Between The Scholar-official And The Soldier

The War of Resistance against Japan is the first great victory against foreign invasion since modern times in China’s history,and it mars the starting point and underpins the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.At the same time,the national crisis brought about the disintegration and rebirth of Chinese culture.The War of Resistance against Japan prompted the transformation of modern literature from the "elite posture" of enlightenment to the people-centered feature,and the cultural orientation also followed up the change.The upgrade from the national spirit of "restraint and tolerance" and "humbleness and harmony" to innovative,energetic "fortitude"-featuring cultural forces to combat violent enemies had become an important part of the War of Resistance against Japan.Lao She is typical among the many writers in China during the War of Resistance against Japan.Lao She,a liberal intellectual before the War of Resistance against Japan,resolutely threw himself into the torrent of the War of Resistance against Japan after the war broke out in an all-round way.Especially in the dilemma of "home" and "country","loyalty" and "filial piety","new literature" and "old literature",he made extraordinary decisions.It is such a liberal intellectual writer whose transformation process is more representative.Lao She served the War of Resistance with his own "pen" with his greatest strengths and fulfilled all the responsibilities as a writer and a national in whole for the victory in the second front of the War of Resistance against Japan.This paper attempts to explore Lao She’s enlightenment thought and the construction of national spirit in the War of Resistance against Japan on the basis of the excellent research results in the past.This paper explores the mechanism and the ideological journey of Lao She’s transformation from "scholar" to "pawn" in the War of Resistance against Japan,reveals the potential role of Lao She’s individual life experience in writings,and thus reproduces the image of Lao She,who is the unity of "scholar and pawn".Lao She was in an era of complicated integration of "tradition" and "modernity".He accepted the enlightenment thought centered on "individualism liberation" highlighted in the May 4th Movement and reflected and criticized conventional Chinese national characters.He hoped that the oriental personality will be illuminated by western civilization.However,the War of Resistance against Japan changed Lao She’s life circumstances and wiring theory and provided him another perspective to re-examine traditional culture.He focused on the essence of traditional culture and revealed the unlimited fighting power hidden in the personality of "humbleness and harmony" and "restraint and forbearance" developed in thousands of years under the norms of Confucianism "propriety" culture.Lao She extended the cultural criticism path constructed by the enlighteners of the May 4th Movement and the theme of "reforming the national soul" to the "Great era" of resistance against Japan,underpinning that salvation is enlightenment.Lao She had a psychological predicament when he threw himself into the War,which also struggled to break the siege.His masterpiece of "Four generations under one roof" just reflected Lao She’s thought in the War of Resistance against Japan.This paper also adopts this framework.Lao She completed his tortuous reconciliation of the nation-state and changed from a liberal intellectual of new literature to a pawn in the literary and art circles front in the War of Resistance against Japan."From alienation away from politics to engagement with politics,from participation in the propaganda of the War of Resistance against Japan,to constructing the literature and art featuring the War of Resistance against Japan,in the practice of politics and anti-war literature and art,Lao She’s thought has reflected the complex relationship between "modern" and "traditional" dualistic entanglement.There is entanglement between "scholar" and "pawn",between "politics" and "state",between new literature and old popular literature.But after all,Lao She was an intellectual with strong patriotic passion.Though he was full of emotional agitation and hesitation in the War of Resistance against Japan,he could not stop his pace of "giving out" for the country.His creative transformation of enlightenment,which is the means of realistic modernity,and salvation is another form of "enlightenment." On the level of the meaning of "state supremacy",Lao She completed the communication from "liberal intellectuals" to "pawns" in the War of Resistance against Japan,namely that "pawns" were also "scholars",providing a feasible channel for the transformation from new literature to "utilitarian literature." At the same time,it successfully broke through the quagmire of ideological imprisonment,political predicament and literary conventions.Lao She in the War of Resistance against Japan was both a "scholar" and a "pawn".On the basis of communicating with “scholars” and "pawns",he expressed his thoughts on the construction of national culture and the renewal of national spirit.His novel titled "Four generations under one roof" is the true reflection of Lao She’s psychological course of the War of Resistance against Japan,and the difficult course of unifying the characters in the novel from "scholar" to "pawn" and the integration of “scholar” and "pawn".It reflects the psychological predicament and life breakthrough of Chinese intellectuals,especially Lao She during the War of Resistance against Japan and projected on them the vanguard expectation of enlightening the masses.From Lao She,we can see that the disintegration and rebirth of the conventional Chinese "scholar" culture at the time of national crisis.We can also feel the track of its cultural psychological evolution,such as awakening and nostalgia,pursuit and loss,conservatism and radicalization,confusion and struggle.In the end,Lao She’s thought entanglement and transformation in the War of Resistance against Japan belongs to the category of the modernization of traditional culture.The modernization of traditional culture mainly includes two paths: "inheritance & sublation and transformation & innovation".Traditional culture is the root,and modernization is the soul.Lao She creatively turned the enlightenment road of the May 4th Movement based on "individual awakening" to the awakening of nation-state consciousness with "mass pawns" as the main body and unearthed the "rigid" spirit and the characteristics of "hunter culture" under the guidance of the intellectual elite.Breaking the dualistic opposition mode of cultural "tradition" and "modern",emphasizing the integration of culture,nationality and cosmopolitanism,on the basis of the integration of modernity and tradition,the national culture in line with the reality of China has emerged.The construction of the people’s subject spirit based on traditional culture accomplished the moral track of the "group" driven by the individual "scholar",and then achieve the ethical position that everyone can be the "pawn".