Research On The Japanese Images In Modern Chinese Novels

The research of the Japanese images in modern Chinese novels is the artistic performance of the modern Chinese writers'cognition of the Japanese society, the characters, as well as all the aspects of life. It can be said that the descriptions of the Japanese images in the representative modern Chinese writers'works have displayed comparatively complicated and contradictory characteristics: there are the exotic feelings of Japan which they find hard to part with and the extreme indignation at the contempt for China. With the drastic change of Sino-Japanese relations, their works focus on the expressions of the strong indictments against the crime of Japanese imperialist aggression of our country. These works manifest the modern Chinese writers'different perceptions of Japanese people and Japan in different periods of time, and also show the writers'different literary consciousnesses and the exotic feelings related to their own experiences.By studying the texts as the starting point, adopting the case analysis as the research focus, the purpose of this research topic is to explore the overall development and changes based on the specific"points"which possess the characteristics of times. In other words, through studying the"points"-- the representative writers'works of the three different stages of the creation of Japanese images in modern Chinese novels, this dissertation analyses the characteristics and changes of these writers and their works when they are engaged in structuring the related plots, depicting the conditions in Japan, shaping the images of the characters -- including the Japanese society, the Japanese folk customs and the Japanese images, aiming to reflect the changes of the Chinese people's thoughts and to make contributions to the research of the modern Chinese novels and the comparative study of modern Sino-Japanese literature.The dissertation is divided into three parts (Part I, Part II, and Part III) by using the two important incidents in the thirty-year history of modern Chinese literature as watersheds, namely,"the July 7th Incident"and"the September 18th Incident", trying to provide a comprehensive analysis of"the Japanese images"in the modern Chinese novels. Part I centers on the period of the"May 4th"literary revolution. The works under research were created during the period from the beginning of the new literature in China till the outbreak of"the September 18th Incident"in 1931. Part II focuses on the several years after"the September 18th Incident". The works under research were created during the period from 1931 to the outbreak of the full-scale War of Resistance against Japan in 1937. Part III concentrates on the period of the full-scale War of Resistance against Japan. The creating time of the works under research was from 1937 till the time when the first National Representative Conference of Literary and Art Workers was held, and the history of modern literature came to an end.The beginning period of the new literature in China was from the time when New Youth moved to Beijing, focusing on"the May 4th Movement"till the establishment of the Nanjing National Government of Kuomintang. The Japanese images in this period originated from the writers'experiences of studying in Japan, namely, the stimulation of Japan to the overseas students and the Chinese students'complicated feelings towards Japan and Japanese people. The works of the young Chinese writers studying in Japan displayed colorful Japanese images, including the beautiful scenery of Japan and the Japanese women who were tender and virtuous, or charming and shameless, or unattainable, or faithful and unceasing to love, but the cold background of the"exotic atmosphere"was always the Japan's contempt and insult at Chinese people and even its obvious aggressive ambition. Theses works also involved the Japanese people's deep-rooted bad characteristics of being greedy, lewd, shabby-genteel, miserly, blindly loyal, etc.After"the September 18th Incident"in 1931, especially after the"January 28th Incident"in 1932, the Japanese images in modern Chinese novels could be generalized in one word"enemy". And all the Japanese images in the novels of this period concentrated on the soldiers of the invading Japanese army, no matter the images are in the works of"the social writers"like Mao Dun or in the works of the writers in exile, such as Xiao Hong and Xiao Jun and no matter the images were shaped implicitly or explicitly. The writers had made considerable achievements by exploring the only type of the character images. The writers who never lived in the enemy-occupied areas experienced the miserable and bitter lives brought about by the Japanese aggression in their own living environment. Therefore, they recorded these disasters and the aggressors'repulsive appearances and criminal deeds in their mature words. Mao Dun was among these writers who attempted to combine the civil point of view with the perspective of"the progressive concept of society", creating the images of"Japanese soldiers". His