Modernity, Gender and Poetics: Chen Jitong (1852-1907) and the Cross-Cultural Intellectual and Literary Writing Practices in Late Qing China

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA , IRVINE Modernity, Gender and Poetics: Chen Jitong (1852-1907) and the Cross-cultural Intellectual and Literary Writing Practices in Late Qing China DISSERTATION Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in East Asian Languages and Literatures by Yuan Liu Disseration Committee: Professor Hu Ying, Chair Professor Martin W. Huang Professor Michael A. Fuller 2017 © 2017 Yuan Liu TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ii Acknowledgments iii Curriculum Vitae v Abstract vi Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Initial Discoveries on Chen Jitong 14 and The Chinese Painted by Themselves : Western Modernity Decentered and the Alternative Unfulfilled Chapter 2 Masculinity Imperiled, Masculinity Regained: 44 Chen Jitong’s Anxiety in The Chinese Painted by Themselves Chapter 3 A Voice in the Print Media: 74 Chen Jitong’s Tactics of Engaging the Parisian Public in the Sino-French War Chapter 4 A Chinese Lyric Poet in the Era of High Capitalism 100 Chapter 5 Two Painters of China: a Comparative Study 136 of Chen Jitong and Gu Hongming Epilogue 173 Bibliography 177 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my committee chair, Professor Hu Ying. Her profound knowledge, ingenious insight and careful guidance in regard to research and scholarship, and her enthusiasm in regard to teaching have always been the encouragement for my dissertation. Professor Hu is my role model in everything. Without her immense help and patient understanding, this dissertation would not have been possible. I would like to thank my committee members, Professor Martin W. Huang and Professor Michael A. Fuller. I am so grateful for having had chances to be in their seminars. Their remarkable works, their diligence and thoughtfulness have helped me greatly in understanding complex issues of gender and society, as well as comparative perspectives of poetics. In addition, a thank you to Professor Meng Yue, who introduced me to the new horizons of modernity and culture; Professor Judy Ho, who broadened my vision of the interdisciplinary understanding of art history and literature. I would also thank Professor Bert Scruggs and Professor Roberta Wue for taking the time from their busy schedule to attend my oral defense and kindly providing me valuable resources for the research. I take this opportunity to thank the University of California, Irvine for its generous acknowledgement of my effort behind this project. The resources and environment on campus have contributed tremendously in this dissertation. Financial support was provided by the university in forms of Chancellor’s fellowship year award, teaching assistantship and Humanities School’s research grant. I also thank our graduate coordinator Stephanie Isnali, who has given me persistent concern and assistance in wrapping up the work. Finally, iii my heartfelt gratitude to my parents and my husband, for their constant encouragement, understanding and tremendous support in every step in this endeavor. I will stay forever grateful to all of you all. iv CURRICULUM VITAE 2001 B.A. in English (with Honors), Nanjing University, China 2003 M.A in Comparative Literature, University of California, Riverside 2017 Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Literatures, University of California, Irvine Teaching Experiences: Teaching Assistant Department of Comparative Literature and Languages, University of California, Riverside Instructor Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, University of California, Irvine Selected Presentations: “Shen Congwen: ‘the Songs of Innocence’ and ‘the Songs of Experience,’” the 7th Triennial Conference of the Chinese Comparative Literature Association and the International Conference, Nanjing, 2002. “Adopt Effective Teaching Approaches to Solve the Initial Shock in Learning Chinese,” Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, Honolulu, 2003. “Chen Jitong: the Pioneer in Cross-cultural Communication in Late Qing China,” the Association for Asian Studies, Western Conference, Seattle, 2004. v ABSTRACT Modernity, Gender and Poetics: Chen Jitong (1852-1907) and the Cross-cultural Intellectual and Literary Writing Practices in Late Qing China By Yuan Liu Doctor of Philosophy in East Asian Languages and Literatures University of California, Irvine, 2017 Professor Hu Ying, Chair This dissertation approaches Chen Jitong (1852-1907), a late Qing diplomat’s cross-cultural writing attempt in his major work to explore the cultural and literary representation of late Qing literati on the world stage. During his 16- year stay in Europe (1875-1891), Chen, a secretary and attaché in the Chinese legation, also acted as a cultural celebrity by writing several books to introduce China and actively participating in cultural activities. Through the perspectives of modernity, gender and poetics, we gain a rare glimpse of how literati of his generation imagined and presented a “Chinese culture” to the western world. Chapter 1 