Chinese Children's Literature In The Early 20th Century Aesthetic Process (1903-1927)

Chinese modem children literature originated at the beginning of the 20th century. It experienced two formations during its twenty more years' evolution, i.e., the preliminary stage of modem children literature from the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China to the "May the Fourth Movement" that shaped its first transformation with comparison to the ancient feudal enlightenment reading materials, while its rough formation gradually took place only from the "May the Fourth Movement" to the booming of the revolution literature, which marked the second transformation by exceeding the so-called "para-childern literature" during the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. Aesthetic perception ?the essential feature that determines the transformation of children literature ?contains two aspects, i.e., characteristics of both children and literature. This thesis discusses the process of aesthetic perception at the beginning of 20th century and is composed of four parts.Chapter One discusses the forming of aesthetic perception of Chinese children literature proposed by its initiators at the beginning of the 20th century. Influenced by the Enlightenment from the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China to the "May the Fourth Movement", the conceptions of children and literature underwent the process from the political recognition to the noumenon recognition. And the adoration of childlike innocence further stimulated the evolution during the "May the Fourth Movement". In addition, aesthetic education also developed from its partial penetration to the vigorous enhancement, which promoted aesthetic perception.Chapter Two expounds the aesthetic formation of Chinese children literature at the beginning of the 20th century. From the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China to the "May the Fourth Movement", its content and style were developed from juvenile magnificence to childlike gracefulness. The language image turned from a mix of classical and vernacular Chinese to childlike simplicity. The type of literature was evolved from the individual vague grope to the self-conscious establishment of multi-styles.Chapter Three expounds the difficult position of aesthetic perception of Chinese children literature at the beginning of the 20th century. It fell into two categories. One was "education-oriented", which was manifested in the education-conceived literature conception based on childlike perception and its converted continuity; the other was "fancy-oriented", which was shown in the fancy-gracefulness resulted from "childlike innocence" and overemphasizing the "current" "children's world".Chapter Four discusses the aesthetic integrity and its accomplishment of Chinese children literature at the beginning of the 20th century. During the "May the Fourth Movement", efforts to achieve aesthetic integrity were made in meeting the needs of presenting children ontology and different periods of ages as well as harmonizing meanings and interests. The accomplishments were displayed as childlike aesthetic intention, harmonized aesthetic ideal and modernized aesthetic style.