Jia Pingwa And Vernacular Chinese Novels In The Ming And Qing Dynasties

In this paper, we focus on Jia Pingwa’s novel,” The DesertedCity" and”GaoXing”, studying the inheritance and exceedingrelationship between Jia’s novel and Ming&Qing vernacularnovels. This study is one of many important dimensions of Jia’sresearch materials, the combination of Jia’s Novel and Ming&Qingvernacular novels and in-depth demonstration for their relationshipwill help Chinese traditional literature and contemporary literature tomake a better comparison and connection, as well as the integration oftheir resources. This study provides a convenient entry point for theintegration of the whole history of literature and also has highlyreference value for the future comparison of classical andcontemporary literature.The paper is divided in three chapters: the first chapter mainlyfocus on spirit and interest of those intellectuals, analyzing the impactMing&Qing vernacular novels have on Jia’s novel and himself, Thissection analyze the similarity and difference of ancient andcontemporary writers’ spiritual level, studying the affection of thewriter’s values, tastes and social environment of their works. Ming andQing Dynasties is a period when great development of socialproductivity happens, but it’s also a time for the great depression ofthe literary spirit. During this period the social environment is quite different from any other time in Chinese history, the seeds ofcapitalism first appeared in China, and it not only greatly influencedmany aspects of social productivity in china, but also gives a shock inthe literature field. The literature in that period began to deviate fromthe orthodox track, turning into entertainment and advocate thenegative view of seizing the day. The most representative phenomena isthe popularity of vernacular novels, it abandon the confusing languageof forest literature and also discard the preaching function of writingthe truth emotionally. The popularity of vernacular novels is the resultof catering the common aesthetic. However, to some extent, the rise ofvernacular fiction, representing the progress of society as well as thebreakthrough and innovation for literature. Jia live in the1990s,when the first peak of productivity development arise. Similar to theMing and Qing dynasties, In the socialist period of the new China, thereform and opening up policy as well as the market economy open thedoor to prosperity. Marx once said:“literary and economicdevelopment are not always synchronized, the opposite is often thecase”. Thus, the contrary of economic development and literarydevelopment is the focus of the study in this chapter.Chapter two stand on the Jia’s insisted creativity to analyze itstraditional and retro features. Sun Jianxi said, Jia is a culturalconservative writer. In his works, you can always find the heritage ofclassical and folk culture. His creative style has a close connection with classical literature. As the founder of root-seeking litarature, Jiaestablished his root-seeking culture with "The Story of CrouchingTiger,” Therefore, his novel has backward-looking style. Jia’s "TheDeserted City" has zombie relationship with Ming and Qingvernacular novels,"GaoXing" is applied to the Romantic model."GaoVillage,""White Nights", also have classical style. In most of Jia’sworks, the local land and farmers are two important themes,"Thepeople in village”“first record in Shangzhou “etc., Most of the storieshappens in the vast barren native land in Shanxi." The DesertedCity" and "GaoXing" are the city subject that the author barely use,although the background of the novel is Xi’an, the author is stillwriting village concept. Those farmer intellectuals living in the citylike Zhuangzhi die, Liu Gaoxing, always get exposure to the oppositionof urban and rural area, which also express the author’s hesitation andconfusion about China’s urbanization and modernization.Chapter three study the transcendence of Jia’s novel over Mingand Qing vernacular novels, focus on the misery awareness of thosemodern intellectual. The social function of the Ming and Qing fictionnovel is entertainment, the taste and style is not very high. Jia justborrows the shell of them but the spiritual level is much higher.”TheDeserted City" expresses intellectuals’ concerns and confusions ofcontemporary social changes, and the pain they get when they can’tfigure out the solution."GaoXing" shows the opposition of urban and rural areas. urban-rural conflicts, the inerasable barriers in themodernization process of the status as well as the dilemma of people inurban and rural areas who suffered from embarrassing and not beingrecognized. Jia’s works, without exception, keeps a close attention tothe contemporary society, especially the two major groups:intellectuals and peasants, which is the same spirit as May FourthLiterature in the early twentieth century. This paper focuses on themisery awareness and critical spirit of contemporary Chineseintellectuals. Jia’s novel, which far beyond the entertainmentfunction of Ming and Qing vernacular novels, pushing the meaning ofnovels to a deeper level with realism.