artistic ingenuity and the expressive effect of his works were unique, considering his success in shaping the images of"the Japanese soldiers"by the consciousness of the Left-wing Literature moving toward maturation period. His works covered a wide range of historical connotations. It was exactly during this period that the young writers in Northeast China, who experienced the Japanese invasion, emerged in the"central areas"such as Beijing and Shanghai with their soul-stirring novels and produced great influence. The Japanese images portrayed in their novels were vivid, realistic, detailed, and three-dimensional, due to the writers'unique identities. These characteristics became fundamental in depicting the Japanese images, especially the images of Japanese soldiers for a long time thereafter. The Village in August, which successfully described the mentality of the soldiers of low rank, fell into this category. In spite of the small number of works, the achievements and historical status of the works in this period could not be ignored, compared with the works in the previous and subsequent periods. Although the direction of the type of images was somewhat over-centralized, the historical meanings were in no way simple and their literary pursuit is in no way superficial.In July 1937, the Japanese army attacked Lugou Bridge, and the world-shocking full-scale war of aggression against China launched by Japan frantically swept the two banks of the Yellow River and the areas north and south to the Yangtze River within a few months. From then on, China started the eight-year arduous, moving and praise-worthy War of Resistance against Japan. In this war-shatter country when the people were in danger, the Chinese writers united together under the banner of the resistance against Japan and created a large number of excellent works, reflecting the mainstream of the times and giving full play to the spirits of resistance by taking the field of literature as the battlefield and weapon. The Japanese images as hostile enemy in these works were essential. On the whole, these images were multi-layered and multi-angled, compared with that of the previous period. This was because their life experiences of getting along with the Japanese invaders in the enemy-occupied areas and fighting experiences with the invaders in the war areas had become the experiences of the entire nation through a variety of ways, in addition to the reason that all the writers of different backgrounds with different literary views engaged in the creation of the anti-Japanese literature. The group of writers in Northeast China and their anti-Japanese literature, which appeared in the period of time when more than half of China had been devastated by the aggressors'weapons and bombs, condemned the invaders and praise the Chinese people with their steady and pure writings in a broader sense. Duanmu Hongliang'works published in this period created the typical images of Japanese military officers, who had desire and strategy but had no conscience and faith, and also portrayed the Japanese soldiers who had become the war machine under the delusion of militaristic thoughts in the shocking environment of war. As the person in charge of the Chinese National Anti-Japanese Association of Artists and Writers, Lao She depicted the Japanese images in the enemy-occupied areas in his novel Four Generations under One Roof, using the enemy-occupied Beijing as the narrative background. This novel lashed out at the aggressors'evilness, peremptoriness and shamelessness and subtly conveyed the ideas about the stupid Japanese characters who could be taken advantage of in the mind of the people in the enemy-occupied areas. The author also expressed his belief in humanity and universal values by shaping the image of an old Japanese woman who grew up in the western country and was not polluted by thoughts of authoritarianism and militarism. The popular novelists also described the aggressors'cruel, arrogant and forcible-feeble features. Zhang Henshui was not only the first writer who revealed the extremely frightful and violent crime committed by the Japanese army in the Nanjing Massacre through the genre of novel, but also hit the invaders'mental alienation, reflecting the author's broad horizon and keen vision. Looking back now, the success in creating the Japanese images in the Chinese novels during the period of anti-Japanese war is still a spiritual file worthy of being firmly kept in mind by both Chinese and Japanese people.Generally speaking, the Japanese images in the modern Chinese novels have close relationship with the Chinese writers'experiences in Japan and Sino-Japanese relations, and change with both changes. From the perspective of the comparative literature, the Japanese images in the first period can be studied in the field of"the literature of overseas Chinese students". The Japanese images in the second and third periods can be regarded as"literature about the enemy state", of which the prominent features are"the dignity of the aggressed country"and"the human feelings".