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clay dubeRequired:
Chen Jo-hsi (Chen Ruoxi 陳若曦) was born in Taiwan in 1938. She and her husband came to the US for graduate school and were inspired by the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (launched by Mao in 1966) to go to China and take part. They lived there from 1966 to 1973. They subsequently went to Hong Kong, Canada, and the United States. "The Big Fish" was published in English in 1978. "The Big Fish" takes place at the time of Richard Nixon's visit to China in February 1972.
Yu Hua's formal schooling ended with high school. He worked as a dentist for several years before beginning to write in 1983. This extract from his novel To Live is from about 1959, after Mao and others initiated the Great Leap Forward. Collectives were turned into communes. For many reasons, including bad policies and management, harvests plummeted and famine took many lives. Fugui is the father, telling the story. Jiazhen is the mother. They have a daughter, Fengxia, and a son, Youqing. As some of you know, this novel was turned into a powerful film. The film differs in many ways, however, from the book and this selection is largely absent from the film.
Recommended:
Mao Dun, 1932 original publication of "Lin Family Shop," English publication in Chinese Literature, journal edited by Mao Dun, in 1954. Translation by Sidney Shapiro. The film based on the story was released in 1959. It was directed by Shui Hua based on a screenplay by Xia Yan. Youtube version of the film (w/o subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSpI28C0RNU . A version with English subtitles is available from a Chinese site: http://www.56.com/w28/play_album-aid-1002424_vid-NDEzODQzNDE.html .
Ding Ling's novel The Sun Shines over the Sangan River was written just prior to the establishment of the People's Republic, but it was widely disseminated after 1949. It won the Stalin Literature Prize second place in 1951. Below is a selection from the novel. Ding Ling had long been a Communist Party member, but she'd run into trouble earlier in the 1940s and was in the party's wilderness after being labelled a rightist in 1957. She was rehabilitated in 1978.
Interview with Yu Hua in Education about Asia (2003) and review by John Winship, also in Education about Asia. EAA is a great resource and I heartily encourage you to consider subscribing (full disclosure: I'm on the editorial board).
YouTube has a full version of To Live (活着 in high definition and with English subtitles):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB7HYhUpDz8
Jiang Rong published Wolf Totem in 2004. He spent part of the Cultural Revolution on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia and raised a wolf cub. He subsequently worked at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Chapter one of the novel is attached.
Mo Yan received the Nobel Prize in literature in 2012. He's the author of numerous works, including Red Sorghum and, most recently, Frog. I've attached a NY Times collection of short excerpts from his novels. An excerpt of Red Sorghum is available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Red-Sorghum-A-Novel-China/dp/0140168540
Feng Jicai 冯骥才(b. 1942), published The Three-Inch Golden Lotus in 1985. He was a basketball player and painter. More recently he has been a proponent of folk art and historical preservation, especially in his native Tianjin. The first chapter of the book is attached. Set at the turn of the 19th/20th century, Feng explores the phenomenon of foot-binding. He has served as an official in various writer's associations.
edited by Clay Dube on 8/2/2015
clay dubeBecause Brian Bernards will be talking about Republican China's literature, I'll just add some recommended readings. These are not required for my Wednesday morning session, but you may find them useful.
Lu Xun -- "Call to Arms" (his explanation why he left medicine to become a writer) and "Diary of a Madman" (his first published story).
Ba Jin 巴金 (1904-2005) -- Excerpts from Family, the first novel in a triology. Ba Jin grew up in southwestern China. He became an anarchist and studied in France. Homesick and bored, he began to write. He returned to China and began publishing his writings. Family came out in serialized form in 1931. A film version was released in 1956 and it has recently been turned into a television miniseries. The excerpts below come from Cheng & Tsui, publisher of the best known translation.
Ding Ling -- "Diary of Miss Sophie" (path-breaking work by a young female writer about an urban woman wrestling with romantic desire and to establish herself)
Shen Congwen -- "Xiaoxiao" (a story set in rural Hunan where a family adopts in a 16 year old girl to marry their 6 year old son)
Xiao Hong -- "Spring in a Small Town" (set in Northeast China)
"Xiaoxiao" was turned into a film, "The Girl from Hunan" and the 1948 film version of "Spring in a Small Town" by director Fei Mu is considered the greatest Chinese film ever made. It was remade in 2002. The author was the subject of a bio pic in 2012, "Falling Flowers."
edited by Clay Dube on 8/2/2015
AnonymousPeach Blossom describes how a fisherman sailed into a river in an unknown forest. This forest was made up of blossoming peach trees. Natural beauty covered the land. He eventually reached a village with animals and people of all ages that were kind to him. They didn’t need much to be happy. They loved living in their village and did not concern themselves with the outside world. This was their perfect world. The fisherman was also happy there, but decided to leave. The villagers told him that he was not allowed to tell anyone else about this place. However, he did not listen and bragged about it. No one believed him as he was never able to find it again. As a classroom lesson, students can work on an art project and draw two pictures. The first will be an image of the village as described in the story. The second image will be an image of “their” perfect world. Each image will include a paragraph long caption describing their artwork.
edited by malvarenga on 8/6/2015
clay dubeRequired readings:
Tao Yuanming (Tao Qian), "Peach Blossom Spring" 桃花源 ca. 400
Du Fu and Li Bai poetry (Tang dyansty, both 8th century poets)
Wu Ch'eng-en, Ch. 1 from Monkey (西游记 Journey to the West, but translated into a one volume version by Arthur Waley in 1942). The novel was written in 16th century and was and remains hugely popular and has been turned into television mini-series a couple of times and is now a film from Stephen Chow. (Much of this is on YouTube, please share links!) It was also featured in the PBS series. Here's what famed playwright David Henry Hwang said about Monkey:
"Growing up in the West you have this notion that Chinese culture is all about selflessness and not living in the material world and having respect for your elders and all that kind of thing, and Monkey is the opposite version of that. He's anarchic he's disrespectful he's selfish, and he's a lot of fun."
Here's a learner.org page on the novel:
https://www.learner.org/courses/worldlit/journey-to-the-west/read/getting-started/
Recommended readings:
Mair, Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi), ca. 4th-2nd century bce
Tsai, Zhuangzi Speaks
The three volume WJF Jenner translation is available for pdf, epub or Kindle download: http://gutenberg.us/wplbn0002827909-journey-to-the-west-by-cheng-en-wu.aspx?
Some people use the novel to teach about Buddhism in China: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/weai/exeas/resources/pdf/jtw-bginfo.pdf This pdf download offers an excellent background to the novel.
edited by Clay Dube on 8/2/2015
AnonymousMy favorite reading is the Peach Blossom Spring, because of the hidden message in the story. One of the messages that I got from the story is that in a perfect world, there is no room for desire, which according to Buddhism is the cause of human suffering. The second, message is keep your promises, otherwise be ready to face the consequences.