.20 1980s Confrontation And The Narrative Mode Of Study

Since the 1980s, with the emergence and development of China's modernization, the urban and rural dichotomy tends to be loosened and an invincible social transferring movement has been underway when around ten million rustics have crowded into cities, which has become an increasingly important and apparent trend of narrative object in the contemporary and current literary world.In fictions concerning the rustics'movement to cities, migration to cities is conceived as the unavoidable logic starting point in the narration and, in a covert way, it leads to the historical route of modernization of the mainland of China. Furthermore, it is the set circumstance for the full clarification of the urban and rural dichotomy, as well as that of urban citizens and rural dwellers."Migration to cities"encompasses two levels of metaphoric references: physical as well as spiritual migration, the former referring to the change of living conditions in the sense of space while the latter dealing with the historical transferring from the premodern rural China to the modern (even postmodern) cities. This paper, based on the mentioned assumptions, intends to put forward and to seek answers to the following questions: first, why do rustics abandon their country hometown to move to cities? Second, what are the modes of physical city transferring? Third, what are the features of spiritual city migration and what about the possibilities of the rustics'spiritual upgrading regardless of the barriers of historic steps.It is the common practice for the countrymen fed on agriculture to be rooted in certain places for generations. What is the force that has compelled these rustics to abandon their hometown to move to cities? Based on a synthetic analysis on the narratives of the rustics'city migration since the 1980s, this paper holds that the movement is attributed to both a vague call of the dream of modernization and the long-rooted contrast and distance between the urban and rural life. It is the joint drive of both of these two factors that contributes to the movement.Based on sociological theories, this paper attempts to categorize the two periods of the 1980s and the 1990s and to analyze and sum up their respective modes of physical city migration. The modes of 1980s tends to be simpler and more easily identifiable, which can be roughly classified into two modes—city-appealing and self-striving. Since 1990s the modes tends to be more complex and diversified, which fall into active and passive city migration modes that can be subcategorized into several minor modes.Spiritual upgrading from that of the countryside to that of cities is the predominant challenge facing the rustics who have physically entered the city. The historical crossing of two distinct cultures and spaces and times characterizes the spiritual city migration as adventurous. The traditional rustic cultures appears to be powerless and groundless when confronted with the modern urban civilization. Trapped in this dilemma, rustics in cities are undergoing various unprecedented spiritual difficulties and sufferings. In terms of spiritual city migration, the history of the rustics'city-oriented movement has been painstaking to overcome a multitude of obstacles.