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BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CHINESE LITERATURE NATIONAL CHENGCHI UNIVERSITY NO.32
Publication date： 2019-12
Special Article Gazing upon Eternity: Remembrance and Resistance in The Former (and The Latter) Book of Mt. Ch’i-Lai
The Former (and The Latter) Book of Mt. Ch’i-Lai is a collection of writings not only about the life of Yang Mu but about the development of Yang Mu the “poet.” In the series, the poet tries to organize the past into something that echoes with the present and projects into the future. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever” – beginning line from John Keats’s Endymion – is a recurring theme in the poet’s recollection of life events. As the line indicates, Yang presents a positive attitude towards romantic poets including Keats, Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley and Yeats. Yang’s dialogue with the romantic poets beautifully illustrates an untiring pursuit of and reflection on beauty, nature, eternity and truth. This essay will explore this multifaceted system of “beauty” from three aspects – the poet and nature, the poet and his self, and the poet and his poetry – to see how the idea of “beauty” is constantly reconstructed with every sense of melancholy, nothingness or resistance. It is a key model on which the poet ruminates his past by making associations with and looking into something eternal.
Theme Thesis “A Strange Voyage!”: Zhou Shoujuan’s Translations of Arsène Lupin Stories in Early Republican Shanghai
During the late Qing and early Republican periods, translations of western detective novels were popular in China－especially Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous stories of Sherlock Holmes. Over the decade after these stories were introduced into China, the number of Chinese translations of stories about this famous British detective steadily increased and, to a certain extent, inspired Chinese writers to write their own detective novels. The translation and transculturation of the Sherlock Holmes stories has already attracted interest from many scholars. However, much less research has been done on the “gentleman-cambrioleur” (gentleman burglar) Arsène Lupin, and his adventures. These stories by the equally famous French novelist Maurice Leblanc were not introduced into China until 1912. This paper examines the Chinese translations of Arsène Lupin during the twentieth century, in the early republican Shanghai. As a famous popular literature writer, editor, and translator, Zhou Shoujuan contributed the most in translating Arsène Lupin stories into Chinese at that time. Through Zhou’s adaptation and modification of the original texts and characters, Arsène Lupin travelled throughout China. By transforming Arsène Lupin into a mercurial character, known as “Xia,” after an ancient Chinese warrior folk hero, Zhou created a unique fictional world for his readers. Through transcultural comparisons and close examination, this paper discusses how Zhou Shoujuan shaped the image of Arsène Lupin from a burglar in France to a folk hero in Shanghai. It also examines how Zhou Shoujuan showed his cultural imagination through translations; and demonstrates how his translations and interpretations represent the dialogue between Chinese and Western literary traditions and cultural values. In the last section, the paper illustrates the cultural connotations of Arsène Lupin’s extraordinary adventures in modern China by carefully comparing the original French texts with their Chinese and English translations.
Theme Thesis Diversity and Contemporaneity of Soong Tsung-faung’s Introduction of European Drama into China, 1919-1937
This is a preliminary study of Soong Tsung-faung’s (or Song Chunfang in today’s spelling) complete work of translation of European drama into Chinese. Among the twenty plays which he was involved with the translation work, he was the sole translator of sixteen and co-worked or edited the other four. Some of these texts had not been collected in his three volumes of On Theatre and had hence been forgotten. This paper tries to re-examine them in their original form of publication. The contextualization of their original appearances in periodicals helps us understand more of Soong’s intention and methods behind his translation and introduction of these European dramas to the Chinese readers. By consulting the catalogue of his personal library, the Comora, we are also able to determine some of the originals he used for his translation. The paper is divided into three main parts: the first recounts Soong’s educational background and his journey towards professorship in drama in modern China. He familiarized himself with up-to-date innovations of Western drama and theatre during the years he spent in Europe. The second analyses two lists of modern plays which Soong provided for the Chinese intelligentsia for consideration of translation. The third then categorizes the twenty translations by Soong and discusses the motives, strategies and original sources of these texts. In light of the new findings in all three parts, we may enhance our understanding of Soong’s contribution to the development of modern Chinese drama.
As one of the most translated children’s books in the world, The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio), written by Carlo Collodi (1826-1890) in 1883, was first translated into Chinese by Xu Tiaofu (1901-1981) based on two English translations. Using dual or multiple mediating texts as the source texts for translation is not rare in Chinese translation history, and this phenomenon, compared with the one involving translation from one single source text, is more complicated. The translator needs to evaluate more than one text and select the content that he/she would like to translate. In this study, through close reading and critical discourse analysis, I investigate how Xu made decisions when he was faced with differences between the two mediating texts. This paper explores how he made his decisions, such as choosing to translate the less violent description between the two mediating texts or combining both texts to make the ultimate target text more complete, and analyzes the possible reasons and effects. Finally, it examines the relationship between the translator’s views on translation and children’s needs and the historical context at the time. Overall, Xu used two mediating texts to produce a relatively complete and faithful translation when he was doing compilative indirect translation. Facing differences between the two source texts, he adopted varied strategies according to different considerations, but he gave priority to complete messages and logical narration, rather than less violent descriptions for young readers or concise content due to length constraint for publication purpose.
