Chinese Studies -- China's Revolution in Politics, Literature, Feminism: Revolution in Chinese Language and Literature

In their efforts to reach a broad public, May Fourth intellectuals promoted vernacular literature or baihua wenxue 白話文學. For example, starting in 1918, New Youth published exclusively in baihua, as did New Tide magazine. Other famous proponents of baihua included the poet and historian Guo Moruo (郭沫若, 1892–1978), and New Tide Society member Ye Shengtao (葉聖陶, 1894–1988), who founded the first literary association of the May Fourth Movement and later served as Vice-Minister of Culture of the People’s Republic.

 

Perhaps the most famous baihua writer was Lu Xun, whose story “Diary of a Madman” (Kuangren riji 狂人日記) was published in New Youth in 1918. “Diary of a Madman” tells the story of a man who sees the words “eat people!” written in the margins of Confucian classics, a metaphor for how traditional culture is said to devour young people. In 1923, “Diary of a Madman” and other stories were reprinted in the collection Call to Arms (Nahan 呐喊). The collection included Lu Xun’s masterpiece “The True Story of Ah Q” (Ah Q zhengzhuan 阿Q正傳), a comic account of a simpleminded everyman unable to cope with either traditional or modern social forces in China.

 

Bibliography

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文學改良芻議：胡適文存 第一集 第一卷

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Cai, Y. (1940). Zhongguo xin wen xue da xi dao lun ji (Chu ban.. ed.). Shanghai: Shanghai liang you fu xing tu shu yin shua gong si.

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Guo, M. (1922). Nü shen : (hsi chü shih ko chi) (Chuang zao she cong shu, ti 1 chung). Shang-hai: Tʻai tung tʻu shu chü.

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Lu, X., Yang, X., & Yang, Gladys. (1980). Lu Xun, selected works. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.

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Lu, X., & Feng, Zikai. (1959). Man hua A Q chêng chuan.

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While proponents of baihua focused on creating a literary language based on vernacular speech patterns, other progressives argued that even written characters themselves needed to be simplified as a path to spread literacy. Simplified Chinese characters were adopted by the People’s Republic of China starting in the 1950s.

 

Bibliography

Chen, H. (1987). Simplified Chinese characters (1st American ed., Peng's Chinese treasury). Union City, CA: Heian.

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Ho, L. (n.d.). Chung-kuo chien hsieh tzu.

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Kaske, E. (2008). The politics of language in Chinese education, 1895-1919 (Sinica Leidensia, v. 82). Leiden ; Boston: Brill.

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Li, J. (1933). Kuo yü yün tung.

黎锦熙. 1933. 國語運動. 商務印書館.

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Liu, F. (1925). Les mouvements de la langue nationale en Chine = Kuo yü yun tung lueh shih. Paris: Société d'édition "Les belles lettres."

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钱玄同. (1920). 减省汉字笔画底提议. 新青年, 7(3), 120-125.

Zheng, L., & Zhongguo yu wen za zhi she. (1954). Zhongguo wen zi gai ge wen ti (Rev. 2nd ed.). Shanghai: Zhonghua shu ju.

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