Brief Encouter-30 Years For Bernard Shaw And Chinese Modern Literature

As a famous Irish writer, George Bemard Shaw (1856-1950)'s road to literature began with novel writing, but his most notable contribution was play writing. During Chinese May 4th movement, his plays came to China and had a big influence on Chinese play writing and performance. He also had impact on some Chinese writers like Lu Xun, Mao Dun, Lin Yutang and Qu Qiubai. This paper analyzes how Shaw met Chinese literature in different historical times, and how he slided it off, which did not produce bigger fruit for China, based on the intergration, interaction and collision ofShaw and Chinese literature. Focusing on the interaction of Shaw and Chinese literature, five questions are discussed:1) In 1918, why did the Journal New Youth forecast the publication of Shaw's special but didn't fulfill it?2) What was the impact of the failure of Shaw's play Mrs. Warren's Profession in China on Chinere play writing?3) Shaw visited China in 1933. How was the value of his arrival flooded(or submerged) by the political reports?4) What was the influence of Shaw on Lu Xun, Lin Yutang and Mao Dun?5) What were the similarities and differences between Shaw and "the Left-Wingers Union of Chinese Writers"(LWUCW) on political ideas and conception on writing?Shaw met with Chinese modem literature one time after one time, but had to confront frustrations one time after one time. Shaw's Special was not able to be published on time; Play performances were suffered heavy losses; the political significance of Shaw's visit to China was much bigger than the literature transmission; He had certain impact on Lu Xun, Lin Yutang and Mao Dun, but was also limited by current political situation at that time; the barrier between Shaw and LWUCW made LWUCW not able to nominate Shaw as a model. Shaw slided off Chinese modern literature.