Paul Claudel And China

Paul Claudel, French consul to the Chinese Consulate in the late Qing Dynasty, was a key personality playing an important role in the history of diplomacy between China and France as well as in the history of cultural exchange between the east and the west. As a diplomat staying in China for 15 years, he experienced in person many momentous historic events in the late Qing Dynasty, and wrote many literary works on China and Chinese people, causing a great stir in France of the 19th century. For a variety of historical reasons, however, the academia in mainland China has failed to conduct adequate research concerning Claudel, knowing little about his diplomatic undertakings in China or about his literary works with China as background. Hence the present research project, which is one of the Authorized Research Projects of Scientific Planning of Fujian Province, and one of those authorized by the Research Center of Foreign Language and Literature at Fujian Normal University in 2009.This dissertation unfolds in two major parts. First, highlighting the trajectory of Claudel's diplomatic undertakings in China, the dissertation chronologically traces his participation in a series of important Chinese historic activities and discusses his various roles in these activities, with a focus on such events as the second Sino-French cooperation in rebuilding Fuzhou Arsenal, the French contribution to the building of the Beijing-Hankou Railway as the first Chinese Railway trunk-line, and the presentation of consular reports by Claudel to the French Foreign Ministry. Second, scrutinizing Claudel's major literary works written in China together with his enunciation of Chinese culture and his delineations of Chinese people, the dissertation explores into the psychological starting-point and the ideological sources of his literary creation, with a focus on such texts as collections of poetic prose Connaissance de l'Est and Le Repos du Septieme Jour; drama Partage de Midi; essays Eloge du Chinois, Choses de Chine and Souvenirs de Pekin; and literary criticism Sous le signe du Dragon. The analysis means to explain how Claudel brought an idealized image of a "cultural China" to the French readership. The first of these two major parts is primary and the second secondary and, meanwhile, the dissertation makes a further study of the contradictions in Claudel's behavior and mentality, by analyzing his religious thoughts vs. his secular conceptions, his idealism vs. his realism, his spiritual life vs. his material pursuit, and his crave after love and affection vs. his individuality. Finally, the dissertation, from a Chinese perspective, points out the defects in the studies of western scholars, especially their misreading of Claudel's self and his literary works from lack of real understanding of Chinese social contexts and, based on facts and interpretation of the facts, puts forward our own views and theories.The present research project has resorted to the first-hand data from Les Archives du Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres and those from La Societe Paul Claudel a Paris, taking reference to relevant literature by French academics. This has filled up the vacuum of research data in mainland China and provided valuable research resources for interpretation of related historical literature and their further studies.