critical Discourse on Li Ruzhen•s Flowers in the Mirror

by Aidong Zhang

Comparative Literature Program McGill University, Montreal August, 1990

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts

(c) Aidong Zhang 1990 Cette these examine le discours critique sur Flowers in the Mirror en se basant sur un panorama litteraire de plus de soixante articies de la critique du dix-neuvieme siecle au

present. Ces critiques sent examinees et discut~es succes­

sivement sous les rubriques de "Critiques portE~es aux horizons des Flowers in the Mirror," "Comparaison entre Flowers in the Mirror et Gulliver's Travels," et "Comparaison entre Flowers in the Mirror et Dream of the Red Chamber. " A part cet survol du discours litteraire sur Flowers in the Mirror, nous examinons ses interactions avec les discours politique, philosophiques ou cultural. Le contexte socio-historique des discours critiques demeure il:llilli#n•ar une cle pour une com­ prehension approfondie.

0 iv Acknowledgement

The author is grateful to Dr. Darko Suvin, Professor of

English and Comparative Literature, whose enthusiasm and guidance helped this thesis come to fruition. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Ken Dean, Professor of East Asian

Studies, for his kindly advice and support. The pursuit of this Master's degree owes much to my husband, Yongqing Fang, for his understanding and encouragement.

V Table of Contents

. . . Abstract ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ~l.l. Resume iv

Acknowledgement V Chapter I: Introduction ••••••••.•••..•.•....••••.•.•.•• 1 Chapter II: critiques About Horizons of Flowers in the Mirror .•.••..••.••.•••.•..••• 11 Chapter III: The Comparisons Between Flowers in the Mirror and Gulliver's Travels •.•.•••.••• 31 Chapter IV: The Comparisons Between Flowers in the Mirror and Dream of the Red Chamber •.••• 49 Chapter V: Conclusion ...... 62

Bibliography ...... 7 3

Appendix ...... 82

vi 1

Chapter 1

Introduction

Li Ruzhen's Flowers in the Mirror (1820?--henceforth referred to as FIM), a novel of the late Qing Dynasty, has attracted considerable critical attention. Unlike some other novels of the same period, such as The Scholars and Dream of the Red Chamber, which enjoyed much more favourable discussion, FIM received less praise from its contemporaries and later generations. The critical discourses on FIM were always diverse and, to some extent, quite controversial. It will be shown in this thesis that critics do not hold a uniform opinion of this novel. Those who valued it in some respects also showed their disappointment at some of its features, while the attackers of the novel also applauded certain aspects. Sometimes the appraisals of both sides go to extremes. This phenomenon distinguishes the critical dis- course on FIM from others about novels of the same period: its puzzling nature presented major difficulties for critics and invited ample disagreement. The disputed quality of FIM makes the critical discourse multidimensional and fascinating. From the Qing Dynasty until today, critics rarely hold identical views about the author's intention, the novel's status in 2 Chinese literary history, or its collocation into a Chinese (or indeed international) genre--is it satire, utopia, critical tract or something other?

The critical discourse on FIM presents many important issues. For example, how do critics evaluate a literary text? What expectations do they bring to it, and what fulfilments do they anticipate to derive from it? Why does a novel generate much more interest at one time than at other times? What causes the remarkable diversity in critical discourse, even of the same period? How does literary discourse interact with other discourses, such as the political one? This thesis wants to approach an examination of such questions.

1.2. Having conducted an extensive survey, I have collected more than sixty critiques of FIM, in books and articles as well as dissertations, from the Library of Congress in Washington,

D. C., from libraries of the University of Maryland, University of Toronto, and of Montreal universities, and from P.R. China. Most of the materials are the works of Chinese critics (in P. R. China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.) in Chinese, while a smaller portion are written by North American and Chinese critics in English. One critique was originally written in Japanese but a Chinese version was obtained. c Certain items, especially the present ones in P.R. China, 3

0 proved too difficult to acquire for understandable reasons; I hope to collect them in a further study of FIM. Nonethe­

less, the critiques obtained and presented here provide a

large and, I believe 1 a representative coverage of the critical discourse on FIM.

1.3. I have two objectives in this thesis. First, I shall examine

the critiques on Li Ruzhen's FIM from the nineteenth century to the , present. I have classified these critiques into several categories, namely, "Critiques on the Horizons of FIM," "The Comparisons Between FIM and Gulliver's Travels," and "The Comparisons Between FIM and Dream of the Red Cham­ ber", with the aim of a more intelligible discussion. A roughly chronological division within each category will also

be followed. Second, besides an extensive survey of the literary discourse on FIM, attention will be given to its

interactions with political, philosophical, or cultural discourses. In both cases, the socio-historical locus of the critical discourse is always a key to its meaning.

Although the discussion will be conducted in the light of Western literary theories as well as classical Chinese

philosophy and literary criticism, a purely theoretical

exploration of either the novel itself or of the variations

in the critical discourse can not be accommodated here. 4

1.4. Critical discourse, I believe, is always defined by the critic's contextual location. Thus, the process of reading is always a dynamic one. The literary text "as it is" never exists; even the author is unable to exhaustively interpret his or her work. The more information the work provides, the more indeterminate it becomes (Eagleton 77). Henrik Ibsen perhaps never anticipated that his play A Doll's House would be employed as a weapon of the Chinese feminist movement in the 1930's; however, as the play passed from one cul­ tural/historical context to another, new meanings were generated from it. A good literary work, as Wellek maintains, must possess a "multivalence": "its aesthetic value must be so rich and comprehensive as to include among its structures one or more which gives high satisfaction to each later period" (233). That is the reason why there exist so many

Miltons: the Neo-classical Milton, the Romantic Milton, as well as the Miltons in the eyes of Byron, Wordsworth, Keats, and Shelley.

On the other hand, if we admit that reading is not a straightforward linear movement, its complexity will unfold as the reading process proceeds. Wolfgang Iser • s term,

"repertoire," is important here for a better understanding of the process of reading. It describes the necessary conditions 5 for establishing literary communication. By "repertoire" Iser means the whole familiar territory within the text, "in the form of references to earlier works, or to social and histori­ cal norms, or to the whole culture from which the text has emerged •.. " (Iser 69). Thus, it is not hard to sense the possibility that different readers or critics will select diverse "repertories" from the text. Connected with the "repertories" is the notion of "presupposition," which is not external to the statement of a text but implied in and by it. The presuppositions of an utterance and statement are: "a most intimate mediation between what is 'inside' and 'outside' it, between text and context" (Suvin 1988, 63). The presupposi­ tions can be seen "the cultural invariants or ideological commonplaces of the context common to the text's writer and addressee, and necessary for understanding the text" (Ibid, 64) • Each reader or critic enrols in the reading process with certain "pre-understandings": "The dim context of beliefs and expectations within which the work's various features will be assessed" (Eagleton 77). The interpretation of the text will inevitably depart from and largely move within these "presu­ ppositions," "pre-understandings" and "repertoires." Further, as Gadamer remarks, the interpretation consists in a dialogue between past and present. What the literary text reveals to us will in turn depend on the kind of questions, which we are able to address to it, from our own vantage point of view (discussed in Eagleton 71). This can be seen as an explana- 6 tion of the puzzling phenomenon of distinctively diverse interpretations of a particular text. such different inter­ pretations and evaluations are closely linked with the critic's own language, questions posed, frames of cultural reference, and in particular, socially structured ways of perceiving the world. The past is thus always grasped from the reader's or critic's partial viewpoint within the present. The critic meets the text when his or her horizon of histori- cal meaning and assumptions fuses with the horizon within which the text itself is placed (cf. Adams and Searle 847-48).

The nature of texts works toward such a meeting point of diverse understandings. As Bakhtin has persuasively remarked:

We are taking language not as a system of abstract grammatical categories, but rather language con­ ceived as ideologically saturated, language as a world view, even as a concrete opinion, insuring a maximum of mutual understanding in all spheres of ideological life (271).

When language with such categories implies the specific conceptual horizons or a specific world of the critic, differences in understanding will inevitably take shape. The text is now no longer treated as a stable object or delimited structure which is waiting passively for the critic to dig the "determinate" meaning out. On the contrary, it invites the 7 critic to transpose it into different discourses. We know that without the participation of a reader or critic, and his concretizing of the work, the text simply does not exist. Consequently, the role of the critic is not merely that of consumer, but that of producer (Barthes 4). once this new type of relationship of critic and text has been recognized, the variation in interpretation becomes easier to understand.

