Hope In Disappointment

With the development of globalization, Chinese socialist market economy is making great progress. While promoting prosperity in China, the reform of commodity economy has also brought spiritual crisis to Chinese people. The metropolitan fiction of 1990s comes to the destandardization of values and nihilism consciously or unconsciously when vigorously expressing the spiritual life of metropolitans. The disappearance of humanist spirit shown in the value criterion of metropolitan fiction brings them great disappointment in mind. However, some metropolitan fictions display the spiritual criterion of neo-humanist spirit in accord with the spirit of times and make sustained effort on how to reconstruct the spiritual world of metropolitans, which bring the anxious metropolitans new hope in fighting against the vulgarized and coarsened life.Part one analyzes features of degradation of value criterion demonstrated in the metropolitan fiction of the 1990s and argues that the nihilism of fiction lies in the destandardization of the criteria of values. The disappearance of humanist spirit is shown by the nihilism and perplexity caused by the extreme display and publicity of desire, the loss and frustration in mind brought about by the split-up of the living subject, the obliteration of any difference in quality partly caused by the commodity economy, the hopelessness which can subverts all the high values.Part two analyzes the embryonic features of the neo-humanist spirit in the value criteria of Chinese metropolitan fiction of 1990s. It also narrates the different levels and relationship between values of realistic and ultimate concerns in the fiction. Undoubtedly, the rebuild of the system of value of neo-humanist spirit with "concern on humanity" as its dominant value criterion brings the metropolitans new hope.Part three stresses that fiction writers should take the stand of humanist intellectuals and enrich and improve their neo-humanist spirit. They should give full play to their consciousness as the writing subject and, with individualized writing as well as strong historical and social responsibility, mix the neo-humanist spirit with the text so as to construct the new values with "beauty" as their core spirit and ideal, display the critical power of metropolitan fiction as one form of art through helping the metropolitans protest against the current vulgar and sickening social phenomenon.