Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.3, 2021

 

The New Haipai(Shanghai Style) for Writing Contemporary Urban Life: A Brief Discussion of Teng Xiaolan’s Fiction

(Abstract)

 

Wang Xueying

 

Teng Xiaolan, an important “1970s” writer, uses a realistic approach to face contemporary urban life, presents the vicissitudes of life in Shanghai in the midst of transformation, while focusing on the relationship between different generations’ living conditions and social change. Her discovery and narration of new phenomena and issues that arise in the transformation of contemporary cities not only elevate her own aesthetic and technical skills to a new level, but also reflect a contemporary writer’s understanding of and sensitivity to the openness and stability of Haipai culture, as well as her understanding and presentation of the Chinese experience and the development of the times. Teng Xiaolan’s new Haipai writing expands the new space of Shanghai culture.