EXPLORATIONS IN 20TH CENTURY CHINESE LITERATURE

Abstract

China has a rich and old literary tradition, yet Chinese literature has always been a mystery to the outside world. The main reason behind this has been the peculiarity of Chinese language and Chinese culture. The beginning of Twentieth Century has seen a major shift in literary traditions in China. Literary reforms were a major part of the New Culture Movement in China which took place in the second decade of the 20th Century. As a result of this movement Confucian teachings were discarded and replaced by new culture and similarly classical literature was replaced by vernacular literature. A shift from classical literature to vernacular has helped Chinese literature to expand its reach to the masses. The paper looks into broader causes and effects of various political and social activities on Chinese literature and its components such as themes, genres, plots, trends, writers, movements, people, etc. The paper focuses on the time period between early 1920s to late 1980s.