Guan Moye, better known as his pen name Mo Yan, was the first official Chinese winner of the Nobel Literature Prize recognized by the Chinese government. In the official English version of the press release, the Swedish Academy in Stockholm praised Mo for “hallucinatory realism” , and noted his ability to merge the “dream-analogous authenticity” with “folk tales, history, and the contemporary.”1 Indeed, endless folk stories of the fertile black soil have enriched Mo Yan’s mind and nurtured his imagination. Born in 1955 to a peasant’s family up in the Northeastern Gaomi County, Mo Yan did not have much access to education. What he had abundant of, however, were poverty and hunger . After he enlisted in the army in 1977 and started to write as a soldier, the bizarre phenomenon of Gaomi County inspired Mo Yan in recreating his own grotesque land. Feng Ru Fei Tun (Big Breasts and Wide Hips), one of his most prestigious works, is also set in the legendary Gaomi County. It tells the life of Shangguan Lu, a mother who has given birth to nine illegitimate children in order to produce a male offspring for the family of her sterile husband. Through the narration of Shangguan Jintong, the only male heir of the Shangguan family, Mo displayed the struggle of the protagonist mother to steer the Shangguan family through the turbulent years from Anti-Japanese war to the era after the 1979 Economic Reform.
Chairman Wästberg delivered in the Nobel Literature Prize Ceremony speech that “Mo Yan’s characters bubble with vitality and take even the most amoral steps and measures to fulfill their lives and burst the cages they have been confined in by fate and politics.” In Big Breasts and Wide Hips, the Shangguan family is extraordinarily undaunted...
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...rates the detriments of rebellious spirits caused by self-indulgence and incompliance to the “Heavenly Principle”(天理). Scholar Dai Sheng(戴圣) of Han Dynasty compiled Li Ji based on pre-Han historical materials on etiquette(礼). In the first boom of Confucianism, Emperor Wu of Han(汉武帝) established the predominant status of Confucianism. Li Ji, along with other prominent Confucianism works before and of that era set the tone of the Confucianism doctrine. Beginning the 9th century, various strands of Confucian philosophy revived and reached new levels of intellectual and social creativity in Northern Song Dynasty when Confucian philosophers Cheng Yi(程颐), Cheng Hao(程浩) and Zhu Xi(朱熹) formed the Cheng-Zhu School(程朱理学). Zhu Xi’s philosophy emphasizes rationality, consistency and conscientious observance of classical authority, especially that Confucius and Meng Zi(孔孟之道).
“The Death of Woman Wang”, written by Chinese historian Jonathan Spence, is a book recounting the harsh realities facing citizens of Tancheng country, Shandong Province, Qing controlled China in the late 17th century. Using various primary sources, Spence describes some of the hardships and sorrow that the people of Tancheng faced. From natural disasters, poor leadership, banditry, and invasions, the citizens of Tancheng struggled to survive in a devastated and changing world around them. On its own, “Woman Wang” is an insightful snapshot of one of the worst-off counties in imperial Qing China, however when taking a step back and weaving in an understanding of long held Chinese traditions, there is a greater understanding what happened in
Judy Fong Bates’ Midnight at the Dragon Café and Robert Kroetsch’s “Elegy for Wong Toy” use the representation of the Café to place focus on the hardships of immigration. Kroetsch’s “Elegy for Wong Toy” “is a thank you poem” (Kroetsch 321), which focuses not only on the life events the narrator is thankful for experiencing in Charlie’s café, but also the isolation and alienation Charlie experienced in that “prairie town” (Kroetsch 321). Much like Charlie in Kroetsch’s “Elegy for Wong Toy,” the Chens, specifically Su-Jen’s parents and Lee-Kung, also experience alienation and isolation in the town of Irvine. Bates’ Midnight at the Dragon Café and Kroetsch’s “Elegy for Wong Toy” are both works that use their respective cafés in order to represent the struggles of identity, the discovery of self, and the hardships and sacrifices of immigration.
Appreciably, Pearl S. Buck depicted her very characters on such a detail basis that everyone in her story seemed to move truly alive in each single page of the bound book in the meant time of reading and after. One of them comes Wang Lung, the main figure of being the peasant of Nanking, the son of an old man, the husband of O-Lan, the father of sons and daughters, the escaper of the famine, the looter of the great house in the south, the peasant-turn-wealthy of his town, and the old one of himself. Yet, is he a good man? Right here in this text, a negotiable one, he comes representing all of himself and lets the deep considerate and well concerning readers judge and say whether, "Wang Lung is a good man." or "Wang Lung is not a good man." through their respective points of view.
The Death of Woman Wang, by Jonathan Spence is an educational historical novel of northeastern China during the seventeenth century. The author's focus was to enlighten a reader on the Chinese people, culture, and traditions. Spence's use of the provoking stories of the Chinese county T'an-ch'eng, in the province of Shantung, brings the reader directly into the course of Chinese history. The use of the sources available to Spence, such as the Local History of T'an-ch'eng, the scholar-official Huang Liu-hung's handbook and stories of the writer P'u Sung-Ling convey the reader directly into the lives of poor farmers, their workers and wives. The intriguing structure of The Death of Woman Wang consists on observing these people working on the land, their family structure, and their local conflicts.
