Thesis (M.A.) from the year 1998 in the subject Orientalism / Sinology - Chinese / China, grade: 1, University of Hamburg, language: English, abstract: Cheng Xiaoqing, the author of the Huo Sang cases, was one of the most prolific and successful Chinese detective fiction authors of the so-called Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School." In China, Western detective fiction was introduced at the turn of the 19th century. Cheng Xiaoqing was among the first Chinese authors to not only translate, but also create original works in the genre. The author adopted the main framework of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes case - the very standard of the classical Western detective story - and created the "Eastern Sherlock Holmes," Huo Sang, and his secretary Bao Lang, the "Dr. Watson of the East." The figure of Huo Sang shows several superficial similarities derivative of the classical Western detective a la Sherlock Holmes. In addition, the character also incorporates fundamental elements of Chinese literature draw from traditional figures such as the famous Judge Bao in classical court-case fiction and from the traditional chivalric heroes within the knight-errant tradition. Thus, Cheng did not merely create another British detective implanted into Shanghai. Instead, he fabricated a Chinese detective who is a synthesis of Western and Eastern influences and who reflects the contradictions and tensions of the environment he operates in. The story of China's meeting with modern detective fiction can, thus, be seen as a microcosm of China's encounter with the West. Cheng's import of the detective novel into a different cultural and political context required the employment of figures, settings and situations that offered relevant and compelling meanings for the contemporary reader. By merging different genres and thereby creating detective stories that were not just imitating the Western model, but also interweaving it with traditional elements of Chinese literary tradition. Cheng's inn

The late-imperial legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, the Butterfly Lovers--a story as central to Chinese culture as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is to Western culture--also relates a tale of two lovers help apart by social strictures. To audiences of the many Chinese ballads, plays, and films based on the story, the tragic ending offers proof that equality and happiness can only be achieved in a China freed from the traditional family system. This volume offers translations of the earliest versions of the popular ballad along with later literary reinventions of the tale; a variety of related documents reveal the historical and cultural origins of the legend. In his Introduction, Wilt L. Idema provides essential contextual information and discusses how the story of the Butterfly Lovers fits into modern Chinese concepts of gender roles and sexual freedom.

One of the most creative and brilliant episodes in modern Chinese history, the cultural and literary flowering that takes the name of the May Fourth Movement, is the subject of this comprehensive and insightful book. This is the first study of modern Chinese literature that shows how China's Confucian traditions were combined with Western influences to create a literature of new values and consciousness for the Chinese people.

This work probes the restaging, representation, and reimagining of historical violence and atrocity in contemporary Chinese fiction, film, and popular culture. It examines five historical moments including the Musha Incident (1930) and the February 28 Incident (1947).

Modern Chinese literature has been flourishing for over a century, with varying degrees of intensity and energy at different junctures of history and points of locale. An integral part of world literature from the moment it was born, it has been in constant dialogue with its counterparts from the rest of the world. As it has been challenged and enriched by external influences, it has contributed to the wealth of literary culture of the entire world. In terms of themes and styles, modern Chinese literature is rich and varied; from the revolutionary to the pastoral, from romanticism to feminism, from modernism to post-modernism, critical realism, psychological realism, socialist realism, and magical realism. Indeed, it encompasses a full range of ideological and aesthetic concerns. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Modern Chinese Literature presents a broad perspective on the development and history of literature in modern China. It offers a chronology, introduction, bibliography, and over 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries on authors, literary and historical developments, trends, genres, and concepts that played a central role in the evolution of modern Chinese literature.