An Introduction to Modern Chinese Female Literature

K e y w o r d s : Modern Female Literature, Female Writers, Writing Style, Aesthetic Scope 1 0 9 Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2003, pp. 109-122. © 2003 by the Sungkyunkwan University, The Academy of East Asian Studies * Professor at the Institute of Literature of Shandong University and graduated in 1959 from the Department of Chinese Language from the same University. He is engaged in teaching and research in the field of modern Chinese literature; at present he is also the President of the Academy of Modern Chinese Literature. He has written and published many scholarly works. His main works are, The Development History of Modern Chinese Literature, An Outline of Modern Chinese Translation Literature, Modern Western and Chinese Literature, e t c . with the traditional ancient Chinese’s female literature, which became very obvious in the later period. The changes are mainly reflected in the aspects like, the changes in female writings, the transcendence of writing styles, the expansion of aesthetic scope, the changes in artistic styles, the integration of Chinese and western cult u re, and so on. I. Female Writers at a Glance: From Ancient to Modern Period China has long been known as a country of poetry and rites. T h e re were many women famous for their literary works in ancient China and few of those have been handed down to generations. This is especially true in the south of Yangtze River after the Qing D y n a s t y, where there were a considerable number of female poets and ci writers. According to the re c o rds of An Investigation of Wo m e n ’s Works of Past Dynasties (later re f e r red to as Investigation of Wo m e n ’s) by Hu Wenkai, there were over 4,000 pre-modern Chinese female writers, most of whom were g u i x i u. There f o re, the two characters “g u i x i u” often appeared in the titles of ancient Chinese female poetry collections. For instance, the Collection of Guixiu’s Works of Past D y n a s t i e s compiled by Wu Yuexiao, The Biographies of Guixiu in Qing D y n a s t y compiled by Yun Zhu, The Catkin Collection of Guixiu Poetry in Qing Dynasty by Huang Zhimo, G u i x i u ’s Notes on Classical Poetry edited by Tiao Xisheng, An Outline of Guixiu’s Literary Works in Qing D y n a s t y edited by Shan Shili, An Introduction to Guixiu Poets in Qing D y n a s t y edited by Shi Shuyi and so on. The so-called g u i x i u g e n e r a lly re f e r red as ladies from scholarly family. Ancient g u i x i u had the following characteristics: 1Most of them were born in scholarly and financially well off families. They led a comfortable and stable life, did not have to worry about daily necessities of life and were provided with good environment for study. 2The education they received was mainly a family based education or family school edu1 1 0 An Introduction to Modern Chinese Female Literature