1.5. Reviewing information concerning an author is one of four important elements, besides text, reader, and context, in a basic communicational approach to novel criticism. A knowled- ge of Li Ruzhen's biographical background will prove to be beneficial for understanding FIM.

Li Ruzhen (ea. 1763-1830), was born in Daxing, near

Beijing. Showing no interest in ba-gu (the "eight-legged essay," a fixed style of composition which was a prerequisite for the imperial civil service examination), he thus failed to pass any but the county level (xiucai) of that examination. As a scholar with wide interests, he was familiar with various fields, such as phonetics, astrology, alligraphy, mathematics, etc. He served as an assistant magistrate in Henan provence in his middle age. He later retired to Haizhou and died there. Beside the novel Flowers in the Mirror, he wrote two other books: one on phonology and another on chess. 8

Li lived in the periods of Qianlong (1736-1796) and Jiaqing (1796-1821). Under the rule of four emperors, Kangxi

(1662-1723), Yongzheng (1723-1735), Qianlong, Jiaqing, the

"literary censorship movement" spread throughout China. Any careless choice of words, an inappropriate citing of quotation or an inattentive complaint, would lead an author to disaster, even a death penalty. Many well-known scholars, such as

Zhuang Tinglong (d. ea. 1660), Dai Mingshi (1653-1713), or Quan zuwang (1705-1755) were severely punished, even executed under this "literary censorship." Books seen as anti-Qing were immediately burned. Intellectuals dared not talk about politics and tried as much as they could to avoid punishment for their speech or works. The "evidential research" (Kao­ zhenq)1 flourished since it was a safer method of scholarship in such a dangerous historical background. This general political context undoubtedly left its traces in FIM. The ambiguous story setting, the quasi-divine and quasi-human beings, and the tediously long descriptions of encyclopedic knowledge are largely to be attributed to it. They also provided the ground for disputes about its quality. Further, the personal experience of Li Ruzhen was quite disappointing.

1This "evidential research" does not focus on the text per se. Instead, it searches through various materials for any bit of information related to the author and the text, e.g., the author's friends, his family background, the place the author died, and so on. 9

Tang Ao, the central figure in his novel, shares this fate with Li. This might be one of the reasons for writing FIM, as a vehicle to self-realization and a way to achieve the scholarly recognition he desired. It is generally believed that FIM was written between 1810 and 1820, not long before the outbreak of the Opium War (1839-1842), which is regarded by many as the turning-point in modern Chinese history.

1.6.

Although various editions of FIM have been published by several publishers, there are few discrepancies among the editions. FIM quoted in this thesis is based on the Renmin Wenxue Chuban She edition, 1986.

All Chinese words, names, and titles have been romanized in concordance with the standard Pinyin system, except those which are quoted from English texts and the names of the authors who published their works in English.

The various passages quoted from the novel and Chinese critics are all translated into English by this writer, except where the contrary is indicated.

In reviewing and commenting on the critical discourse on

FIM, Chinese culture, literary theories, history, religion, etc. , will be frequently referred to. For the sake of 10 c simplicity, this thesis will not provide bibliographical sources for the commonly known concepts, sayings, literary works, and historical figures and events. 11 0

Chapter 2

critiques About the Horizons of "Flower in the Mirror"

The horizons of FIM have long been a focus for argument. Ever since the novel was completed, critics have never reached an agreement about its central ideas. Although an authorial voice states its intention of the novel at the beginning of Chapter One, the critics seem to prefer their own version. The critics we are going to deal with in this chapter are: Xu Qiaolin (Qing critic) // Hong Liyuan (Qing critic) // Hu Shi (1923) // Chen Wangdao (1936) // Li Changzhi (1955) // Xu Shinian (1957) // Xie Jifang (1971) // Du Nianshu (1972) // Yue Hengjun (1976) // Brandauer (1977) // C.T. Hsia (1977) // Su Shufen (1978) // S.H. Kao (1981).

2.1. Some critics have singled out for notice the beginning of FIM:

In former times, Dame Ts'ao, in her Admonitions for Women (Nu Chieh), said: "Women have four be­ haviourial characteristics: 1) feminine virtue, 2) feminine speech, 3) feminine bearing, and 4) feminine tasks." These four are the principal goals for women and are indispensable. Now in beginning this work, why do I take Pan Chao's Admonitions for Women as an introduction? It is because what this 12 0 book contains, though but trivial matters of the women' quarters and casual affections between men and women, certainly resembles what Dame [Ts 'ao) called the "four behaviourial characteristics." Clearly there have been women who have not only had the finest natural dispositions but have been pure in mind as well. How could they have come to this unless daily they had reverently followed the Admonitions for Women and respectfully adhered to wise instructions? And how can we cause all these to vanish without a trace just because the events [of their lives) become distant and unclear or because among them there are both the beautiful and the ugly? Therefore, by lamplight and on moonlit nights, during long summers and in lingering winter, I have moistened my brush, played with my ink and have assembled [materials about these women] into a compilation (Trans. in Brandauer 650-51).

"Dame Ts 'ao" above is Ban Zhao, the instructress of a

Han Dynasty emperor and the best-known female scholar in

ancient China. She wrote Nu Jie, a book which asked women to obey feudal ethical codes. In that book, she stressed four

aspects of femininity: "virtue," which indicates sobriety, chastity, orderliness, and a sense of shame; "speech," which means the choice of words and avoidance of malicious or tiresome gossip; "appearance," which refers to scrubbed face,

clean clothes, periodic bathing; and "daily tasks," which

includes spinning, sewing, avoidance of joking and foolery, c entertaining guests. She also commanded that a woman be 13 0 subordinate to her husband and never remarry after her husband died.

Professor C.T. Hsia, in his essay "The Scholar-Novelist and Chinese Culture," infers that such a beginning aims at "a celebration of Chinese womanhood with all its beauty, virtue,

and talent." Hsia conceives the novel as being 11 in total support of Confucian morality" (286); in his opinion, all the heroines in this novel are virtuous in a traditional way, and their speeches and actions reaffirm in various ways the precepts of Ban Zhao.

Xu Qiaolin, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, would only partially agree with C.T. Hsia. In xu•s Preface to Flower in the Mirror, he comments: "observing its essence, [FIMJ possesses an amusing language style, while it aims at convinc­ ing people to pursue virtue ... " (in Huang Lined, 552). Apparently, this suggests that Xu conceived the novel's aim more broadly, involving an extension of virtue to everyone, including men, instead of limiting its aim only to women's virtues. According to Sun Jiaxun's research, Xu Qiaolin and Li Ruzhen were relatives and close friends. They spent a lot of time together, sharing each other's academic interests and discussing their learning (in Sun, 1984:103). Thus, one may suppose that a common understanding between Xu and Li forms the basis of Xu's commentary on Li's FIM. Yet for Xu too, 14

whatever the extent to which virtue was applied, it was based

on Confucian doctrines: the novel should and did function to "spread filial piety and loyalty; in accordance with the

2 tradition of 'feng' [ridicule] , purifying hearts and custom

. . • 11 ( 1n ' H uang L'1n e d , 552) . In Xu's eyes, the merit of FIM resides in its defence of Confucian morality and ethical

codes.

Hong Liyuan, another Qing scholar, concurred with Xu's idea by stating that to purify hearts and to correct behavior and customs were a deep concern of the author. While express-

ing pleasure in reading the novel and showing surprise at the

author's erudition. Hong comments in his preface to FIM:

Its [ FIM' s] meaning is apparent, its wording is elegant, its language is simple [to understand], while its idea is profound. It enlightens the young. It provides knowledge to the scholars. Moreover, it rectifies unhealthy hearts and corrects social customs--wherein the author's deep concern resides (in Huang Lin ed, 555).

2Feng designates a sense of satirizing or ridiculing. In Shi Jing, one can read: "The one above uses feng . . . to transform the below, and the those below use feng ... to 0 criticize the one above" (cited in James Liu 112). 15

2.2.

