On The Cross-cultural Communication And Contemporary International Students Literature

Mr. Ji Xianlin said in 30s,"For China's modernization, international students can be regarded as Prometheus."As the first group of modern intellectuals experiencing western civilization, they are the pioneers who open the horizon and bridge the gap between east and west."The appearance of international students as an important social power will naturally bring about the boom of international students literature."Besides,"In some sense, the condition that Chinese literature established its own modern literature system from May Fourth Movement and integrated into the world literature family contributes largely to the writers with overseas background and the role that international students literature plays."However, China closed its door since the birth of new socialist countries till the end of 1970s when China reopened its door to send students overseas after thirty years'isolation. At the beginning of 80s a new trend of studying overseas at one's own expenses appeared in China. International students are the soul-vault dwellers and dream-seekers who experienced the bitterness and sweetness in worldly society, went through the loss and pursuit of spiritual home and reflected on the value of life and the fate of nation.As the product of cross-cultural communication, international student literature keeps pace with the development of the age revealing the spiritual situation of this period and can be divided into three phases. The first phase is from 80s to 90s with abundance of works describing the ups and downs experienced by those students overseas and the complicated state of mind under the impact of two cultures. The second phase is from early 90s to the end of 90s. In early 90s, Zhou Li's Chinese Women in Manhattan and Cao Guilin's Beijingers in New York were once very popular advocating the legendary stories of international students struggling in the new land. With the development of living standards, the richness of experience and the deepening of cross-cultural experience, international students shifted their focus to the inner anxiety, emotional loss and social-cultural conflicts. They also touched upon the complex of surviving overseas, fight and cooperation among peers, cultural prejudice of mainstream society, and the pain of new immigrants breaking away with traditional culture and keeping their own tradition. Many works came into being in this phase like the Behavior of Blood, Once in the Edge of the World and Details. The third phase is the first ten years of the century. Chinese people's thoughts and values went through great changes with studying overseas as the choice of many modern students. Their views are much broader and minds more tolerant. The description of the survival of their own lives and demonstration of their struggle was transformed to the difference, conflicts and merging of diverse cultures from the perspective of whole human being and humanities, which demonstrated a more open and mature creation state of mind.The international student literature in the new era granted great concern to the material consideration. Those who have gone through Cultural Revolution harbored unspeakable past and bitter memories. Although they settled in foreign countries with an attempt to change their fate through distance, Cultural Revolution remains the pain deep inside which can never be erased. In their works, you can find the memories of China's fate, of poverty and puzzles, and of the struggle for the origin of Chinese tragedies shared by other Chinese writers. The impact of poverty on the spirit of international students is so great that they are more concerned about the material conditions of individuals like the losers failing in seeking their wealth dreams and the successors indulging themselves in material pleasures, which reflected the tendency of pursuing desperately for wealth. The international student literature was only one tributary in the stream of seeking for material pleasure. Chao Guilin's Beijingers in New York, Zhou Li's Chinese Women in Manhattan and Shao Jun's Struggle and Peace all reflect the expectation and hope of those people looking for wealth overseas and thus triggered the trend of international literature in China.The international student literature in the background of two different cultures recorded the loss and finding of their spiritual home and demonstrated the spiritual trail of Chinese in the context of cross-culture and reform. The people living outside the mainstream of society, international people seeking balance between the two cultures and the global citizens shifting from passive immigration to active transplantation displayed the freshness of keeping pace with the age. It is inevitable for international students to encounter the difficulty of spiritual loss and finding when moving from one world to another whole new world. Zha Jianying's Ice River in the Bushes is the representative for describing the people living outside the mainstream society. With time passes by, the shift of perspective from international students to immigrants and the enhancement of understanding of foreign culture and native culture both widened the horizon of international writers. Their works surpassed the boundaries of nations and cultures to the level of ordinary humanities. The narrowness of people living outside the mainstream was gotten rid of and was given new face. In the background of global economic integration, the rising of China in the international society and the improvement of the economic and social status of international students, they have gotten away from the isolation of being people living outside the mainstream society to become the global citizen with broad cultural horizon.International students have gone through the excellence and difficulties of the age, so they are regarded as the elites of the nation. However, the loneliness, puzzle and bitterness experienced by those who have been far away from their hometown are the proof that they have lost the sense of spiritual belonging and cultural origin. They came to the conclusion that with deep-rooted traditional heritage, culture is formed in the process of evolution during which some cultural traditions can hardly be learnt. Therefore the cultural conflict and difference in the aspects of morals, marriage, economy and values become the major theme of international student literature. The world today has been transformed from an isolated to an open system with globalization becoming the unanimous agreement of the people in the world. The world becomes a global village and people all over the world become family members. The international student literature has changed from the role of revealing the great barriers caused by cultural identity to the role of probing the personality and psychology of the characters, which reflected the cultural melting and merging. The establishment of global cultural value is a long process needing the joint efforts of people all over the world. As the window of cross-cultural communication, international student literature will surely make unique contribution to the cause from unique perspective.