Value Exploring: Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Use Of Indigenous Imagination In Chinese Fantasies For Children

Although the history of fantasy writing for children is just more than one decade fromthe Chinese writers have the awareness of the form of Fantasy, the phenomena andproblems it presented are still worth to concerning. The writers and scholars ofchildren’s literature started advocating the indigenization of Chinese fantasy as thefantasy from abroad attacked the domestic market in the beginning of21century.Based on little attention is paid, the advocating voices are weak. Comparing it to thenative writings, the result shows that there are fewer factors about indigenization inthe context of the advocating from the beginning. By pointing out the contributionof the early native fantasies and comparing writings with the advocating theories ofindigenous fantasies, the paper intends to clarify the change of native fantasies andtheir advantages and disadvantages, furthermore, to get closer to what is the key pointof indigenization of Chinese fantasy and how to achieve the indigenization.The main methods in this paper are generalization, classification, historical analysis,comparative study and close reading.By reading the texts, I find that the native writings, except for those which use themagic words from western fantasy, tend to image the unknown source of thesupernatural. It is mainly presented with three types: no magic transformation,treasures and mysterious power. They absorb nourishment from the traditionalnarration and have a flashback of the original image. The shortage of traditionalfantasy resource from the perspective of children, insufficient concern of the form ofimagination and the deep cultural difference are the main reasons why suchimagination of supernatural power is shaped.Finding the exploring value of the native image in fantasies from the angle ofimagination could enlighten us much. On one hand, under the view of children’sliterature, the specific problems from tradition to modern are dug up and the differentculture settings are highlighted. When it comes to using the traditional imagination,some native fantasies just put them into the narration simply; In addition, unlike thewestern magic narration formed a series of image which can be passed down,continually enriched and created, the image form in Chinese narration is simple andits image elements generally cannot be separated, adding the difficulty of usingtraditional imagination to compose new works. And we shouldn’t ignore the negativeeffect of the traditional narration to children’s fantasies which approved the mentalgoing though and put the body adventure down. On the other hand, the narration oftraditional image and special cultural aesthetic setting provide the possibility to createa unique world of fantasy, such as the different transformation and the bothcontrolling and respecting attitude to the supernatural power. However, thosepossibilities and specialties haven’t been exploited fully. Some texts which used the traditional imagination are not successful for its loose logic and the lack of emotionalmotivation. Nevertheless, emotion has become the main part of the image form forthe traditional imagination highlights the subjective minds. That’s a valuablecontribution to the fantasy of the world to resist the permeating of technical thinkingto the inside of fantasy. For Whom the Cicada Screams is the successful work whichmakes the traditional image and narration properly blend with the modern form offantasy, but it is not valued highly enough. By analyzing the indigenization theoriesof fantasy, I find that they are vague and there is general lack of specific analysis ofthe composing characteristics of native writings.The theories about indigenization of fantasy for children are superficial in generalwith the evidence of high-frequency reference to The New Classic of Mountains andRivers ABC by Xue Tao. Some scholars advocate an intact and grand magic system,multivolume production and epic narration, which are unilateral but get the responsefrom the works after2009. From2009, most of works show the new tendencyranging from realistic reinforce, tight logic, the emphasis on specific details to the tryof building the intact and grand new magic system. Yet they have not done the furthereffort to explore how to mingle the traditional image with the modern form of fantasy.The ignorance of the imagination of supernatural power in Chinese children’sfantasies may just the main reason why the scholars and writers cannot go far on theroad of fantasy indigenization. In short, there is still lots work to be done on theindigenization way for Chinese fantasy.