Emphasis on the social function of literature has long been a tradition of Chinese literary criticism. It can be traced back to as early as pre-Qin (722-211 BCE). Confucius, for the first time in Chinese history, clearly summed up four functions of poetry, xing (symbolize), guan (observe), qun

(adjust), and yuan (complain) (Li and Liu, 122-23).

Xing indicates that, by using metaphor, poems will fulfil the purpose of teaching. Guan emphasises that poems can present the social condition and customs. Qun stresses the power of poems in bringing about a more coherent relationship among people and in helping ethical adjustment. Yuan suggests that one criticizes the politics by using poems to express personal feelings and emotions. Furthermore, however, the final function of poetry would be: "serve father at least, and serve ruler at most". Confucius means by this to help the rulers understand what common people are thinking, how they are behaving, where the social problems come from. In sum, poetry is a medium of representing both social reality and people's emotions; more important! y, it should be used to influence the "subordinate" and criticize the "superior." By virtue of this, a coherent, hierarchical society will emerge

(Li and Liu, 122-35). 16 Confucius• doctrine of the social function of poetry had great impact. As it developed, the social function gradually became the tradition of most Chinese literature and arts. It was a common phenomenon that literature and arts were closely associated with politics. Classical literary works, such as

Shi j ing and Chu ci, were interpreted as heavily carrying the social and political meanings. Classical Chinese literary masters, such as Du Fu and Han Yu, often used literature as a vehicle to convey their moral and political messages. The mixture and interaction of critical and political discourse in ancient China provides a background to comprehend Xu Qiaolin' s and Hong Liyuan' s prefaces of FIM and to gain a better understanding of their interpretation.

2.3. Following the collapse of Qing government {1911) and the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement {1919), Xu Qiaolin's and

Hong Liyuan 1 s tone of "pursuing virtue" and "correcting behavior" gradually faded away. A feminist viewpoint even­ tually took hold in the 1920s.

During the 1920s and 1930s, echoing the ideals and goals of the modern feminist movement, a pro-feminist approach to FIM grew into the dominant discourse. Critics such as Hu Shi, Lin Yutang, and Chen Wangdao are the main members of this group. In 1923, Hu Shi wrote his influential essay "Introdu- 17 ction to FIM," in which he highly appreciated Li Ruzhen' s endeavour to make women's problems the focus of the novel. Starting with information on Li Ruzhen's life, his prologue, and his personality, Hu remarks that in several thousand years of Chinese history no one was as courageous as Li Ruzhen in giving such serious discussion to women's problems which had always been neglected. He cited Li Ruzhen•s section on The Country of Women, where men and women changed their sexual roles, and the section on The Country of Two-faced People, where the chief demon is scolded and beaten by his wife. Hu Shi claimed that Li Ruzhen's main theme in the novel is that "men and women should receive equal treatment, equal educa­ tion, and equal opportunity for selection" (531). There are two ways to handle social problems, Hu goes on, one is the abstract way, as in Li's Country of Gentlemen, the other is the concrete way, as shown in Li's Country of Women. By "the abstract way" Hu referred to the Wu Brothers' critical speech about bad customs in "the Middle Kingdom;" by "the concrete way" Hu meant the vivid narration about the happenings in The Country of Women. Thus, in dealing with women's problems, Li Ruzhen proves himself a true literary man, in that his artistic techniques and language are fully and effectively employed in describing the inequality, cruelty, and dehumaniz­ ed treatment that women endured. Li thus shocks people and forces them into deep thinking (535). Hu Shi predicts c confidently at the end of his essay: "Li Ruzhen's chapter on 18 c The country of Women will surely become an immortal one in the feminist history of the world. And his ideas about women's chastity, education, and election will inevitably occupy a glorious place in the history of women's rights in China" ( 560) •

These comments had quite some impact on Hu' s contem- poraries as well as on some intellectuals afterwards. Lin Yutang, when studying "Feminist Thought in Ancient China, "3 makes FIM one of his powerful examples. Chen Wangdao, in his study "Jinghuayuan and Women's Problems," suggests that "having flowers reappear" is the wish of the author: Li wishes that one day women should truly stand up and control their own fate in education (137).

Nonetheless, although Hu Shi's feminist interpretation of FIM for a while dominated critiques of the novel, the later critical discourse of the 1950s-1980s indicates that many critics disagree with Hu Shi and his followers. This group includes the following scholars: F. Brandauer, Li ChangzhiJ and C.T. Hsia.

3Lin's article, "Feminist Thought in Ancient China," was not accessible in my survey of literature preparing for this theses. For his idea on FIM, see Brandauer, p.659. 19 In his "Women in the Jinghuayuan: Emancipation Toward a Confucian Ideal," Brandauer claims that the variations in interpretation of FIM were from the very beginning actually caused by the novel's "remarkable diversity in both narrative content and purpose" (647). Brandauer agrees that Li Ruzhen in his work promotes emancipation for women: "This, however, must not be understood to be of the sort we might advocate today; rather, it is emancipation conceived within a tradi­ tional Chinese context very clearly defined by an early Confucian ideal of womanhood" (650). In supporting his argument, Brandauer cites Li's whole prologue, considering it as the overall statement of his FIM (650-51). All of Li Ruzhen's efforts in freeing women are seen by Brandauer as developing around the Confucian ethical norms. Brandauer then sharply points out that many critics ignore this prologue. one of them is Hu Shi: in his introduction to FIM, there is no discussion of the prologue at all. A responsible critic would not have ignored an author's statements about his own work, says Brandauer. Furthermore, Brandauer suggests that parts of the narrative, especially Empress wu•s twelve decrees for women, are not consistent with modern feminism. Li Ruzhen was unwilling "to dissociate himself from the prevailing social customs and verbal conventions of his time" (655). In sum: 20 Li found his ideal by reaching backward in history all the way to Han Dynasty; and since the ideal is Confucian, the notion of sexual equality is quite foreign to it. The CHY [Jinghuayuan] was written as grand eulogy of Chinese womanhood; in it the Chinese woman is elevated to what may well be her highest level in all of traditional Chinese literature. But it does not advocate a modern kind of women's liberation. Hu Shi and his followers have seen the emphasis on emancipation, but have confused the Confucian ideal toward which this moves with the fairly recent idea of sexual equality. (660)

According to Brandauer, Hu Shi' s confusion between modern feminism and the Confucian ideal womanhood is a result of his overlooking the author's own thematic statement. "To understand a work on its own" is Brandauer•s serious concern and appeal (660). What is "on its own" remains a challenge if we consider the complexity and instability of a person's conviction.

Commenting on Hu Shi's feminist view of FIM, Chen Wangdao

suspects that Hu Shi deliberately misinterpreted Li Ruzhen 1 s Confucian standards in order to keep pace with the feminist discourse of his time. In promoting feminist thought, Hu Shi 21 had to "twist Li Ruzhen' s ideas toward women in order to convince and please modern readers" (141). One may not agree with Chen Wangdao 's explanation; the association he makes between literary and political discourse, however, points to the need for further entry into the general history of discourse as the context and intertext for critical discourse.

2.4.

In the 1950s-1980s, especially in P. R. China, social critic­ ism, including critiques of FIM, once again became a mainstream of critical discourse. In comparison with the view of Qing scholars this was developed in both scale and depth to a far larger degree. The critics in this school are the Department of Chinese Literature of Beijing University, Du

Nianshu, Li Changzhi, Xie Jifang, and Xu Shinian.

Among these studies, Xie Jifang's "The Traditional

Chinese society in Jinghuayuan" is typical. Seeing FIM as a picture of the entire traditional Chinese society, Xie approaches the novel from a sociological point of view and regards it as an attack on the darkness and backwardness of traditional Chinese culture and customs. She classifies the objects Li attac~ed into four categories:

A. Pictures of people's attitudes in social life.

Seventeen types of people are described, including: the Mean 22 c type--mean and sly to others; the False type--smart and pretty in appearance but empty in mind; the Snobbish type--treating the rich with a big smile but the poor with disdainfulness; and the Flattering type--being good at complimenting without sincerity.

