On The Folk Resources In Contemporary Chinese Literature

Ever since the last years of the 20th century, a fever for folk literature has hit the Chinese literary circle in a big swing and writers one after another began to seek and enlist resources in this field. The emergence of this literary phenomenon, whose literary significance cannot be undervalued, is urged by certain literary context and the inherent logic of literary development. Without doubt, the vigor and vitality of folk literature will infuse new blood into contemporary literature. On the one hand, it will provide necessary aesthetic and literary resources of value for a healthy development of contemporary literature, inspire the imagination of the creative perceiver to a large extent so as to change the situation in which there is a serious lack of imagination due to the inhibition of the mainstream culture and, on the other hand, it will also provide important spiritual resources for the development of contemporary literature and arts. The world of folklore, with its unique carefree leisure, unruliness and energy, can effectively compensate for the abnormal and lopsided development of the modern man so as to enable him to resist the social alienation imposed on him and reconstruct for himself a sounder personality. There is no doubt that folk literature is an essential literary resource of value for contemporary literature and it is of indispensable significance for the modern man's spiritual genesis, for the creation of literary works with modernity in its true sense and for the reconstruction of contemporary Chinese literature.The zest for folk literature at the end of the 20th century can be regarded as a continuation of the new literary tradition. Looking back on the history of Chinese literature in the 20th century, it can be found that folk literature has always played a particular role in it, some times a major one and sometimes a minor one, but it has always been in a state of anonymity or being ungratefully taken advantage of. It was until the 1990s that folk literature began to flourish gradually and present a splendid sight. It cannot be denied, however, for a long time the study of folk literature has notreceived adequate attention in the academic field, and the assortment of and research into the rustic folk literature has especially been rather deficient. But China is a country with such strong local colors (what Mr. Fei Xiaotong called "China the rustic country"), and the percentage of farmers in the whole population is 80% that rural area will prove a crucial hindrance to the establishment of a harmonious society. Therefore, a detailed examination of the pristine folk literature is surely of urgent importance and it is on this point that this paper will focus. Among the contemporary writers, Jia Pingwa's literary creation is featured with strong elements of folk literature, and he has made incessant efforts in absorbing nourishment from it. A summary of his gains and losses in this respect will be enlightening and, for this purpose the present dissertation takes his fiction creation as a point of penetration to survey the utilization of folk literature reserves in contemporary literature.Jia Pingwa's works of can be rated as a "high-grade ore deposit" for the study of regional folk customs of Shangzhou in Southern Shaanxi, because they are concerned with all aspects of folk life there: languages, dietary habits, festivals, marriages, funerals, religions etc. However, this thesis is not intended to cover and expound all the folk customs involved in his works, but would give prominence to its cores in the limited length. The thesis takes priority on the following three aspects: Firstly, social folk customs (Cheaper Two: The Vicissitudes of Contemporary Rural Community and Clan Culture). Rural clans embody the organizational and cultural characteristics of Chinese rural society, and they make up an important part of Chinese social life and present absolutely necessary perspectives for the study of the Chinese society. A study on the vicissitudes of contemporary rural community and clan culture will be of help in penetrating into the politics, economy, culture and customs of a transitional China so as to offer insightful suggestions for the modernization of contemporary rural areas. Secondly, religious folk customs (Chapter Three: Jia Pingwa and Folk Religions and Beliefs). It can be said that the greatest force that influences ordinary people's spiritual and cultural lives in a certain region is folk religion, which, as a unique cultural phenomenon, has penetrated into all aspects of people's life and has had far-reaching repercussions on their way of thinking, their customs and even psychologies, emotions etc. Therefore, only by investigating thoroughly into the common people' religious and cultural beliefs can a deeper explanation and understanding of the vicissitudes of historical and cultural traditions in this region and an apprehension of the common people' psychologies be achieved. Thirdly, various kinds of folk customs—religious customs, social customs, etiquettes etc. are integrated and presented (Chapter Four: Jia Pingwa and Folk Sex Culture). Sex culture is remarkably described and emphasized by contemporary writers and, accordingly, Jia Pingwa, who exerts himself to represent true life, regards sex as an indispensable ornament, even a public label of his. The essence of carnival culture in the folk world is the revelry in the material—the body, a full worship for the lower parts of the body (Bakhtin). In the folk world, the extreme admiration for the primitive vitality has endowed people's behavior with such characteristics as roughness and lechery, to the effect that "sex" has taken a pivotal position in the folk culture. Hidden in the folk culture are ordinary people's philosophy of life and way of dealing with the world. To some extent, the folk culture bears the values connected with "meta-philosophy" and it has provided important resources for the exploration of common people's cultural character and spiritual structure. This thesis tries to probe into the characteristics and motives of Chinese folk society based on a thorough analysis and study of folk customs in Shangzhou region so as to "learn about the more extensive and complex 'Chinese society'" (Fei Xiaotong), hoping, in the process, to catch a glimpse of the general through the particular.For a long time, folk culture and customs have been regarded as the absolute oppositions to modernity, as tradition versus modernity, even savage versus civilization. But what is puzzling to the scholars is that after a century's impact from modernity, folk culture and customs have not disappeared with the enhancement of the modernity in our society. On the opposite, at the end of the 20th century, folk custom not only preserves its own characteristics, but also becomes more and more prosperous. At present, the "revival of the tradition" has provoked a great interest in the academic circle. In fact, folk culture and a country's pursuit of modernity are not necessarily of an irrelevant parallel, one confronting and eliminating the other. Rather, folk customs and culture may contain elements of modernity and can play an active and significant role in the perfection and reconstruction of modernity. Accordingly, some reasonable and positive elements in the folk customs and culture can be exploited to serve for the purpose of modernization. As proved by history, it is not desirable to treat folk custom culture as the opposite of the "grand tradition" and "official culture", nor is it desirable to depreciate or suppress it. The development of a nation's culture should be a multivariable and multilayered integration. Folk culture will doubtlessly play a greater role in promoting a nation's cohesion and contributing to a harmonious society. The value and significance of folk culture should be well employed in the country's modernizing process.