provides a panoramic reading of Chen’s representative work and some critics’ dichotomized viewpoints, showing his critical engagement in a dialogue on modernity with the west. Chapter 2 explores Chen’s aspirations for officialdom as a student of new learning, and his role in the Sino-French war. Through the angle of masculinity, we may understand his cultural representation in writing as an outlet for the frustration and vi desire of his generation of literati. Chapter 3 discusses the importance of cultural matrix and public sphere in the cross-cultural writing. I demonstrate how the Parisian print media may influence on Chen’s publication, and how Chen elicited public sympathy and public opinions in his work. Chapter 4 analyzes Chen’s writing choices and styles in the book, showing that aesthetic features and individual penchant are indispensable and expressive elements in writings of this kind. Chapter 5 adopts a comparative approach to compare the differences of presenting culture and society in Chen Jitong and Gu Hongming (1857- 1928)’s major works, which shed light on our comprehension of the varieties of transnational writing in this vein. In general, Chen Jitong and his cultural representation on the world stage enrich our study of the intellectual map and zeitgeist of late Qing. His major work The Chinese Painted by Themselves (Les Chinois peints par eux-mêmes , 1884) as well as other works embodied his pioneering proposition of a mutual participation and dialogue in “world literature.” The study of his writing also unravels the multifaceted aspects that contribute to the cross-cultural writing. vii Introduction Chen Jitong 陳季同 (1852-1907) is a prominent cultural figure in the late Qing period, and played an important role in his cross-cultural practice on the international stage. After graduating from the Fuzhou Naval Academy 福州船政學堂 in 1875, he was dispatched by the Qing government to Paris, and stayed there most of the time for sixteen years (from 1875 to1891). He studied in Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques (The Liberal School of Political Science), and received a degree in international law from Ecole de Droit (The School of Law). 1 He then served as secretary and attaché in the Qing Embassy in Europe, and most importantly, he became a cultural celebrity in Paris. He published several books on Chinese culture and customs in French, and also achieved popularity as a noted public speaker and lecturer on international occasions. 2 Chen was recalled back to China in 1891 due to an embezzlement scandal and remained in China since then. In the last 15 years of his life, Chen assumed different roles as a writer, newspaper publisher, translator, minery explorer and staff officer. Among his contemporaries, there were more famous reformers and thinkers like Ma Jianzhong 馬建忠 (1845-1900) and Yan Fu 嚴複 (1854-1921) (his fellow students), as well as Liang Qichao 梁啟超 (1873-1929) (a generation younger). Nevertheless Chen’s uniqueness may lie in his trailblazing insight into the modernization of Chinese literature 1 Tcheng-Ki-Tong, Les Chinois peints par eux-mêmes (Paris: Calmann Lévy, 1884), 118. Henri Bryois, “Le Général Tcheng-Ki-Tong,” Revue illustrée 128 (April 1891): 289-92. Li Huachuan 李華川 , Wanqing yige waijiaoguan de wenhua licheng 晚清一個外交官的文化歷程 (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe 北京大學出版社 , 2004.8), 164,171. 2 See also in Ren Ke, “Fin-de-Siècle Diplomat: Chen Jitong (1852-1907) and Cosmopolitan Possibilities in the Late Qing World” (PhD diss., Johns Hopkins University, 2014). 1 and culture. Chen was considered the first Chinese to promote the notion and participation of “world literature.” 3 Furthermore, well before his compatriots Liang Qichao and Yan Fu began to advocate and practice the translation of western dramas and novels into China after 1898, Chen already saw the necessity of a reciprocal cultural communication, especially the trajectory of “writing outbound,” as early as a decade before the Sino- Japanese War. 4 He himself was considered among the earliest Chinese to write in a foreign language to introduce Chinese culture to the west, which was a lively practice of his “world literature” claim. 5 The biggest sensation he created in the west might be that “he was at the time in the West the most famous living Chinese author.” 6 In general, Chen’s unique experiences as a returned student playing an unprecedented role on the world cultural stage offer us a valuable and indispensable object of study in exploring the elite culture, zeitgeist and transnational cultural practice in late Qing period. Despite the importance of Chen in Chinese cultural history, he has long remained obscure in Chinese literary research and modern history. Zeng Pu 曾樸 (1872-1935), a noted late Qing fiction writer and disciple of Chen, in an advertisement soliciting Chen’s records of deeds and works 21 years after his death, lamented why such a well-known 3 Zeng Pu 曾樸 , “Lun fanyi-yu Zeng Mengpu xiansheng shu; fu lu Zeng xiansheng da shu” 論翻譯－與曾孟朴先生書 ; 附錄曾先生答書 (hereafter “a letter to Hu Shi” ), in Hu Shi, Hu Shi wen cun 胡適文存 , vol.

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