Utopian Imagination In Novels Of The Late Qing Dynasty (1891-1911)

The genre of novel was shattered in late Qing Dynasty. Some works about Utopia imagination were written down from 1891 to 1911. This paper makes a detailed description of late Qing utopias. Utopia works in late Qing are compared with traditional culture and western literature. This paper focuses on what’s new in these utopia works.First, this chapter describes mutation from Shangri-la (Tao Hua Yuan) to modern utopia in late Qing. In Method of Sociology of the novel,this chapter treats of the relationship between notion of novel and change of society. The change of notion of novel match along with transmutation society structure. In fact, writers and readers are from "middle class". The subject of utopias is from "middle class "too. Second, the translation and acculturation of a famous utopia "looking backward" in Late Qing is a clue.In addition, this chapter compares "book on Datong" to "looking backward". Third chapter reviews discussion on political system and appeal for colony of China. Datong in Late Qing surpasses European nation-state.Forth chapter focuses on science, nature and modern time. The most important meaning of science in Late Qing is how to mould subject. At last, moulding people is the most important thing in late Qing. At first, novels focus on "middle class", then they think underclass is the people who to build utopia.