （The Dream of the Virgin）. Our debate relates the choice that a female narrator must make between the respective appeals of two personifications, Love and Shame, who appear to her in a dream- vision. The manuscript tradition invariably collects the poem with other fifteenth- century debates and moral texts, while the early printed copies tended to have experienced a prior separate circulation and often remain as monotextual pamphlets. Manuscript and printed copies of the same poem seem, then, to target different audiences. My paper investigates this curious divergence in the transmission pattern of the manuscript and printed versions of the Songe and seeks possible answers in the very different sets of images accompanying the text in manuscript and printed versions.
文摘＂Family＂ as Ba Jin＇s intense concern seems to be a central icon of his literary works, carrying through from his Family （1933） to Cold Nights （1947）. After briefly reassessing Ba Jin＇s literary contribution in his early phase, this essay will focus more on Ba Jin＇s novels written in the 1940s, particularly his Ward Four, which rarely attracts critical attention. For Lu Xun, mental disease in China was more crucial than physical disease. Ba Jin uses both mental and physical diseases to explore humanity in a wartime hospital. Ba Jin＇s early novels were infused with more radical ideas, but as a more mature writer in the 1940s he provided readers with a new perspective to explore and understand society.
文摘In the context of a global subcontracting system that pushes workers toward a race to the bottom, the present article explores assertions for dignified labor in the Foxconn workers＇ actions and in the literary texts Na＇ar （2004） and Heroes Everywhere （2005）, as well as in the film The Piano in a Factory（2011）. By tracing the dialectical relationship between memories of dignified labor during the high socialist era, and critical expressions of present day degradation, the article finds a shift from the critique of global capital to proactive nostalgia for the previous era. Proactive nostalgia goes beyond the perception of China＇s high socialist era as traumatic. What is absent in the Foxconn labor experience, but still alive in workers＇ unconscious, is a world of dignified labor. By documenting how labor was once imbued with dignity in the recent past, these texts function as prosthetic memories for the next generation of workers, and a cultural resource for overcoming the current trauma of dehumanizing working conditions.
文摘This article examines Liu Cixin＇s ＂The Western Ocean＂ （Xiyan~, a story in which Liu satirizes Zheng He＇s voyages into the Indian Ocean and presents an alternate history of China from the fifteenth century to the present. The combination of China＇s imagined future and the historical memory of its past provides a political and social commentary on the Chinese narrative of ＂peaceful rise.＂ ＂The Western Ocean＂ is also a good example of how the subgenre of alternate history can become a tool for Chinese writers to tactfully express their concerns and criticism of contemporary world politics while strict restrictions on the media and internet, as well as self-censorship among PtLC intellectuals in general, still prevail in the country.
文摘Ever since the Cold Spring Pavilion （Lengquan ting 冷泉亭） was built, it has been extolled by scholar-literati as a place of purity, where the dust of the mundane world could be cleansed by the cold spring water flowing beside it. For centuries, people tried to reinforce the image of the pavilion as an innocent haven through writing poems, stories, and essays about their visits there. But they were unaware, or refused to admit, that their admiration of the place also possessed the power to destroy whatever sacredness and serenity it stood for. This paper examines representations of the Cold Spring Pavilion in Chinese literature through the lens of a paradox that has haunted the pavilion since it was first built. The paper argues that, ever since the pavilion was built, it has, through its literary-historical representation, been slowly but inevitably absorbed or assimilated into what it had originally been built to fend off. Like the Cold Spring, which flowed into West Lake, the Cold Spring Pavilion, which was created to help people resist the temptations of city life, was inevitably absorbed into the very fabric of the city.
文摘This article is a study of the writings on food, cooking, and dining by the eighteenth-century poet, essayist, and gourmet Yuan Mei （1716-98） as found in his recipe book Suiyuan shidan. Starting with an overview of the organization and content of Suiyuan shidan, the article offers an analysis of Yuan Mei＇s cultural attitudes reflected there and in his works in other genres. The value underlying Suiyuan shidan exemplifies Yuan＇s personal response to the Chinese intellectual environment at the end of the eighteenth century. Building a connection between the recipe book and Yuan Mei＇s controversial reputation in the literati community, the article explores the changing meaning of culture in eighteenth-century China and Yuan＇s way of surviving the intense competition for voice and influence among the cultural elites of the time.