B. Social norms and beliefs. For instance, good will be rewarded with good, and evil with evil. If one accumulates goodness and virtue, god will protect one from disasters. This social norm was quite popular in guiding people's behavior. It is mainly based on Buddhism, especially the notion of "karma" or seeing one's actions as bringing in­ evitable results upon oneself, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation.

c. Social customs. Geomantic practice (which considers the location of house or tomb to have an influence on the fortune of a family) ; marriage based on fortune-telling; foot­ binding; and so forth.

D. Social problems--in particular the women's problem, as the most unbearable one for Li Ruzhen. The social status of women was unequal and their physical suffering immense in traditional Chinese society. Among other serious issues were the wicked stepmother, abduction of young women and swindling people out of their money. 23 0

Xie Jifang praises Li Ruzhen as a "humorous and satirical social critic" as well as "unsuccessful social reformer" ( 19) , who not only fiercely attacks the bad customs that gradually accumulated in Chinese society but also raises the women's problem, which had never been touched upon for three thousand years of Chinese history. Because of this, Li Ruzhen' s Country of Women, one of the chapters of FIM, should occupy a remarkable space in the history of feminism.

Du Nianshu believes that in FIM, Li Ruzhen, for reasons of "literary censorship," had to borrow the background of the Tang dynasty as his protective screen in order to criticize the corruption and the tyrannical ruling of the Qing govern­ ment (116).

The Department of Chinese Literature of Beijing Univer­ sity suggests in Zhongguo Xiaoshuo Shi that beside other social problems, the eight-legged style examination system and the pedantic, impractical behavior of the scholars are also the objects of Li Ruzhen's attack (308-09).

Unlike other critics, Xu Shinian focuses on Li Ruzhen•s advanced ideology in terms of its reflecting the social change of his time. As a proof, he points out how Li Ruzhen laughs 0 at the pedantic scholars of the Country of Fine men, in a way 24

0 that "the so called refinement of literati has been out of time. A new era requires people to abandon such a rotten

atmosphere • • . . " (792) Xu Shinian claims that he sees a

spark of democracy in FIM. The prime minister of the Country

of Gentlemen is described as "amiable and easy to get along

with without any bureaucratic manners--an ideal ruler, who

only exists in the democratic ideal" (793).

Xu Shinian further infers from the novel the idea of social equality, more specifically, the new attitude toward

the merchant class. Traditional Chinese literary works

usually devalued merchants as bent solely on profit without

honesty. This was perhaps a reflection of the economic policy

of that time--value the agriculture, but restrain commerce.

In FIM, Li Ruzhen depicts new faces of business people. Though having a business mind, they are generous and frank, e.g., Lin Zhiyang. The scholar Tang Ao, normally regarded to

have a higher social status than the merchant Lin Zhiyang,

actually rejects a scholarly career early on in the story and goes abroad as a merchant. The re-evaluation of the status

of merchants marked the maturity of the common people, who

were beginning to stand up to literati and officialdom. This,

above all, is seen as an indication of the democratic spirit

in FIM. In this respect, Xu Shinian applauds the ideological

advancement of FIM. 25

With a similar view, Li Changzhi comments that, by sending his agent Tang Ao to thirty different counties, Li

Ruzhen exposed the image of a feudal China and ambiguously depicted the prospects of a new society.

Devoting attention to FIM's ideological and political functions had been the main focus of critical discourse in the People's Republic of China. This is perhaps due to two reasons: first, the traditional influence which can be traced to Confucius' emphasis on the function of poetry; and second, the horizons of criticism which flourished during 1966-1976 were closely linked with the ideological interests of the politicians in power.

Both Qing and P.R. China critics focus on the issue of virtue. But the two groups hold different perspectives. In their time, Qing scholars Xu Qiaolin and Hong Liyuan could only explain the novel as a "pursuit of virtue," without questioning where the virtueless comes from. Xie Jifang, Du Nianshu, and Xu Shinian, overviewing all the textual happen­ ings from another space-time, are able to identify the social problem and injustice that Li Ruzhen endeavoured to attack.

Although both Qing and modern critics focused on some social aspects of FIM, the views of these modern critics are far deeper and more precise. 26

2.5. Where the critics of P.R. China focus on the sociological interpretation of the subject of FIM, some scholars in Taiwan and North America pursue what they perceive as more general and "spiritual" issues. Yue Hengjun and H. s. Kao are the representatives of this group. In her article, "The Absurd Drama of Penglai: Comments on FIM' s World View, " Yue maintains that the novel reveals people's "uneasiness during their life and a desire for eternal rest after death" (184). Although Yue admits that it is not the author's task to abstractly ponder metaphysical problems, she believes that Li Ruzhen indeed "lets his feelings guide him through the problems of human existence" (174). Before going on with her argument, Yue makes a distinction between the use of mythology by Li Ruzhen and by others.

Mythology is often used in the traditional Chinese novel. This is a projection of the dominant Chinese belief about the interaction between people and heaven. Li Ruzhen consciously structures a mythology which is "all-embracing" {169). By this, Yue means: first, all the plots of the novel are brought into this mythology; second, from the beginning to the end, the mythology serves one particular purpose. But Li Ruzhen does not use the mythology as some ancient authors do, who either themselves believe or want the readers to believe it. 0 On the contrary, he adopts an exaggerated, pretending-to-be- 27 serious tone to describe the mythology, and even adds absurd details making it unbelievable. By doing this, he tries to destroy the simple, original mythology. He wants people to know that what he tells them is absurd and untrue and what the readers have seen is illusive. Yue finds this different attitude Li Ruzhen had toward his own literary works one of "self-disapproval" (170). She believes that Li Ruzhen actually expects people to know the following:

Since the story itself does not exist, the charac­ ters in the novel and their doings are like soap bubbles--they do not exist. What they are seeking is, as the story itself, absurd •.. Following the decay of mythology, the whole human life turns out to be an unbelievable, playful mythology. (170)

Yue' s conclusion about FIM is based on Li Ruzhen' s religious conception and his philosophical view of the world. However, Yue adds, Li's conviction is not that firm. From time to time, the paradox within this conviction is revealed. For example, Little Penglai Mountain is supposed to be a fairy land. But, some places there are called bominq yan (cliff of Hard Luck) and fannao dong (cave of fretfulness); another name of Tang Xiaoshan is meng zhong meng (dream in the dream); and the banquet of the chief fairy, the Western Queen Mother, looks like a battlefield. All seems to prove that Li Ruzhen actually lacks confidence in the eternal reality he intends 28 c to depict. Thus although Li Ruzhen interprets human life in the guise of religion, he finally turns out to oscillate.

Yue's above analysis has suggested a method differing from the

sociological one to approach a literary text. And we also see

from her article that alternative ways of approaching a

literary text are possible and accessible.

In a similar vein, H.S. Kao maintains that FIM is a "much more complex, consciously planned novel than critics generally

admit" (28). Kao does not think the particular and concrete

social problems bothered Li Ruzhen so much as the universal

and abstract problem of human existential condition. True,

"to truthfully record, recreate, and judge the dimensions of world around him" is the task of an author. But for Li Ruzhen, it is not enough to only accurately record elements

of external reality. He is concerned more with the truth of

the "spirit of reality" which means man 1 s "self-conscious­

ness," "subjective suffering," and "eventual spiritual awakening" (29).

Kao explains further Li Ruzhen' s lack of a "realistic treatment of human misery" in terms of the time when Li Ruzhen

wrote the novel. He notes that FIM was written before the

outbreak of the Opium War of 1840-1842, which marked the

beginning of the chaotic modern era. The pre-war period was 0 relatively peaceful, so that realistic concerns of human 29 c misery do not occupy a prominent place in this novel. For Li Ruzhen, Kao states, this novel

• • • becomes both an aesthetic-spiritual examina­ tion of the problems of human mortality and man's eternal quest for self-transcendence . . The central subject matter of the novel . . • is thus none other than Li Ruzhen' s own attempts at demonst­ rating or refusing certain controversial views of his time on the essential and fundamental dualities of human existence. (30)

Kao agrees that an author has to answer the questions of his time. However, the questions raised by Li 's time were not those of the conventional Confucian tradition--the secular reality, for which many sociological critics of FIM have shown concern--but questions of human spiritual conflicts.

