On The "Weiyang Song" Of Luqiao From The Perspective Of Chinese Traditional Culture

The full-length novel Wei Yang Ge is written in 1943 by Lu Qiao, the Chinese writer settled down in the U.S. later. As the writer’s representative work, the novel created in the mainland is warmly welcomed overseas while ruthlessly repelled at home. The book was published by Hongkong Ren Sheng publishing house in 1959, and was launched by Taiwan Commercial Press in 1967. Upon its publishment, the book became popular in the campus in Taiwan, Hong Kong and overseas, enjoying the admiration and fancy of many young people. On the par with Besieged City, the book is well known as "The classics for youth and bible for students overseas". However, in the mainland, the book was not published until 1990 when it was included in the The Addendum Series of Modern Chinese Literature edited by Professor Kong Fan in the Chinese Department of Shang Dong University. In January,2008, Huang Shan Press obtained the book’s copyright from Taiwan Commercial Press and published the book in the mainland, and the book is printed in traditional Chinese in compliance with Lu Qiao’s last wish. It’s the first time for the separate edition of Wei Yang Ge to get exposed to the reader’s in China mainland.What keeps unchanged in all Lu Qiao’s works is the theme of culture. His earlier works think about the ideal construction of Chinese traditional cultural value system; and his works at his middle age make prominent the Eastern culture’s charm and value in the transcultural context between East and West, expressing his persistent pursuit for the traditional culture. This paper makes a deep analysis on the novel Wei Yang Ge from the perspective of Chinese traditional culture, digging out the embodiment and meaning of the traditional culture, and gives the novel a value proposition throughout the history of Modern Chinese Literature. The main body of the paper consists of three chapters in total:Chapter 1 makes a detailed elaboration on how Chinese traditional culture is specifically reflected in the novel:by demonstrating the Heroes Tree of Southwest Associated University, the author analyzes the remarkable spirit of traditional culture reflected on those teachers and students such as Yu Mengqin’s self-reliance, Wu Baosheng’s benevolence, Lin Yanmei’s self-restraint and rigor and Xiao Tong’s letting nature take its course as well as teachers’being contented in poverty. Next the themes featured by Chinese traditional culture is elaborated, such as the interpersonal relationship honoring harmony, spiritual pursuit for being contented in poverty and the social responsibility of "being concern about the country and the people before anything else“. Lastly the discussion will be focused on the relationship between Wei Yang Ge and the traditional novels. This novel borrows and inherits traditional novel’s composition structure, integrating ancient Chinese with modern Chinese; and it persists in using Chinese traditional characters.Chapter 2 mainly elaborates on the book’s creation background and the factors of the book’s traditional style from subjective and objective perspectives:the writer’s family environment and personal study experience makes him embrace good memories toward his campus and he attempts to keep the precious friendship remain; while his personal pursuit for culture and interest in art invokes the deeply-rooted Chinese culture in Mr. Lu’s novel.Chapter 3 makes a value proposition of Wei Yang Ge in the modern Chinese literature history:it’s a rare full-length lyrical novel throughout the modern Chinese literature history, like a fresh prose poem rich in lyrical style; it’s also an epic on saving our country during the anti-Japanese war with a prominent mark of the era; it’s the important historic material for social studies on marginal people, with some value for sociology. This paper points out the flaws in the novel’s artistic form such as the overly perfect image-building and lack of authenticity and consistency in plotting, which can be attributed to the writer’s unmatured artistic skill. The writer tends to project his own sentiments into the novel unawares and beautify it in an inappropriate way.