Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'Scar literature' - novels exploring the traumatic impact of the Cultural Revolution on
Chinese society - was the most significant of all the literary movements that flowered dur-
ing the late 70s and 1980s. It still flourishes today, with authors such as Yu Hua and Jiang
Rong delving back into those dark days.
Pre-1989 Literature
Contemporary Chinese literature is commonly grouped into two stages: pre-1989 and
post-1989. The 1949 ascendency saw literature gradually became a tool of state control
and most work in this period echoed the Communist Party line, with dull, formulaic lan-
guage in a socialist realist framework. Writers were required to inject their work with
stock phrases and cardboard characters that embodied political ideals. Inseparable from
propaganda, literary production was banal and unimaginative, with creative inspiration
making way for Maoist political correctness; publishing was nationalised. Literature had
taken a step sideways and two steps back. The Hundred Flowers Movement (1956-57)
promised a period of open criticism and debate, but instead resulted in a widespread
crackdown on intellectuals, including writers. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76),
writers either toed the line or were mercilessly purged. The much-loved Běijīng writer
Lao She (1899-1966) was badly beaten and humiliated by Red Guards at the Confucius
Temple in August 1966 and committed suicide the next day.
After Mao's death in 1976, Chinese artists and writers threw off political constraints
and began to write more freely, exploring new modes of literary expression. Western
books began to appear in translation, including works by authors such as Faulkner, Woolf,
Hemingway and DH Lawrence. The Chinese also developed a taste for more mainstream
writers like Kurt Vonnegut and even Jackie Collins. This deluge of Western writing had a
great impact on many Chinese authors who were exposed for the first time to a wide array
of literary techniques and styles.
One important writer to emerge during this period was Zhang Jie, who first drew the at-
tention of literary critics with the publication of her daring novella
Love Must Not Be For-
gotten
(1979). With its intimate portrayal of a middle-aged woman and her love of a mar-
ried man, the topic challenged the traditional mores of marriage. The authorities dis-
paraged the topic, calling it morally corrupt, but the topic was extremely popular with
readers and won a national book award.
