A Study About The Realism’ Representations And Causes Of The Sing-song Girls Of Shanghai

The novel was named The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai which was a conscious applycation of the stylistic rules of historical biography literature.This kind of borrowing and attaching,in fact,came from the author’s serious attitude towards his work.Han Bangqing’s considerate choice of the novel title indicated that his writing regarding novels as historical biography literature also embodied not only plots,but also meticulous form.Secondly,the novel used Suzhou dialect showing the characteristics of the time.Therefore,Suzhou dialect could not only mold novel characters,but also show the author’s sensitive awareness for cultural environment,social surrounding and personal emotion.These edits of name and language and the brothels’ writing where he had traveled most,established this novel’s realistic style.Compared with the marginal characters in modern imagination,the character writing in The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai can be regarded as a kind of weakened writing.The author intended to reveal the real life’s gloom,but also inadvertently reveal the miss and memory,which insured the naturalness because of the mixture of honesty and delicacy.To be specific,this naturalness was reflected in the deconstruction of the image of matchmaker in the previous novels of gifted scholars and beautiful Ladies,and faithful writing of prostitutes rather than the imagination of novelist’s ideal projection.At the same time,because the story background was set in the metropolis,the novel also described the hardship and pressure of local communities.It is worth noting that it was not the good or evil that determined their fate,but the accumulation of fortune and knowledge that control their life.The complexity of the central city existed objectively,but it did not affect each group indiscriminately.The degradation and embarrassment of the outsiders in this city was caused by a lazy attitude that could not help them cope with the city’s harsh tests,but not because of the city itself.The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai narrated not only the elegance of Shanghai of the last century but also the urban experience.Last but not least,the cause of the realism of The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai was related to the author Han Bangqing’s artistic pursuit of historical biography literature,the new trend of the literary circle at that time,and Han Bangqing’s personal situation.For one thing,the literati in the late Qing Dynasty,especially the circle of the Shenbao literati,inherited the culture of brothel entertainment since the Tang Dynasty.For another,from the advertisement and the related bibliography published at that time,notebooks about brothel entertainment accounted for a large proportion,and the consumer market prefered realitic writing.The literati’s strong interest in writing and the huge reading market made the notes,records and news in the theme of brothel entertainment very popular in the late Qing Dynasty.At the same time,in the Qing Dynasty,the novel began to develop the daily function of recording and expressing like poetry,without the restraint of rhythm and format,which also provided the possibility for the realistic writing of The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai.Han Bangqing’s personal situation influenced the realistic tendency of the novel as the gradual deviation of literati status from the central position made the confused heart not the narcissistic creative mentality and therefore Han Bangqing could get an identity of a spectator.Sensitive mentality and careful observation are important elements of realism in novels.