Pastoral Of New China

As a son of canal,Liu Shaotang has devoted his life to creating the native-land literature and constructing an ideal version of the new China in his novels.Liu grows up in a small village near the Northern Grand Canal.His writings is relevant to the Northern Grand Canal and he has established a literature system about the canal.His native-land literature can be viewed as a form of canal literature which takes on distinctive features in the development course of China's native-land literature.This paper is devoted to researching the canal literature of Liu Shaotang.Besides analyzing his unique approach to creating native-land literature and depicting the canal with poetic charm,the author aims to explore the thematic meaning and creation value of Liu's canal literature from the perspectives such as history and narration.From the angles of history,culture and geography,this first chapter elaborates on how Liu Shaotang constructs an ideal version of the new China in his novels.Firstly,his novels feature the small things which are happening in the rural China on a daily basis,which can mirror the background of the times.Liu also links the political narration with the daily life and emotional attitude of those peasants.Secondly,the local customs unique to the Northern Grand Canal have been blended into the daily life of those peasants so as to construct an aesthetic world with distinctive national and regional characteristics.Thirdly,after identifying the location of the stories,the author also gives an outline of the local scenery and village landscape around the Northern Grand Canal.It is concluded that both the magnificent historical narration and the pastoral narration of rural daily life are two important ways of idealizing a new China.The second chapter is concerned with the stories happening around the canal in Liu's novels.Liu tries to give a vivid description of the changing life and overall landscape around the Northern Grand Canal at different stages before and after the founding of the new China.The persistent efforts made by those ordinary people,men or women,for revolution,construction and reform during the 20th century have been embodied in his novels,which also infuses a profound historical connation into his canal literature.In addition to describing the life of those ordinary people who are living around the canal,Liu highly praises their spiritual core of remaining unchanged amid the ups and downs in the river of history.The third chapter discusses the pastoral writing style which is used in Liu's canal literature.Besides depicting the struggle and suffering of those ordinary people against the special background of the times,Liu expresses admiration for the beauty of humanity shining in the hardship and also depicts a vivid picture of the Northern Grand Canal with his localized languages full of cultural essence and landscape description infused with the beauty of color and music.Considering the special geographical location of the canal,the writer compares the urban area and rural area so as to reflect the living space and spiritual state of local peasants and thus seize the unique value of the rural native land.The fourth chapter analyzes the way of constructing a poetic canal in Liu's canal literature.Liu sees the native land around the canal as a source of inspiration to his literature creation.Focusing on his hometown Rulin Village,Liu combines storytelling and drama without main characters to reveal the distinctive local characteristics and national flavor.Instead of avoiding the dark side of life,he also tries to expose and even intervene in the life.However,the complexity of life has not been touched in his novels for intentional reasons or the otherwise.Therefore,Liu is absorbed in creating the literature works which are defined by truth,kindness and beauty.The praise for the beauty of humanity is a keynote that he has voluntarily chosen for his novels.And the praise for the new China has become the most important keynote through his entire writing career.Filled with revolutionary idealism,Liu's canal literature outlines the fast-changing life around the canal in the river of time.His works highlight the beauty of humanity in the hard time,the virtue and contribution of laboring people as well as the praise for the new China.His canal literature,which creates a native land of the new China with poetic charm,presents a fresh,melodious and harmonious style,can be seen as a pastoral of the new China.