"The Diary of a Madman" was first published in the May 15, 1918 issue (Vol. 4, No. 5) of La Jeunesse. Photo: IC PHOTO

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In 1915, the New Culture Movement was launched by progressive intellectuals including Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Hu Shih, and Cai Yuanpei. This enlightenment movement advocated democracy and science, opposed feudalism and superstition, and promoted new literature over traditional literature. In 1917, Hu Shih published “Tentative Proposal for Literary Reform,” calling for a new form of literature written in the vernacular, rather than traditional classical Chinese. Chen Duxiu’s “On Literary Revolution” supported Hu’s viewpoint, and more intellectuals like Qian Xuantong and Liu Bannong soon began to express their support. In 1918, Lu Xun published the first modern work of vernacular fiction in Chinese history, “The Diary of a Madman,” ushering in modern Chinese literature.

In the 1920s, some intellectuals living in big cities observed the stark contrasts and tensions between modern industrial culture and China’s traditional agricultural culture and patriarchal clan system. With nostalgic memories of their old hometowns in rural China, they created native-soil literature, characterized by distinct local flavor and rich regional detail. 

Lu Xun’s acerbic, even merciless, attack on China’s feudalistic traditions has exerted a profound intellectual and cultural impact on Chinese society. In his story “My Old Home,” the character Jun-tu is a playmate of the narrator in their teenager years. Jun-tu and the narrator used to call each other brother, but when they meet again 30 years later, Jun-tu respectfully calls the narrator “Master.” The once perky and brave young boy becomes a subservient and lowly middle-aged man under the burden of life and the bonds of feudal etiquette.  

Forerunners of Chinese native-soil literature included Lu Xun, Mao Dun, Shen Congwen, and Xiao Hong in the 1920s and 1930s. The torch was then passed down to such writers as Zhao Shuli and Sun Li in the 1940s, then to Liu Qing and others in the 1960s and 1970s, and then on to Wang Zengqi, Gu Hua, Han Shaogong, Zhang Wei, Mo Yan, Jia Pingwa, Lu Yao, Chen Zhongshi, and others from the 1980s onwards. Collectively, these authors have produced a significant body of classic works, enriching the legacy of Chinese native-soil literature.

Edited by LIU YUWEI