To begin, Confucianism is a system of philosophical and ethical teachings founded by Confucius. Confucianism was the code of ethics accepted as the certified religion of most of the immense empires in the territory since the Han Dynasty. Confucianism provided an outline of ethical and religious beliefs that most of the Chinese expanded to make other religions such as Daoism and Legalism. To expand, Confucianism was founded by Confucius and his beliefs on the political and social order of China. Confucius believed that everything would fall into place if children had respect for their parents and if the rulers were honest. In Confucianism, specific roles were followed by each person in the family. The head of the family, the father, was the one primarily in control and then it was the oldest son that was next in line. Confucius had the belief that a ruler has to be everything he wants
The Sun of the Revolution by Liang Heng, is intriguing and vivid, and gives us a complex and compelling perspective on Chines culture during a confusing time period. We get the opportunity to learn the story of a young man with a promising future, but an unpleasant childhood. Liang Heng was exposed to every aspect of the Cultural Revolution in China, and shares his experiences with us, since the book is written from Liang perspective, we do not have a biased opinion from an elite member in the Chinese society nor the poor we get an honest opinion from the People’s Republic of China. Liang only had the fortunate opportunity of expressing these events due his relationship with his wife, An American woman whom helps him write the book. When Liang Heng and Judy Shapiro fell in love in China during 1979, they weren’t just a rarity they were both pioneers at a time when the idea of marriages between foreigners and Chinese were still unacceptable in society.
In a village left behind as the rest of the China is progressing, the fate of women remains in the hands of men. Old customs and traditions reign supreme, not because it is believed such ways of life are best, but rather because they have worked for many years despite harsh conditions. In response to Brother Gu’s suggestion of joining communist South China’s progress, Cuiqiao’s widower father put it best: “Farmer’s have their own rules.”
In the novel Paradise of the Blind, Doung Thu Huong explores the effect the Communist regime has had upon Vietnamese cultural gender roles. During the rule of the Communist Viet Minh, a paradigm shift occurred within which many of the old Vietnamese traditions were dismantled or altered. Dounh Thu Huong uses the three prominent female characters – Hang, Que and Aunt Tam – to represent the changing responsibilities of women in Vietnamese culture. Que, Hang’s mother, represents a conservative, orthodox Vietnamese woman, who has a proverb-driven commitment to sustaining her manipulative brother, Chinh. Aunt Tam embodies a capitalistic
Confucianism became popular during the Han Dynasty as it was the state religion and had a great impact on East Asia (Confucianism 1, pg. 7). Born in 551 BCE in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Confucius himself absorbed the teachings of Mahavira and the Buddha (Confucianism 1, pg. 2) He had a set of virtues that he believed a functioning society should stand by such as benevolence, love and rites. Confucius wanted China to return to the old days when people were loyal to their rulers and rulers were polite and caring towards their people. He believed rulers s...
The major theme of Choy’s story collection, The Jade Peony, is based on the immigrant stories of the Chen family living in mid-20th century Canada. The first story ins based on Jook-Liang, which describes her own vision of becoming Shirley Temple in a conservative Chinese family. However, she is constantly struggling to come to terms with the reality of her new identity in Canada, especially in the case of her friendship with Wong Suk: “I, his Shirley Temple princess, always saw only a bandit-prince in disguise” (Choy, 1997, p.35). In this manner, Jook-Liang often imitates Shirley Temple, since she wants to become a popular western actor in the film industry. However, she must also conform to the strict patriarchal traditions of her family,
Power and Money do not Substitute Love and as it denotes, it is a deep feeling expressed by Feng Menglong who was in love with a public figure prostitute at his tender ages. Sadly, Feng Menglong was incapable to bear the expense of repossessing his lover. Eventually, a great merchant repossessed his lover, and that marked the end of their relationship. Feng Menglong was extremely affected through distress and desperation because of the separation and he ultimately, decided to express his desolation through poems. This incidence changed his perception and the way he represents women roles in his stories. In deed, Feng Menglong, is among a small number of writers who portrayed female as being strong and intelligent. We see a different picture build around women by many authors who profoundly tried to ignore the important role played by them in the society. Feng Menglong regards woman as being bright and brave and their value should never be weighed against
Confucianism is a philosophy and way of life formed in China by Confucius, an early Chinese philosopher. It began as a simple concept with ideals of personal virtue, simple filial piety, and basic gender distinctions and social inequalities. But, over time with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism it began to transform into a way of life that was degrading towards women with certain hostilities towards rivaling religions. In its early period, from around 500 B.C.E to the Common Era, Confucianism changed in that it became the leading belief system and a major part of Chinese tradition. From the transition into the Common Era to the end of the Classical time period, Confucianism was altered because of a loss of popularity following the collapse of the Han dynasty and the corruption in the governing political system. In its ending period, the post-classical era, Confucianism underwent perhaps its biggest adjustments with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism. The ideas and virtues presented in the “rebirth of Confucian philosophies” of intolerance of foreign religions and extreme filial piety...
... China went through, and how these experiences shaped their characters, and influenced the lives of their daughters. Tan uses storytelling and talk story to provide an avenue through which these mothers could express themselves. The Chinese mothers who were silent for a long time decide to break their silent and tell their daughters their experiences. In other words, the Chinese women are trying to recover their lost authenticity and reconstruct their cultural wholeness and feminism. The story also tells on the strong bond found between the mother and her daughter. Tan represents the Chinese American immigrant mothers, as people who have the desire to empower their daughters through their experiences and to impart some wisdom into them. Through the psychoanalytic criticism, the origin of the characters of the silent character in Jig-mei’s mother can be explained.
Work cited Legge, James, a Trans. Confucius — Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean. New York: Dover Publications, 1971. Nivison, David S. The Ways of Confucianism: Investigations in Chinese Philosophy.