Theory Of Evolution And The Literature Revolution In The Late Qing Dynasty And The May Fourth Period

Theory of evolution is a natural science in the 19th century in Europe. It is not only a great revolution in biology, but also has a significant impact on the circle of thinkers, political and cultural. Through the "Evolution and Ethics" translated by Yan Fu in 1898, Chinese people widely accepted the theory of evolution. In the particular historical moment of national peril, the people were all alerted by the concept of "natural selection, survival of the fittest", they began to recognize the reality of changing world and then strived to improve diligently. So the "Evolution and Ethics" played a major role in mobilizing the whole society. Along with the theory of evolution was deeply rooted, as a new world view, it has been generally recognized by the society as a whole and has a profound influence on China's modern social development and the course of history.The theory of evolution became the mainstream of thought and has controlled Chinese circles of thinkers until the Late Qing Dynasty to the May Fourth period. During this period, the Chinese classical literature moved toward declining gradually and the new-vernacular literature bred the growth unceasingly. So the Chinese new-vernacular literature was deeply influenced by the theory of evolution until it was produced. If we want to recognize the ins and outs of new literature, we must understand the theory of evolution and its influence. Based on the close relation between the theory of evolution and Chinese new-vernacular literature, the author selects the key period from late Qing Dynasty to the May Fourth period which has embryology significance, to study their interactive relations. My basic view is:the revolution of Chinese New-vernacular Literature from tradion to moden is a process that took basic changes in many ways, such as literary concept, literary theory, literary language, literary pattern, literary creation, the writing of literary history,and even literary criticism. In the Late Qing Dynasty to the May Fourth period, all mentioned fields took basic changes after our literature was deeply influenced by the theory of evolution. Chinese New-vernacular Literature has great difference with Chinese classical literature. Chinese literature completed modern transformation finally. In this sense, we have reason to believe that theory of evolution has close connection with the the generation of Chinese New-vernacular Literature.The main text of the thesis is divided into three parts:In the first part, the author first introduces the spread of the theory of evolution from the Late Qing dynasty to the May Fourth period and then elaborate the fact that the theory of evolution could not have the sensational effects immediately because the restrictions of the spread of the main body, the pattern of the Western Countries and the impact of the current situation. After the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, Yan Fu conveyed to Chinese people the evolutional theory "natural selection, survival of the fittest" through the translation of the "Evolution and Ethics". Fitted the pursuit of wealth as people seek psychological force change, the theory of evolution has been generally accepted by society and identity. The theory of evolution was widely used to interpret the universal law of social history and then formed a new world view. It was replaced by historical materialism in the late New Culture Movement of May Fourth. The progressive idea which was contained in the theory of evolution broke the traditional concept "the invariable Heaven, and the invariable Tao" and then caused the people's historical view to change from the history view on degeneration and recurrence to the historical view of the theory of evolution. Meanwhile, the traditional law of nature centered circle by heavenly principle was replaced by scientific rule gradually. Our world is not a nature world which centered circle by heavenly principle and was independent to mankind's will. It is a rational world which centered circle by human. So mankind's significance and value no longer belong to the world for "combination nature and man". It return to the secular society and the history of human self. All these promote people on the "human" as a new understanding. However, the theory of evolution places China and the West on human evolution in the same direction, run to the west confirmed the backwardness of China. This dual opposition ideological mode which considers Western equivalent to new, the Chinese equivalent to the old initiated the enduring dispute over ancient and modern Chinese and Western. Its advantages and disadvantages are both obvious.In the second part, the author elaborates the interactive relations between the theory of evolution and the literature improvement in late Qing dynasty. In the Late Qing dynasty, based on the theory of evolution, the reformists represented by Liang Qi-chao attempted to affirm the objective law that the human society developed constantly from lower stage to higher stage, thus provided the valid foundation for transformation in social and political system of China. The value foundation of return to the ancients of our Chinese classical literature was wavered after the theory of evolution went into literature realm. On the other hand, the theory of evolution deeply influenced our literary concept, literary language, literary pattern and even literary disciplinary system through the thoughts to save the nation by education. In the process, the rise of mordern Chinese vernacular laid a foundation for colloquialism replacing classical Chinese. Emphasis on social functions of literature also had great effect on our literary theory and literary creation. Our traditional literature pattern centered circle by poetry and prose has been changed after the fiction went into literary center. All of these provided a indispensable premise for the occurrence of Chinese New-vernacular Literature.In the third part, the author wants to discuss the close links between the theory of evolution and the May Fourth literature. In the May Fourth literature, Hu-Shi constructed the system of vernacular literature theory which based on the theory of evolution and pragmatic philosophy. Classical Chinese was replaced by mordern Chinese vernacular finally.Our literature realized the great revolution of literary language. Atter Evolutionary literary viewpoint went into the writing on the history of Chinese literature in Modern times, it deeply influenced our determitnation to the essential attribute of Chinese New-vernacular Literature and then influenced directly its state before us. From the late Qing dynasty to the May Fourth period, the theory of evolution directly involved in the awakening of individual consciousness. The spiritual tradition of the theory of evolution such as competition, creation and science etc has been become the important part of Chinese self-concept. With the awakening of individual consciousness, the May Fourth new literature has fundamental change in literary theme, literary characters and expressive technique etc. The new literature has been distinguished to Chinese classical literature and completed modern transformation finally.