The Roots Of Consciousness In The 20th Century Chinese Literature Research

People have focused themselves mainly on the root-seeking literature for a long time in the1980s. As the essential consciousness, it was not interpreted as basic human consciousness, but aliterary trend. Since the advent of the 20th century, the root-seeking consciousness in Chineseliterature has shown different features from those of classical literature, therefore, it was animportant task to review and interpret Chinese traditional literature in the process ofglobalization and modernization. Writers over generations chose"the root-seeking culture"astheir writing theme. However, this consciousness varied with the different principal part,historical context as well as the purpose, which showed its complexity. This thesis discusses thereasons for its occurrence and its major manifestations in literature, especially in novels, after theMay Fourth Movement. Meanwhile,the author tries to make a systematic description by the caseand contrast study.There is a brief discussion on reasons for this thesis, research status and research methods inthe introduction.The root-seeking consciousness is characterized as"tracing the source"in Chinese literaturein the 20th century. It is generally discussed from the following three aspects—the occurrenceand modernity of root-seeking consciousness, the historical context in which root-seekingconsciousness appeared in Chinese literature and various manifestations of root-seekingconsciousness. Although it has the tendency of restorationism in its literal meaning, it is theconsciousness that is full of independence when humans look back or look ahead at present. Inother words, it is the question and exploration about"who am I? Where am I from? Whereshould I go?"Since the 20th century, the root-seeking consciousness has evolved into therational cognization rather than hazy perception in classical period, which displays the completemodernity. It gradually unfolds multi-layers in the face of the change of spatiotemporalconsciousness, the crisis of life or death, the fierce conflict between Chinese and western culture,and inspiration from others. There is historic anxiety based on the theory of evolution inmodernity, including exploration and critique of incorrigibility in the traditional culture; theeffort to trace the root of life and reconstruct the nation's morality to achieve the purpose ofeducating people and founding the nation; the work to review the nation's culture, bridge the cultural gap, and re-build the nation's selfhood under the influence of the western culture…Theroot-seeking consciousness has become a part of the pursuit of Chinese modernity and beenwidely written in the literature. This paper takes Lu Xun, Shen Congwen and Han Shaogong asexamples to discuss the application of root-seeking consciousness in Chinese modern literature.The three writers are not only typical representatives of the root-seeking consciousness I thought,but also they are in the root-seeking consciousness development point.The second chapter takes Lu Xun as an example. As a son of Chinese traditional culture, heis a successor as well as a rebeller. He orientated himself"the historical intermedium"andreviewed the ancient root of Chinese literature from the point of view of a passer-by and vagrant.He undermined the cultural incorrigibility mainly by the national critique when China sufferedthe western military attack and economic pressure. Although his national critique theory mainlyoriginated from scholars in later Qing dynasty and American preacher Arthur Henderson Smith,he made his analysis in accordance with his own life experience and observation. He not onlydeveloped the national critique into that of humanity, but regarded the critique as a strategy ofenlightenment, and showed a deep doubt about the enlightenment. His subject consciousness onself-examination as a neoteric was revealed in his thought of validity and rationality ofenlightenment, awareness of torchbearers'dilemma, as well as his self-examination ondemocracy and science.The example of Shen Congwen can be found in the third chapter. He is a writer of strongsubject consciousness. His root-seeking consciousness emerged in the process of pursuingsubjectivity, but he was inspired by the new culture that occurred after the May FourthMovement. He came to the city from Xiangxi in order to realize his dream of saving the countryand the people. He was aware of the"civilization illness", which refers to the loss of vitality anddissimilation of human nature, and the city in the tremendous difference between the urban andrural culture. He showed a doubt about the salvation of modern civilization. He drew strong andfree vitality from the Xiangxi culture as important resources to construct the natural humanity toachieve the purpose of reconstructing the nation's morality as well as educating the nation andbuilding the country. He based his understanding of Xiangxi culture on his thought of life, andthen formed the basic view of urban and rural relationship. The urban and rural areas standopposite each other, on the other hand, they attract each other. He discovered this dual-illness and remounlded it in such a relationship. As a country folk in a city and an oppidan in thecountryside, he was always at the fringe of culture. He took the"Country Folk"as his identityorientation, value persuit and cultural standard. Meanwhile, he critisized the urban culture fromthe point of view of the"Country Folk", which reflected his anti-modernity—a feature ofmodernity.The fourth chapter takes Han Shaogong as an example to state that"culture of root-seeking",which follows"the Scars literature"and"the Reflection on literature", has a characteristics ofcollective action in the 1980's—an age full of passion. To persue self-subjectivity, theEducated Youth who experienced the Cultural Revolution advocated to seek the root of culture inChinese traditional culture, especially the lost culture root of Chinese nation in"irregularculture". For Han Shaogong, his effort started from the thought of"Ma Qiao"which is a culturesymbol as"Shangzhou"and"Xiaobaozhuang". His works, including The Dictionary of MaQiao,Hint,The South of Mountain and the North of Water are regarded as the continuousradiation centered on"Maqiao"with constant rewriting and deep exploration, which shows hisconcern about the culture and life. It is a process from"Maqiao"to"Maqiao". In the process ofpursuing newness and change, which is the whole value of the root-seeking literature, hecontinued his spiritual pursuit and artistic exploration, made his own analysis on the root-seekingculture and pointed out the strategic feature in the catchword of"root-seeking".In conclusion, there is a description of the new expressions of the root-seeking consciousnessin the late 20th century. With the development of Chinese economic, enhancement ofcomprehensive national strength, and the high level of globalization, the core of people's concernhas moved to material things instead of the spirit, which leads to the relative spiritual infertility.The economy has eroded culture at an unprecedented speed and degree. A series of social andpsychological problems, caused by the loss of value, disorder and anomie, arise in various forms,which presents a kind of spiritual crisis on a whole. In the seeking process, cultural scholarsdiscover the"cultural roots", on the other hand, people consume it in a fashionable way.Although this reflects people's need and desire for culture, this long term commercialconsumption will inevitably exhaust the real culture root, therefore it is the"false root".Moreover, the popularity of root-seeking does not only meet the need to establish a newinternational image for China, but also the need to develop the diversity of worldwide culture. The root-seeking consciousness also has a tendency of"returning to the nature", such as ZhangWei's"going into the wild", Chi Zijian's"writing on the nature", and the"writing on theecology"in process. It is a spiritual remediation of psychological unbalance caused in the rapiddevelopment of human society, showing their thought on search for life origin and meaning. Aslong as we are still in the process of modernization and in the global context, and keep ponderingover the nation's destiny and the goal of human ultimate development, this seeking is far moreterminated. More excellent literary works maybe come from it in the future.