Two Ways Of Cultural Identity And Self-building

In modern China, the state and the nation got bogged down in crises and the traditional literati also faced a mental crisis which never existed before. The Chinese civilization was inferior in comparison with the powerful western civilization. The old idea of cultural center was questioned at that time. The literati's social status had dropped and there was serious disappointment in their heart of hearts. Wang Tao, whose fate was inconceivable, was an outstanding character. But when we remove the special covering, we'll find that there was much common ground between Wang Tao and other people in the same times. Therefore, we'll have an idea of the people's manner toward the western persons and things. Moreover, we'll see how the literati tried hard to identify culture and how they built self-image in the new environment. The thesis mainly discusses those problems above according to Wang Tao's experience of all his life and his works.The thesis includes prolegomenon and text. The prolegomenon introduces Wang Tao's experience, the research actuality and the research plan. The first chapter is the study of his political essays, including the condition on which the new essays formed, the main content and the artistic characteristic. The second chapter is the study of Wang Tao's short stories that were written in classical Chinese. This part will discuss the content and features, especially the author's efforts in writing search and the influence of a new carrier-illustrated magazine. The third chapter is to analyze how Wang Tao tried to identify the cultural from angels of reason and imagery. The fourth chapter will pay attention to the self-building at the state of mental weightlessness. Wang Tao looked for self-confidence from the new job and unreal images in novels.The political essays and novels were two ways of cultural identity and self-building. Wang Tao's perplexity was the times' perplexity, too. The analysis of his mentality and thinking will help us understand the transitional features in the course in which the traditional literati changed into modern intellectuals.