The Nirvana dream can be viewed as the delivery of a death message, which a dreamer received about the imminent death of an eminent monk. The dream would later be recorded in the monk’s biography. The signs revealed in the dream indicated place of rebirth of the dying monk or the verification of his accomplishment from his practice. This paper analyzes accounts of various versions of Nirvana dreams as recorded in Huijiao’s Biographies of Eminent Monks (Biographies, Gaoseng zhuan), Daoxuan’s Further Biographies of Eminent Monks (Further Biographies, Xu gaoseng zhuan), Zanning’s Song Biographies of Eminent Monks (Song Biographies, Song gaoseng zhuan) and Ruxing’s Ming Biographies of Eminent Monks (Ming Biographies, Da-Ming gaoseng zhuan), compiled in the Liang, Tang, Song, and Ming Dynasties, respectively. It categorizes the dream visions into five types, including predictions of the impending death, saints’ welcome, the auspicious signs of the Pure Land, the omens of structures falling, and bidding farewell in dreams. Huijiao Biographies and Daoxuan’s Further Biographies recorded the most auspicious signs of saints’ welcome. These saints included Amitabha, Avalokitesvara, ancestral masters, and Devas from the realm of the saints. These dreams all verified the accomplishments of the eminent monks by celestial manifestations, rather than relying on other powers. Zanning’s Song Biographies included many dreams foretelling the masters’ imminent deaths received by the disciples, which involved stupas falling and Buddha halls being damaged. These omens indicated the difficult separations and homage to the masters who made tremendous contributions. Ruxing’s Ming Biographies focused on chanting Amitabha’s name for the eminent monks to be reborn in the Pure Land. From the perspective of faith, a Nirvana dream can be regarded as the transcendence and breakthrough of the individual life by an eminent monk. When the monk woke up from his dream, though he had received the message of his imminent death, he could accept the promise of being reborn in the Pure Land due to his mysterious experience from the manifestation of the Buddha and Bodhisattva. Therefore, he was not afraid to face death, and was confident in his faith in the ideal Pure Land. With regard to literature, the writers of the hagiographies intentionally described the plot of receiving dreams elaborately to sanctify the lives of eminent monks. They often led the readers to lofty aesthetic experience through the death of an eminent monk by developing an analogy between life and dream and a contrast between the moments before and after the death. This writing method of illustrating the accomplishments of eminent monks greatly facilitated the preaching of Buddhism.
The study mainly focuses on the description of monk Wuxiang’s mystic communion and observation of the sanctification and communication process of the foreign monk. There are dozens of Dunhuang manuscripts of The Record of the Dharma-Jewel Through the Generations (Lidai Fabao Ji) such as P.2125, S.516 and P.3717, in which description about Wuxiang, the Silla prince-turned-monk, also known as the monk Jin, includes mystic plots. Most of them are not mentioned in other scripts. Wuxiang’s reputation was widespread after entering the Tang dynasty. Writings about Monk Jin can be found in the manuscripts from Changan to Shu, Tibet and even Nanzhao, including Testinony of Wa (Weixie), Testimony of Ba (Baxie) and The Wedding Banquet of the Wise Men (Xianzhe Xiyan), as well as the manuscripts of the Illustrated Story of Nanzhao (Nanzhao tuzhuan) collected by the Yurinkan Museum in Japan. Wuxiang was regarded as the Buddha in the 8th century. Wherever he went, residents hung up Buddhist banners, lit incense and chanted “Monk Wuxiang goes, Monk Wuxiang comes. Each Buddha proffers his hand, one after another.” Moreover, there are twenty Monk on Pilgrimage (Xingjiaoseng tu) Dunhuang paintings, such as P.4029, P.4074. In the paintings, there is a monk carrying a traveling bag, holding a hossu in one hand and a cane in the other hand, and always accompanied with a tiger by his side and a Buddha above him. Most of the paintings are titled“Ratnaketu Shakyamuni Buddha” (“Baosheng Rulaifo”). I think the prototype of the monk should be the composite image of Wuxiang and Wulou, both Silla princes, and it had an impact on the Dharmatrāta statue of the Tibetan Eighteen Arhats in the 13th century and after.
