Study On The Acceptance History Of Moment In Peking

Moment in Peking,Lin Yutang's first novel in English,has been publishedfor more than 80 years since 1939.During this time,people's reviews onMoment in Peking are changing constantly with the transiting of the themes ofthe times and social environment.Moment in Peking was published by the John Day Company in December1939.Within half a year,it has sold 50,000 copies,ranking first in the best sellerlist of that year.After that,it was translated into Japanese,Korean,Spanish,Portuguese and other foreign languages,causing widespread praise overseas.However,Chinese readers didn't think highly of it.In June 1940,Spring andautumn Publishing House located in Shanghai published the Jinghua Yanyuntranslated by Zheng Tuo and Ying Yuanjie.This is the first complete Chinesetranslation of Moment in Peking,and the first time that the name "Jinghua Yanyun" met with Chinese readers.However,from the beginning of publication,the novel has been criticized and questioned by Chinese readers,including LinYutang himself.Although the book was praised occasionally,in general,it has notcaused extensive discussion.The author sums up this characteristic as "hotoutside but cold inside".After Lin Yutang went to Taiwan in 1944,the mainland'sresearch on Lin Yutang almost stagnated.Lin Yutang's name has been ignored inthe history of literature consciously.Even if he was mentioned occasionally,hewas called "reactionary scholar".His works was not be published any more,including Moment in Peking.Therefore,the novel was no longer in the limelight.On the other hand,the novel has been hotly debated overseas and in Taiwan andHong Kong,where the new translation have appeared,which have been passedso far.The contrast between "hot" and " cold" was stronger.After the reform and opening up,researches on Lin Yutang spread fromoverseas to China,and became the discourse center of academia gradually.However,the most researchers at that time only talked about Lin Yutang'sthoughts and less people wanted to pay attention to Lin Yutang's novels.Until1987,Jinghua Yanyun,translated by Zhang Zhenyu was published by Timesliterature and Art Press in Changchun and Taiwan's TV play Jinghua Yanyunshowed on the both sides of the Taiwan Strait.This novel has returned to thesight of people(including scholars).After the 1990 s,Lin Yutang's identity as alitterateur was further confirmed.As Lin Yutang's first novel,Moment in Pekingwas also valued by scholars.It is not only studied as an English novel,but alsocompared with other Chinese and foreign literary classics.The study of Moment in Peking presents a thriving appearance.It should be noted that no matter theresearcher regarded this novel as an assistant tool to study Lin Yutang's thought,or analyzed and explored its Chinese translations from the perspective oftranslation(as specialized field),or compared it with other Chinese and foreignclassical literary works as a modern Chinese literary classic,so as to explore itsown uniqueness,they are all closely attached to the gradual improvement of LinYutang's reputation and literary status.Readers even ignore the shortcomings ofthe work intentionally because of their love for the author,and the voice ofcriticism and debate is less and less.As an important part of the acceptance of the novel,the adaptations of TVseries has an important impact on the spread of the novel in the mass society.Based on the original work,the Jinghua Yanyun played on CTS added or deletedin a suitable way,winning the double affirmation of the general audience andexperts and scholars.In 2005,the CCTV showed the new version of Jinghua Yanyun,which adapted the novel through film and television with the method ofdrawing materials,and made a large-scale change and deletion of the charactersand plots of the original work.In 2015,the YUN NAN SATELLITE TV showedanother adaptation Xin Jinghua Yanyun,which completely abandoned the originalwork and rewritten it from the beginning.Owing to that,it became a hodgepodgeof youth love drama,family ethics drama and Anti Japanese drama.Although theTV series has gained high ratings because of the admiration of the young fans,ithas also been criticized by scholars most deeply.