Another attempt by Kao which should be noted is his discovery of a paradox in Li's ontological view. On the one hand, Li makes the novel "the aesthetic-spiritual examination of man's eternal quest for self transcendence." On the other hand, Li cannot refuse the temptation of worldly fame by displaying his own encyclopedic knowledge (which Li himself regards as worldly quest--something that limits people • s mind- -see Chapter 16 of FIM). Thus "Li Ruzhen becomes both the spokesman for his beliefs, and at the same time one of his own 0 30 sharpest critics" (30). A paradoxical tension between the author's conscious conviction and unconscious beliefs is a normal phenomenon. However, in practice, many critics incline to believe that an author can always rationally work on hisjher own subject matter. This is perhaps a violation of the law of creation and the way of thinking. In fact, Kao's analysis has reminded us of an often ignored law of creative process, which is never a linear movement. At the same time it has shown us an alternative and a more open-minded way to conduct literary discourse.

0 c 31

Chapter 3

The comparisons Between

Flowers in the Mirror and Gulliver•s Travels

3.0. To search for happiness is a drive of all human beings, especially when they are not satisfied with the present situation. suvin calls utopia "a vivid witness to desperately needed alternative possibilities ... of human life" (1979, 38). In his definition, we read:

Utopia is the verbal construction of a particular quasi-human community where sociopolitical constitu­ tions, norms, and individual relationships are organized according to a more perfect principle than in the author's community, this construction being based on estrangement arising out of an alternative historical hypothesis (49).

As a particular literary genre, utopia is perhaps most powerful in describing people's demand for happiness and displaying their blueprint for an ideal living environment. Moreover, Suvin defines utopian fiction within a larger grouping of "estranged fiction," in which people's relation­ ships to other people and their surroundings are illuminated c by "creating a radically or significantly different formal 32 c framework--a different spacejtime location or central figures for the fable, unverifiable by common sense. n This "estranged fiction", according to suvin, is in contrast to the "naturali­ stic fictionn which is "accomplished by endeavouring faithful­ ly to reproduce empirical textures and surfaces vouched for by human senses and common sense" (1979, 18). Such an approach can deal with utopian (and also fantastic and satirical) themes even outside a strictly defined literary genre of utopia.

Utopian themes exist extensively in both Western and Eastern literature, reflecting a universal desire for an ideal community and a better life. Nevertheless, beyond some common characteristics, cross-cultural variations of utopian fiction may also be observed. In China, for example, the long tradition of utopian discourse does not entirely resemble its Western counterpart. One difference is that Chinese utopian discourses refuse to recognize the political institutions. Examining Chinese utopian literature carefully, one can find that few texts show much interest in more perfect political institutions, though a better life is described. Both in Tao

Yuanming' s Peach Blossom Spring and in Li Ruzhen 1 s FIM, detailed description of an institutionalized society or people who are disciplined by certain well-established laws can hardly be found. According to Suvin's definition above--and to many others discussed in his book (cf. chapter 3 and the 33 0 bibliography on pp.288-94) as well as discussed, e.g., by Frye and Elliott--this utopianism might perhaps not form a histori­ cally coherent genre of utopian fiction. However, it would still be managed within the conventions of "estranged fic­ tion."

All literature is impregnated with the spiritual life, cultural experience, and world views of particular groups of people. The uniqueness of Chinese utopian and "estranged" literature cannot be understood apart from the Daoist ideol­ ogy, which plays, an almost equally important role as Confucianism in Chinese society. Contrary to Confucian social responsibility and social conscience, Daoism holds with a certain attitude of withdrawal toward society. It believes that the ideal life of an individual is based on isolation, and that simplicity and closeness to nature will generate happiness. The human world as seen by Daoism is but an illusion; people can gain their enlightenment and immortality only outside of this social world, by being in harmony with nature. Pervaded with Daoism, Chinese utopian texts show a stronger interest in the spiritual freedom of human beings, as well as in the prolongation of human life. Anarchism and non-regimentation are favoured.

According to Voskresensky, utopian ideas usually come c into being and develop in restless times, when social problems 34

are disturbing people's lives. In a state of confusion, despair, and fear, people constantly expect changes. They are

forced to search for the ideal and for happiness in their

vocabulary. At that moment, thoughts of freedom and fantasies

of various shapes are nourished. Li Ruzhen's FIM was bred in

his disappointment with the world which did not give him any

chance to display his intelligence and erudition. Although it is hard to judge the theoretical horizon(s) Li Ruzhen

belonged to, his writings are clearly influenced by the

intellectual movements (School of Han Learning) of the time

which considered alternative ways of living.

In Li' s time, the school of "Han Learning" flourished

and reached its peak in the Qing Dynasty. The leading scholars of Han Learning included Gu Yanwu (1613-1682), Huang

Zongxi (1610-1695), etc. They emphasized the study of the

classics of Han (206 BCE-220 AD); Confucian canons, textual

analyses, historical and exegetical studies, philology,

epistemology, and phonetics were their foci as well (Kao 16).

Both Gu Yanwu and Huang Zongxi had serious discussions on wise

government and formulated their blueprints of a social utopia. In his essay, "On Monarchy" (1662), Huang severely attacked the rulers of his time:

They considered it quite proper that they should 0 take all benefits to themselves while turning all 35 c the evils toward others. They forbade their subjects to act selfishly, but called the great selfishness of the ruler "the public good." •.. They looked upon the world as their huge private estate, which they handed down to their sons and grandsons to enjoy in perpetuity. {cited in Creel 223)

When Huang compared the ideal ruler of ancient times and

the ruler of his time, his utopian idea was vividly displayed:

Anciently the people were regarded as the hosts, and the ruler as merely a guest; the ruler spent his whole life working for the welfare of the people. Today, however, the ruler is considered the host while the people are guests on his estate; thus there is no single spot where the people may enjoy themselves in peace, and all because of the ruler. {Ibid.)

Soon after the establishment of the Qing government,

Huang retired to a life of studying, writing, and teaching.

He firmly refused to be a Qing official, exactly as Gu Yanwu

had done. Had he not done so, it was possible that he would

have been punished by the Qing government. This is what happened in the cruel "1 i terary censorship movement. " Li

Ruzhen's FIM also approached the utopian theme. Probably, the novel form--especially in an "estranged" mode--was a safer c 36 c way in his time to publish considerations on searching for a better life.

Due to generic resemblances, Li Ruzhen' s FIM and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels have at times been discussed together. Some people have called FIM "the Chinese Gulliver" (Aldridge 20). In the 1920s, and especially in the 1970s and 1980s, critics have paid special attention to the similarities and differences of these two texts from different cultures. They are Hu Shi (1923) // Yue Hengjun (1973) // c. T. Hsia {1977) // Nakano Miyoko (1977) // P.H. Wang (1980) // A.O. Aldridge (1983) // Hu Yi (1983).

As early as the 1920s, Hu Shi noted a connection between FIM and Gulliver•s Travels as social criticism:

We should first point out that Li Ruzhen is a person who is much concerned with social problems. FIM is pretty similar to Swift's Gulliver's Travels. By means of the imaginary overseas stories, Li wants to satirize and criticize the social illness of China (532).

Here, three characteristics of utopian or, generally, "es- tranged" fiction are mentioned; the far-off land away from 0 the author's own location; the quasi-human community (where 37 0 the "imaginary stories" happened) ; the empirical social reality being satirized. Unfortunately, Hu did not further comment on the similarity of the two novels.

Some critics regard FIM as a "utopian satirical work" ( P. H. Wang 17) • At this point, a reference to Elliott's approach to satire could be helpful. According to Robert c. Elliott, the purpose of the satirist is to:

expose some aspect of human behavior which seems to him foolish or vicious, to demonstrate clinically that the behavior in question is ridiculous or wicked or repulsive, and to try to stimulate in his reader ... the appropriate negative response which prepares the way to positive action. (111)

Thus, satire is a "moral weapon" with which satirists "fight under the banners of truth, justice, and reason" and to "attack none but the guilty . . . . " (Ibid. 107) P. H. Wang gives particular attention to the radically different location--the imaginary lands which Tang Ao visits, and thinks some of them had a bearing on the ills of Li's time: "Like Gulliver's Travels, [FIM] holds up a mirror to the rituals of the author's own society, and thereby exposes the emptiness and hypocrisy behind him" (17). What interests us is Wang's usage of the concept and image of "mirror," because that word 0 is not only in the title of Li Ruzhen's novel FIM, but also 38 c a key concept in a genre theory of utopia and other genres based on estrangement. Discussing estrangement, Ernst Bloch maintains: "The real function of estrangement is--and must be- -the provision of a shocking and distancing mirror above the all too familiar reality" (10). Wang notes that the "mirror" both Swift and Li provide is one in which images have "a touch of irony" (116). Looking into this obviously not one-to-one or straightforwardly reflecting mirror, Li and Swift's contemporaries would recognize in a roundabout way some shocking aspects of the backwardness of their own society.

