For The Record Of Urban Citizens' Spirit

Over the past few years, researching Lao She and his works under a "macro-culture" angle of view has formed a macroclimate in the field of Lao She study. This angle of view, linked with Lao She's works, has yielded the substantial results in Lao She study. On the other hand, it has also constrained the depth and span that Lao She study could otherwise reach. In fact, although being a nonpartisan person Lao She deliberately tried to keep a distance to politics in his entire life, he was always close to the reality of the Chinese society and had always paid his attention to the destiny of our nation and nationalities.The first half of the 20th century was indeed the transition period of the Chinese society: the introduction of western science and technology impelled very much the sprouting and development of modern China's industry civilization; the New Culture Movement promoted the renewal of modern Chinese's ideology and value objectives; and the Old and New Democratic Revolutions accelerated the transformation of the Chinese social systems. All these factors formed a joint force in such a new era. It enormously changed the ancient China's social appearance. It touched each corner of the Chinese society and all social strata. It caused sharp turbulences in people's social life anywhere from major cities to remote places. It made a huge impact on intellectuals, capitalists, citizens, workers and even peasants, affecting their destiny, thought, emotion and psychological behaviors. It was urban petty citizens who stood in the breach at the center of these turbulences. However, during the "May 4th Movement" period, Chinese writers often followed an ideology initiation path in their literacy creation, focusing on intellectuals as a torchbearer and peasants as a main target for ideology initiation. The Chinese urban citizen literature, representing then by a so-called "Mandarin Duck and Butterfly" group of Chinese writers, had suffered extreme criticism. This...