Around the turn of the 20th century, as a result of the intrusion of Western powers and the ensuing changes of East Asian geopolitics, the problematiques of inter-civilizational encounters and differences began to capture the attention of many Chinese intellectuals. This article explores the historical formation of Du Yaquan’s (1873-1929) discourse on civilization as it unfolded in the first two decades of the 20th century. It also explains how, within the comparative framework between Eastern and Western civilizations, Du considered many topics on various aspects of human lives, and placed an emphasis on the ethical vision which informed his search for an ideal civilization and a new mode of human life. Analytically speaking, Du’s discourse can be divided into three dimensions: an inquiry into the principles of civilizational evolution from a cosmic perspective; a typology of civilization predicated on the East-West binary and a reflection on the modern industrial capitalism and projection of a new civilization for the 20th century. The first dimension constituted the foundation of the other two. It featured a harmonizing mode of thinking which also shaped the whole discourse. The article argues that Du’s harmonizing mode of thinking was a modern variation of the traditional idea of yin-yang harmonization. It gave rise to a rationalist stance that assumed continuity between reason and experience, creation and carrying forward traditions. Consequently, Du advocated a theory of reconciling Eastern and Western civilizations in order to invent a new civilization for the 20th century. As such, the theory could not be reduced to a product of identity politics, but had deep roots in a particular worldview and understanding of history. It also illustrated profound ethical issues concerning universal value and choices confronting the modern world. In the final analysis, at the core of Du’s discourse was an ethical vision that posed a direct challenge against the predominant intellectual orientation geared toward the “search for wealth and power.” Du considered this orientation, along with the Sino-Japanese War and the First World War, as problem integral to modern industrial capitalism. His challenge also constituted a response to certain prevailing problems of the modern world. On the other hand, Du compared and contrasted the Eastern and Western civilizations to envisage a new civilization for the 20th century, with a view to restore harmonic unity between the human heart/mind and material objects, among the individuals in society, and between humans and the outer world. The article shows how Du’s critical consciousness was subsumed under a rationalist principle of prudence which emphasized historical continuity, and thus paved his way toward a non-revolutionary transition to socialism.
The Taiwanese literary circles in the 50s were dominated by provincial writers, although it was rare among these writers to maintain the level of creativity and continue publishing after the lifting of martial law until the new era. Zhang Fang was the exception among these provincial writers who moved to Taiwan. He wrote for decades and produced an incredibly large number of works. This study aims to examine why Zhang Fang continued writing even though many other provincial writers stopped. It analyzes the identity narrative in Zhang Fang’s novels, examines the internal and external factors and highlights the significance of the spiritual values and subject constructions therein. The study finds that Zhang Fang’s works repeatedly focused on migrants who moved to Taiwan around 1949, with the collective fate of working-class intellectuals and veterans as the main theme. They began to have a clear understanding of the Kuomintang-Communist civil war, the White Terror and the vicious consequences of the cross-strait isolation after they gained permission to visit relatives in mainland and the lifting of martial law. The collapse of the frames of war made Zhang Fang re-think historical topics regarding how this generation of migrants should be known and remembered. His novels tell stories of the migrants’ sorrow due to lack of understanding by others and of emptiness and loneliness felt by them as social outcasts. On the other hand, his later writings were not only about the revelation of psychological traumas and examination of history, but also to seek answers for the generation of migrants who moved to Taiwan around 1949, including himself. In his narratives, he reconstructed the enthusiastic and simple images of the veterans. The “alternative stories” of the migrants’ positivity, hardworking and gratefulness became Zhang Fang’s utopia, and helped him to find his destiny as a writer and attain eternity in the spiritual kingdom.
Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (hereinafter referred to as Yi Dian) compiled by the Ministry of Education uses orthographic characters from List of Commonly Used Characters, List of Less Commonly Used Characters and List of Rarely Used Characters published by the Ministry of Education as guiding standards. The distinctive calligraphic styles of characters found in over 60 ancient and modern dictionaries and texts are collected in Yi Dian. Yi Dian contains over 100,000 characters, making it the most comprehensive database of Chinese characters today. However, there are still missing components, many orthographic characters not collected in the three aforementioned lists are also not included in Yi Dian, and should be added. The lexicon Zi Hui by Mei Yingzuo of the Ming Dynasty comprises over 33,000 characters. Unusual or rarely used characters collected in Si Sheng Pian Hai were excluded from Zi Hui under its relatively strict criteria for character inclusion. However, there are characters incorporated into Zi Hui but not in Yi Dian, these characters are the focus of this study. A preliminary investigation reveals 51 such characters, of which 16 characters have unique pronunciations and meanings, therefore should be included as orthographic characters. 10 characters from Buddhist texts and 17 characters with alternative or distinctive calligraphic styles should also be added. The remaining 8 questionable characters are pending validation. This study conducts an in-depth analysis to provide a reference for inclusion of additional characters in Yi Dian.