The "mirror" image also draws the attention of A. o. Aldridge. While seeing the "striking resemblances" of FIM and Gulliver's Travels, which are "based upon a sea voyage to the exotic and imaginary places," Aldridge states that "the mirror image in the title is designed to convey the notion that life is an illusion" (20). According to him, this mirror image is not only a reflection of the faults and ills of the society (as Wang notes) but also a reflection of the greedy and weak aspects of humanity as a whole:

Some of the most widely-read European works, including More's Utopia, Swift's Gulliver's Travels, and Voltaire' s Candide, satirize the cupidity of mankind by demonstrating that gold and precious stones have little intrinsic value, but are prized entirely because of their rarity. FIM has an 39

0 identical demonstration in regard to edible swal­ low's nests which in China are considered as a rare delicacy (20).

Aldridge's perspective here presents us with the hidden

insight in Li Ruzhen's text, namely, the relativity of the

particular value of things. When location--i.e., social custom and norm--is changed, the most precious things can

become worthless. As a perhaps inverted mirror, the Country

of Gentlemen provides readers who follow the narration with

a chance to see how elusive their concept of value is by

devaluing the swallow's nest. In presenting us with this,

Aldridge has raised his critical eyes beyond the frequent

sociological discourse on FIM and has touched upon general problems of human beings, for which Li Ruzhen was deeply

concerned. This will help us to see the "alternative pos-

sibilities • • of human life"--another characteristic of

utopia (Suvin 1979, 38).

The above critiques have something in common. They all

pay attention to "the journey" to the imaginary lands in both novels. Actually, it is on this point, that one crucial

element of all estranged genres is touched upon--the "altern­

ative location" (Suvin 1979, 41), radically different from the

author's own historical environment (though not necessarily­

-as in the genre of utopian fiction--in respect of strictly 40 c political condition). The importance of the concept of alternative location can be seen: first of all, its

referential function provides "a yardstick for comparison" for

the readers. Secondly, this is a "feedback into the reader's

normality;" without it, "there would be no function for

utopias or other estranged genre" (Suvin 1979, 53).

3.2. The two works by swift and Li, coming from different parts of

the world, have been given considerable attention by scholars

from different countries in the 1970s to 1980s. Above, I have

introduced the similar aspects they have in common, as

discussed by some scholars. The following survey shall focus

on the different aspects of the two novels, which many scholars have treated. The scholars to be introduced are Yue Hengjun, c. T. Hsia, Nakano Miyoko, and P. H. Wang.

In her already mentioned essay, Yue states that after

all, Li Ruzhen never believed the myths he created. He only

attempted to prove that whatever the characters or their activities, they are no more than soap bubbles, since the myth

itself does not exist. The same holds true for the "si- gnificance" the narrative agents repeatedly seek. Moreover,

the entire human existence for Li is nothing but illusion, as

in the unbelievable and playful myths (170). The "two radical

differences" compared to Swift, therefore, are: 41

First, Gulliver always directly enters into and par­ ticipates in the life of the exotic countries. Thus, he gets the common experiences of the people, and keeps long-lasting relationships with them. But Tang Ao remains purely a tourist. He indeed has temporary trouble with the local people, but most of the time, he is only an observer. Second, Gulliver finally returns to his homeland--with the satirical and detesting eyes. Tang Ao quietly escapes into Little Penglai Mountain, never to emerge. His final words to Duo Jiugong are: "Once in Little Penglai, all the expectation for worldly gain and fame are gone. Seeing that everything belongs to illusion, I have no wish to return to a secular world" (179).

From the attitude of Li Ruzhen's central narrative agent

towards the different environments and their experiences on

the one hand, and his final destiny on the other, Yue main-

tains that Li Ruzhen's world-view is greatly different from

that of Swift. Although they might share certain opinions about the ridiculous aspects of their societies, Gulliver

detests the stupidity and ignorance of his contemporaries and

unreservedly blames them; while Tang Ao and Duo Jiugong

observe the bizarre world in a mocking way and then leave the

world behind as if "blowing away the dust on a table." swift

cannot forgive the shortcomings of human beings, but Li Ruzhen

wants to prove that all the bad deeds and evils are only 0 42 c illusions in a mirror and so need not be taken seriously (179-

80).

It is probably helpful to refer Yue•s analysis to the

Chinese Daoist tradition related to "action" and "non-action"

(though she herself does not do so). Gulliver, apparently,

is in a state of "action" when he participates actively and

earnestly in all kinds of human activities; Tang Ao is a

spokesman for "non-action" in his holding a detached and

observing attitude to earthly life. The Daoist philosopher

Zhuang Zi says: 11 ! have heard of letting the world go its own

way, but not of governing the world successfully"--an anar­

chist's attitude toward the world. The Daoist philosophers

state that activities and rewards are only sought by ordinary

men: "The perfect man does nothing and the great sage

originates nothing; they merely contemplate the universe. 11

(cited in Legge 1:300-03) But the Daoists do not consider

themselves powerless in the world. By "non-action" they believe they in fact have strong action. Being the weakest,

they defeat the strongest; being the smallest, they overcome

the largest. Thus, with the attitude of detachment, they can

actually rule the world. The "non-action" becomes "action."

This is the dialectic aspect of Daoist philosophy.

The second difference between Gulliver's Travels and FIM 0 discovered by Yue is the final destination, the original home 43 c town for Gulliver, and Little Penglai Mountain for Tang Ao

(179). Li's view can be seen as a mixture of Daoism and

Buddhism. Penglai Mountain is the paradise with countless

good things for Daoist immortals, where the flowers never fade

and the grasses remain ever green. For Li Ruzhen, Little

Penglai Mountain is the ultimate reality as well as eternal

truth, and the secular world is only an illusion which is not

worth returning to. This view largely echoes that of Bud­

dhism, considering its assertion that "the only true reality

is the supreme being, with which the individual soul is

actually identified if it could only realize the fact; it

follows that the world as we know it is merely an illusion" (Creel 189). Directly opposed to this, Swift sends Gulliver

back to his native home. This is a reaffirmation of Swift's

recognition of the substantial world (Yue 179). Yue does not

delve much into Swift's perception of the world, but her

discussion of "eternal homeland" for Tang Ao, as a contrast

to the supposedly empirical home town for Gulliver, facilitat­ es our understanding of the two distinct world views of swift and Li Ruzhen.

C.T. Hsia, in comparing the two novels, notes the

distinctive attitudes of Tang Ao and Gulliver toward their

cultures. Hsia maintains that though FIM is reputed as a

satire, it is not satiric enough: "Before the novel is half 0 over, Li Ruzhen has long abandoned his role as satirist to 44 c engage in a full scale celebration of the ideals and delights of Chinese culture" (267). Hsia then takes the Wu Brothers' criticism of China as an example. The Wu Brothers are the officials of Country of Gentlemen, whose comments and critique in Chapter 12 are often quoted as powerful attacks on the feudal society in the criticism of FIM. They actually criticize China in "the guise of sensible, frugal, and humanitarian Confucians who would like to see China restored to a state of moral soundness by the rectification of many of its customs" (301). In a close examination of that criticism, Hsia finds Li Ruzhen' s intoxication with the traditional Chinese culture. Seemingly dissatisfied and disappointed, Li actually is absolutely confident about the "basic soundness of Chinese civilization." The bad customs are seen by Li only as "aberrations from an ideal state of Chinese culture" (300). Viewing Gulliver's outwardly dispassionate description of the conditions of England and Europe as a sharp contrast to the criticism of the Wu Brothers, Hsia remarks: "In blaming the princes, ministers of state, lawyers, physicians, and soldiers for their inherent rapacity and cruelty, Gulliver implicates a whole civilization tainted from its leaders down with the evil nature of the Yahoos" (300). swift presents a picture of an unredeemable and worthless civilization. Li Ruzhen, on the contrary, believes that by improving many of its customs, China will regain its moral soundness as an ideal kingdom. 0 Thus, Hsia argues, due to Li Ruzhen's engagement in a full- 45 c scale celebration of the ideals and delights of Chinese culture, he is incapable of challenging the major premises of

Chinese civilization, as swift does for his world.

