Zhou Zuo-ren's Early Study Of Children And Children's Literature

Zhou Zuoren is a pioneering Chinese who gives his attention to the children. His new conception of children and children's literature is the foundation of the study in those areas in China. This paper focuses on Professor Zhou's early study of children and children's literature. Through comparison of his views given in different periods, the conclusion is drawn that Professor Zhou's ideas are shaped in the early times. This conclusion helps clarify some issues about his conceptions of children and children's literature. Two issues are mentioned in this paper. The first one is about realism of his views. From three perspectives, the background of producing the theories, the methods of proving the theories and the final direction of the theories, this paper dissertates that Professor Zhou's theories of children and children's literature are pragmatic thoughts of and replies to the real life rather than pure ideals. The second one is about sociality of his views. Professor Zhou's views are interiorly related to children's education, and his attention to children's education shows his recognition of sociality of children. Since education plays an important role in social development, acknowledgement of education's social function means that children, the educatees, have social values.My study tries to explore the original views of Professor Zhou in the specific contexts by systemizing his theories that he has made in the diaries, the memoirists, and the theses about children and children's literature.