| After the complete occupation of the foreign settlements in Shanghai by the Japanese Army, Gujin emerged as the first literary journal devoted to lyrical essays, a genre prevalent in prewar China. A large number of renowned men of letters, including Zhou Zuoren, Qu Duizhi, Ji Guo'an, Su Qing, and Wen Zaidao, regularly contributed to Gujin and formed "a literary network around the magazine." Such loosely organized group of intellectuals shared similar aesthetic tastes, life interests, moral senses, and political stances, and were ready to convey their viewpoints in the articles of Gujin, which resonated with a popular trend within the public opinion of occupied China and reflected the spirit of the time in a metaphorical way. For one thing, they created a cultural space between resistance and collaboration, in which various perspectives were articulated in an indirect way through historical accounts, formulating a new set of moral standards and redefining the discourse of Chinese nationalism. By presenting its own principles of social morality and setting up a pantheon of heroic images, Gujin intellectuals undermined the nationalistic agendas worshipped by the "cultural fighters" and justified the survival of the Chinese people under the Japanese occupation. This public space also turned out to be a form of cultural resistance against Japanese propaganda. Due to the fad of historical essays initiated by Gujin , Chinese presses soon re-seized the discursive power from Japanese official organs. With their ostensible obsession with the past and an intentional application of historical metaphors, Gujin intellectuals manifested a militant non-cooperative attitude towards Greater East Asianism, the Co-prosperity Sphere, and other Japanese ideological projects. In this sense, it is of great significance to analyze the cultural practice of Gujin in occupied China. |