Hsia's insight lies in linking Li's stand-point with all

the Chinese scholar-novelists. That is, being firmly rooted

in their tradition, they simply cannot provide a radical critique of their society. The best they can do is to strive

for its betterment and restoration (300-01).

In FIM and Gulliver's Travels, the Japanese scholar

Nakano ~ discovers two different ways of thinking--the

Chinese and the European. She argues that FIM reveals the

self-centred Chinese thought intent on refusing all unconven­ tional knowledge. For instance, wherever Tang Ao and his companions travel, they immediately gather all the information

they need with the help of the knowledgeable Duo Jiugong.

There is no risk at all. Moreover, they always meet people

with the same language and same ethics, thus facilitating

communication. In this way, the Chinese value-standard gains

credibility everywhere. It is not the same in Gulliver • s Travels. In those strange lands, Gulliver encounters endless

troubles and difficulties. Suffering from wrong approaches

to the people and their customs, he then observes and learns

a great deal. One can find from Gulliver's Travels the

adventurous spirit of Swift 1 s times, when Europe finally 46 c departed from the Middle Ages (5-6). Both Hsia and Nakano discover Chinese "cultural conservatism" (Hsia 272) through

a thematic exposure of the two novels.

Cultural backgrounds can be the fundamental elements in framing the basic structure of the novels. As P. H. Wang names it, the difference between Gulliver's and Tang Ao's final choices should be ascribed to "the difference between

the two authors' respective cultural backgrounds" ( 153) . Wang

gives a general picture of the ideology of Li's time. On the

one hand, Confucian ethics had an unchallengeable status,

having been used for over a thousand years. On the other hand, although politically less influential, Daoist thought and religion had gradually gained ground among the common

people "with the appeal of their fatalistic attitude toward

life and their promise of immortality" (153). Li Ruzhen, like

other literary men, considered himself Confucian but was at

heart a Daoist. It is the Daoist attractions of escape and immortality which drive Li to send his character Tang Ao to Little Penglai Mountain for permanent enlightenment. Tang Ao' s choice means that in the novel "Tao holds absolute ascendency" (154). 47 c 3.3. Frustration about life provokes both Li Ruzhen and Swift to send their spokesmen, Tang Ao and his band and Gulliver, on their journey to search for an ideal state. In the searching process, the two characters' final choices reveal the dif­ ferent mentality of the two authors. The cultural backgrounds and philosophical convictions are the determining elements of the difference. In fact, "utopia" for Li Ruzhen is identified

with the Daoist ideal, as in Tang Ao 1 s final choice. This identification also explains the characteristics of Chinese utopianism--an escapism which leaves unsettled the question

of eternal happiness. Kao even comments that Li Ruzhen 1 s utopian satire in The Country of Women "makes an important criticism of utopianism itself: the women's abuse of power reveals the fallacious nature of most utopian ideals" (92).

Thus, both Li Ruzhen and Swift 1 s utopias are not the final solution to the problems of humankind. They are rather, in Kao' s words, "a means of presenting various interpretations of the world" (86).

Finally, in viewing of the above approaches to a Swift­ Li comparison, one issue should be singled out. As we know, what the literary text reveals to a critic largely depends on the specific questions that the critic has in mind. The 0 discovery of cultural perspective is adopted mainly by the 48 c North American Chinese scholars. This is an interesting phenomenon which shall be discussed later in this thesis.

c c 49

Chapter 4

The comparisons Between

Flowers in the Mirror and Dream of the Red Chamber

Dream of the Red Chamber, The Scholars and FIM, as the Chinese

literary historian Zheng Zhenduo observed, are the representa-

tive successes of the eighteenth century's Chinese literature. With their different foci and coverage as well as use of artistic techniques, these works manifest the maturity of

Chinese vernacular novel. 4 To be sure, the success of these

vernacular novels was dependent on the development of

vernacular short fictions and novels of an earlier time

(Ming), such as San-yan (by Feng Menglong, 1574-1646), Er-pai

(by Ling Mengchu, 1580-1644) , and Three Kingdoms (by Luo Guanzhong, ea. 1330-1400). The nearly perfect mastery of

language, the improvement in writing techniques, and the handling of materials in such Ming works formed the foundation

for the development of the above three Qing vernacular novels.

4Zheng's article, "The Categorization and the Evolution of Chinese novels," was not accessible in my survey of literature preparing for this thesis. For his comments, see Yu and Zhang, p.243. Zheng seems to believe that FIM was written in 18th century. But it is generally believed that FIM was written c in early 19th century. (see Kao, p.13) 50 c Dream of the Red Chamber, The Scholars, and FIM, are three among the outstanding and most influential novels in Chinese literary history, each having its own perspective on life and reality. To simplify three complex texts, one could say that the overall emphasis of Dream of the Red Chamber is on the private life; The Scholars, social reality; and FIM considers overall existential problems. Looked at in such ways, the three novels seem to complement each other.

It is hard to picture exactly the sources that stimulated Li Ruzhen's writing. But a careful reading of his novel has led many critics to associate FIM with the other two novels, especially Dream of the Red Chamber. These critics are Chen Wangdao (1936) // Liu Dajie (1947) // Li Changzhi (1955) // "Ztto"\'1:J u'D . Guatig Wen Translation Institute (1963) // C.T. Hsia (1977) // F. P. Brandauer (1977) // su Shufen (1978) //You Guoen et al. (1979) // P. H. Wang (1980) // Li Zhendong (1980) //H. s. Kao (1981). I shall briefly introduce their comparisons between FIM and Dream of the Red Chamber in the following section.

4.1. Chen Wangdao was among the first scholars who noticed the link between FIM and Dream of the Red Chamber. He observed the resemblance of the two novels in three categories--the mood, the themes, and the prologues. He found pessimistic sentiment c in both novels: Cao Xueqin declares his Dream of the Red 51

0 Chamber as "sheets of paper filled with absurd and improbable words: one handful of bitter sad tears" (Chapter 1); Li Ruzhen also states his concern: "Feeling miserable about those

unknown amongst the multitude of flowers, thus starting to

write on them" (Chapter 1). Cao and Li's basic reasons for

melancholy are identical: neither their characters nor they

themselves were understood by their contemporaries. Chen

Wangdao also spotted similar tones in prologues of the two novels. He first noticed the similar phrases and style of

writing in the prologues. Both authors claimed that their

common objects depicted are the ordinary family life and idle

pursuits of girls. They also have a shared motivation to

create their novels--to prevent the oblivion of the

outstanding women from a worthless human world. They even

wrote the novels in similar environments, e.g., Cao's "in the morning wind and moonlit night" vs. Li' s "in front of the lamp

and moonlit night" (139). Chen indicated that the important

resemblance lies in the themes of the two novels--the appreciation of women's intelligence and wittiness. However,

he indicates that Li talks more of women's virtues and their

engagement in scholarship (139-40). It should be pointed out

that Chen did not go on to systematically compare the emphasis

of the two novels on women, although it would be worthwhile to do so. c 52 c Brandauer agrees with Chen. He firmly believes that "Li must have intended that his work be identified, in purpose if not in content, with the earlier work [Dream of the Red Chamber]" (649).

