In Nie Chinese Tertr Shrdies in Comparative Literature, Ying-Hsiung Chou (Ed-), (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 19 8 6), 63
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Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts &om it Ni la thkse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autonsation. ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................ rr TABE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................................................. III LET OF TABLESAND FIGURES..................................................................................................................... V ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.................................................................................................................................. VI CHAPTER1 INTRODUCIION .......................................................................................................................... I CHAPTER 2 THECONTG~~~ OF THE CULTURAL REVOLCmON ....................................................................... 9 2.1 Prehistory of the Cultural Revolution (1949- 1966)...................................................................... 9 2.2 Five stages of the Cultural Revolution ( 1966- 1976) ................................................................. 13 CHAPTER3 R~ENATURE OF MEMOIRWRITING: A THEORETICALOVERVIEW ....................................... 20 3.1 Western Tradition of Memoir .................................................................................................... 20 3.2 A Historical Overview ................................................................................................................ 22 3.3 Recent Developments.................................................................................................................. 24 3.4 Traditional Chinese Memoir ....................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER~A SELECTIONOFTHE MEMO~RS.............................................................................................. 35 4.1 Memoirs hblished in English ................................................................................................... 35 4.2 Mernoirs Published in Chinese .................................................................................................... 42 CHAPTER5 SELECTED MEMOIRS:CHARACTERUATION AND ANALYSIS .................................................... 49 5.1 Biographical Information on the SeIected Memoirs' Authors .................................................... 49 5.2 Self-Portraits of the Memoirs ' Writers ........................................................................................ 55 5.2.1 WUSwum -A Popular Account .................................................................................... 57 5.2.2 Spider Eaters -Confessions ............................................................................................ 63 5.2.3 Red Flower of China -Victim or Crirninal? .................................................................... 65 5.2.4 Confessions of a Red Guard -Anoîher Novel? ................... ... ................................... 67 5.2.5 Blood Red Sunset -An Ironic Hero ........................... ,, ............................................... 69 5.2.6 A Chinese Winter S Tale -A Literary Piece of Tmih ...................................................... 71 CHAP~~ER6 FRAMEWORK FOR COMPARATIVEANALYSIS OFTHE MEMOlRS ...............................................75 6-1 Riding the Political Rolier Coaster: The Tragedy of the Red Guards .........................................78 62 Going up the Mountaul, down to the Village, and Retuming to the City: A Circular Life of Struggle ................................................................................................................................................. 88 CWTER 7 DISCUSSIONAND CONCLUSION............................................................................................... 94 7.1 Discussion on Similarities and Differences ................................................................................. 97 7.1.1 Cornmonalties and Contriïutions of the Memoirs ............................................................. 97 7.1.2 MCPC: Expressions with more Reservation ...................................................................... 99 7.1.3 MCPE: TalkiDg more Freely ............................................................................................ 102 7.2 Conclusion and Future Research ............................................................................................... 107 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................................................... 109 ANNEX: ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................. 114 List of Tables and Figures Table 1: Thilteen Mernoirs Published in English ............................................................... 36 Table 2: Eight Mernoirs Published in Chinese ................................................................... 42 Table 3: Profile of Selected Memoir Wrïters ...................................................................... 51 Table 4: Three Elernents of the Memoirs ........................................................................... 57 Figure 1: Analytical Framework for Literature Cornparison .............................................. 77 Figure 2: Synthetic Mode1 of Memoirs Concerning the CR ............................................... 94 Acknowledgement 1 wish to thank Dr. Richard King for suggesting the topic. 1 have benefited tremendously fiom his profound knowledge about the Chinese culture. Dr. King's tirneIy and patient guidance has been extremely helpful. I wodd also like to acknowledge Dr. Harry Hsiao's help in the course of rny completing the thesis. The many discussions that 1 had with him opened my eyes to new perspectives. 1 wish to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Yvonne Hsieh for her sharpness in identimg the areas where improvements were necessary- Her helpfùl comments and warm encouragement provided important driving force during my final stage of revision. 1am also grateful for the University examiner Dr. Ralph Croizier who was kind enough to spend the time and efforts. Chapter 7 introduction This thesis is principally concerned with the memoirs about China's Cultural Revolution (CR). Wrïtten in the past two decades by Chinese authors who experienced the CR as witnesses and survivors, the mernoirs faIl into two categorïes: (i) those that have been published within China and, (ii) those that have been published outside of China- These books have a large readership, and occupy an important place in the publications concerning the CR. Some of them are widely viewed as authorïtative books on conternporary Chinese bistory. The fact that the memoirs al1 deal with the CR enables an analysis and cornparison of the authors' views as well as the themes runnïng through their works. Thus far, very few studies have been undertaken on modem Chinese memoirs. Therefore, it is believed that this thesis makes initial contributions to this field-' In this introductory chapter, 1 set out three essential elements that constitute my thesis, narnely, the Cultural Revolution, the selected memoirs and the methodologies used for analysis. The purpose is to set the stage for detailed analysis in subsequent chapters. The Cultural Revolution In contemporary Chinese history, the CR had a disastrous impact on Chinese society2 It is safe to Say that no one can truly understand today'ç China without adequate knowledge about the CR. The tenn "Cultural Revolution" (wenhua geming) was fist used ' There exist some articles that are concerned with Chinese memoirs, for example, Gao Mobo's Memoirs and Interpretation of the CR.. .(Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 27, No. 1 / Jan. - Mar, 1995) and Kong Shuyu's WiId Swans or Spider Eaters? The Problenzatics of Memoirs (Manuscript, 1998). Of the six theses that have been identined to deal with memoirs or autobiography, only one focuses on Chinese memoir, namely, Liu Chi and his "The Record of One Reîurned to Obscuri~"which recorded an account of the fd of the Jin Dynasty (1 115- 1234); however, it is not a modem Chinese memoir. 'Zang Xiaowei, Children of the Cultural Revolution (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2000), p. 2. by Chinese reformers as early as in the May Fourth Movement (May 4, 19 19) of the early years of the Republic of China. But since the rniddle of 1966, the term CR has been