A Study Of Chinese Images In Mark Twain’s Works

The image of China beneath Mark Twain’s has always aroused a controversial public concern in domestic academic circles. Whether Mark Twain’s writing about China is out of democratic humanitarian concern or a racial discrimination of Orientalist, remains in suspense. Based upon the logic starting point what I mentioned above, focusing on some aspect like “social problems”, “political aspect” and“cultural imaginaries”. This thesis intends to expound the Chinese characters and reveal the status of complexities, pluralism, contradictions under Mark Twain’s writing. That is, anything more than wonderful naivete, it also provides a strong critical consciousness and insightful introspective spirit. More importantly than all of that, Mark Twain’s analysis about Heretic and Yellow Peril view, may easily mislead on “Racism” among researchers.To explain the complicated, multiple, and contradictions text context, and to penetrate his real intention and signified of China. This article adopt New Critically textual close reading, to thoroughly analyzed about Mark Twain’s writing involved“China” exist in such circumstances as “Allegoric metaphors”, “Archetype metaphor”and “Tensity”. Further more, to point out why he talked about China in a story-telling,metaphoric and humor way, or more of a ridicule criticism, actually it’s a sarcasm of Imperialism America itself. Though the sharp tone was exerted in his article, targeting are equally clear. On one hand, it verified Mark Twain, an intellectual, hold his opinion on a critical and introspective position. The other hand, it fully settled the problem on what Mark Twain mentioned."Why?" is the mainly problem among the third part in my article. We introduce a research methods called Intertextually. To begin with, comparing his articles which related to China with others. Found out that Mark Twain’s focused on the themes about the “Esne” and “Anti-Chris”, has always been rewritten in other ways. These two Intertextuality relationship shows his humanitarian view of China comes from the thoughts himself. It’s sort of a self-construction. Posteriorly, comparing Mark Twain’s articles related to China with those contemporary writers, such as Hart, Jack London.It pointed out that between the article of Mark Twain and other contemporary writers,it shows that the mainstream concept about Mark Twain’s permeation of China concept that time. Acting as a “otherness-construction”way. Ultimately, putting Mark Twain’s Chinese words into the history of western image of Chinese,on one hand,considered Mark Twain’s concept of China comes from the construction of the independent thinking himself. The other, can not avoid between “Ideology”and“Utopia” difficulties. Thus, under the “Ideology” circumstances in western, what Mark Twain indicated the democratic progressive ideas in his articles, makes it commendable.