A Study Of The National Character Criticism Of The Unofficial Records Of Studying In Japan

Studying in Japan has become a trend in China in the late19th century and the early20th. The central government of Qing清dynasty initially organized the selected students to study in Japan and more individuals were inspired to cross the ocean. Unofficial Records of Studying in Japan is a literary work written by Xiang Kairan向恺然,one of the students studying in Japan during that time. The book tells about these Chinese students’ daily life and mental state in Japan in the early time of the Republican China. The current academic attention has mainly been based on the field of literature. Approaching from the perspective of Intellectual and Cultural History, this paper will place the book in the thought of national character criticism that rose between the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republican era, and analyze it with relevant materials and methods of textual analysis.In the introduction of the paper, I will introduce the book and its author Xiang Kairan in general. Then, I will present my argument in the following parts:the first part introduces the social and cultural background of the book. The second and third parts analyze how the book employs the national character criticism to criticize the Chinese and Japanese. By comparing the criticism, I will try to reveal the author’s choice of national identity in the specific historical background and social environment, and his effort to describe Japan as a "Country of Prostitution". The forth part analyzes the construction of the text through Michel Foucault’s "Discourses of Power" theory, and expounds the lost of the author and his role under the influence of his national identity. This can be seen first by the author with finding a reasonable excuse for depravity of the Chinese who were in Japan at that time. Then, the author tries to escape the reality under the cover of patriotic pride. Finally the author resists Japan with the fictional relations of power. In the fifth part, the paper explores the book’s value by discovering its popularity in its contemporary society, examines its cultural awareness and cultural psychology in order to clarify its position and value in the Cultural History. The final part elaborates my cultural thinking of national criticism in the book.