The History of Chinese Literature by Guang Wen Translation Institute (1963) briefly suggests the influence of Dream of the Red Chamber on FIM. The author maintains that, when writing FIM, Li Ruzhen may have been inspired by phrases of Jia Baoyu (the key figure in Dream of the Red Chamber), such as: "Girls are made of water, but men of mud. Seeing girls I feel clean and fresh, while seeing men, I feel the pressing of dirt" (1390). In the same vein, Li Zhendong was impressed by similar expressions in FIM: when Tang Ao's daughter, Xiaoshan, along with Lin Zhiyang, was caught by a group of demons, those demons planned to make them into wine. A black-faced demon immediately reminds his fellows that "wine made of female is surely clear, but that of male dirty" (Chapter 45). How can one explain this anti-male sentiment in Dream of the Red Chamber and FIM, as well as in some other Qing novels? Li Zhendong provides an interpretation by reviewing the historical background. Manchu rulers of Qing Dynasty had two policies in treating intellectuals: on the one hand, suppression was severe, on the other, conciliation was also employed in the hope of easing the strong nationalist c sentiment among the intellectuals. If any passed the imperial 53

c examination, they would receive official status plus a

handsome salary. The conciliation policy of the Manchu

invaders encouraged some mediocre intellectuals to withdraw

from the resistance and give up their aspiration of fighting for a better country. Several Qing authors, such as Pu

Songling, Wu Jingzi, Cao Xueqin, and Li Ruzhen, angry and

disappointed with such a phenomenon and yet finding it

impossible to directly fight back, started to attack "men" and

praise women in their literary discourse. However, this did

not mean that they really found among their contemporaries the

ideal women which they praised in their novels~ These outstanding women in their fictions were created out of the

authors' imagination and put up for admiration as the

counterparts to make men, described as "salary worms and

country's thieves" look more ridiculous (274-75).

P.H. Wang likewise stresses the similarities between the

two novels. She comments on the theme of "Qing5 versus Dao" (114-15). Driven by the desire to visit the human world (the

6 world of Qing ), to experience human feelings and emotion, and

to distinguish herself in the literary circles, the Fairy of

Flowers leaves the upper realm--the Daoist paradise, and

5Qing appears as Ching in Wang's critique.

6There is no exact English equivalent of Qing. Wang has given a tentative definition as: "the totality of human sentiments, particularly love and desire, that keep a man c attached to the mundane world." (52) 54 c reincarnates herself into a human girl, Tang Xiaoshan. She experiences a series of secular events--searching for her

father, taking the imperial examination, and winning the

highest honour. When she finally returns to the Daoist

paradise--Little Penglai Mountain, she also completes her Dao­ Qing-Dao journey. Jia Baoyu in Dream of the Red Chamber has

a similar experience: from being a stone of Mt. Dahuang, the

Daoist realm, he reincarnates into human boy--Jia Baoyu.

After encountering various events in world of Qing, he finally

withdraws from secular space and returns to his former home,

Mt. Dahuang. His journey also traces the circle of Dao-Qing­ Dao.

Wang's discussion of the two novels suggests a perspec­

tive that goes beyond a superficial resemblance of the texts.

She extends the comparison from the textual relationship of

the two novels to the links between the horizons of the two

authors, as well as their specific perspectives of observing metaphysical problems and secular events. Of course, one cannot deny the necessity of studying the resemblance on the textual level--in the usage of language and in style. However, these cannot be treated as isolated matters, for they

are the indication and mani testation of the author's preferen-

ce and endorsement, which can lead one to understand the

author's ideology. In this sense, the earlier critics c 55

0 contributed to establishing a foundation for those such as

Wang to study and compare the two novels.

4.2. When comparing FIM with Dream of the Red Chamber, some critics

consider that the former is less appealing in terms of

artistic techniques and characterization than the latter.

Liu Dajie points out the lack of substance in FIM. He maintains that compared with Dream of the Red Chamber, which is based on tangible life, FIM, metaphorically speaking, "lacks blood and flesh. For this reason, it is of lesser

value." (1263)

Li Zhendong explains the smaller appeal of FIM in terms

of the author's experience. He argues that rich life ex- periences would help an author create a novel with richness.

That is proven in the case of Dream of the Red Chamber: not only does its author draw the materials from actual life, he

also describes all aspects of life in the novel. Hence his

novel moves readers. FIM, on the contrary, does not have such

an effect because its coverage of life turns out to be narrow.

The source of the materials is not vivid reality but the

author's knowledge. Thus, it is hard to move the reader

(278). Both Liu Dajie and Li Zhendong thus place emphasis on c the author's life experience and the selection of materials. 56 c They try to tell us that an outstanding novel must emerge from and contain within it a rich portrayal of life.

The characterization of FIM is another weak point noticed by many critics in contrast to Dream of the Red Chamber.

su Shufen points out that Li Ruzhen's deficiency lies in his character portraying, especially of the female characters he admired and praised. On the whole, all the gifted girls seemed to lack human feelings: they neither feel love nor anger. What they possess is the knowledge that Li Ruzhen projects onto them. These women do not have any unique characteristics other than beauty and virtue. The author does not provide insight into the development and change in their characters. As a result, the author has difficulty in unfolding the plots through the interaction and conflicts of different characters. The consequent drawback is the dullness

and lack of vividness of the plots. (158-59) Su suggests two possible reasons for Li Ruzhen's impotence in characterization. First, she argues that it is perhaps due to Li's unfamiliarity with females. Consequently, though he may have tried to imitate Dream of the Red Chamber, it turns out to be more like Wu Jingzi's The Scholars, which depicts a world Li is more familiar with. Second, although influenced by many excellent classical novels, Li Ruzhen did not really c master the artistic techniques of those classical novels. He 57 c uses the novel as a medium to propagandize his ideal and display his encyclopedic knowledge. This becomes disastrous

for the artistic quality of FIM {159).

Su 1 s analysis poses a question important to literary creations. Does great literature come from a mechanical imitation of classics or from the author's striving? Or has

it to be created spontaneously--"an involuntary outpouring of

the author's mind" (Li Zhi, cited in You Guoen et al. 142)?

In his reading of Dream of the Red Chamber, C.T. Hsia remarks that the heroines are "believable human beings"

because they have their happiness to hope for and life 1 s

problems to grapple with. On the contrary the girls of FIM

appear to exist in a vacuum:

They do not seem to have any problems of their own. Even Tang Guichen goes through the ritualistic motions of seeking her father, passing her examina­ tions with distinction, and renouncing the world without acquiring a character of her own: she merely enacts the parts called for by the allegory (290).

Hsia does not think that people should expect too much

from the characters of an allegoric romance (he regards FIM

as of that kind). But the girls in FIM have no differences 0 in personality: "Being all beautiful, talented, and well 58 c brought up, [they] are much harder to tell apart" (282). However, Li Ruzhen does try hard to promote these girls by

making them all witty, erudite and wise. Unfortunately, "they

do not live," Hsia comments (290).

4.3. It is unfair and also untrue to say that FIM is only an

imitation of Dream of the Red Chamber. FIM does have its own

unique quality. In a close reading of it, some critics have

discovered FIM's advantages over Dream of the Red Chamber.

Li Changzhi gives much of his attention to Li Ruzhen's

description of the talented women's activities. They are the

focus not only of FIM but also of Dream of the Red Chamber.

But the activities of women in FIM have a much greater scope

than those in Dream of the Red Chamber, where they are limited

to their families or at most to Da Guan Yuan--the extended circle of their clan. FIM is different. Women there par­ ticipate in most of the activities in society. This includes civil service examination, academic discussions, social

engagements, game playing, and even competition in military

accomplishments. Among these activities the author places

more importance on the imperial examination (54), in academic

as well as social circles, a subject that has been repeatedly

depicted in classical Chinese literature, drama and story. c But almost all the central figures acting in the examination 59 c circles are men. One exception, Li Changzhi reminds us, is

in the popular drama, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, where the

aristocratic girl Zhu Yingtai enrols in a school. Unfor-

tunately, Zhu has to take the disguise of a man to do this. In the author's careful arrangement, FIM is totally different. Nearly a hundred women appear in the examination hall without

hiding their identities and pass the examination with honour.

Li Changzhi states that this deserves attention--Li Ruzhen

seems to describe the event of examination as part of an ideal

system which promotes women 1 s liberation, rather than an

isolated scene (as happened in Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai).

In this regard, FIM gains significance (54). You Guoen and his associates, in The Literary History of China, provide a

similar commentary on the roles of the heroines in FIM. They

note that Li Ruzhen 1 s depiction "is unprecedented in the

classical Chinese novel" (246), since he focuses on the social

activities rather than the love lives of these women.

The critic that has esteemed FIM most highly is H. s. Kao. He maintains:

An acquaintance with Hong Lou Meng (Dream of the Red Chamber) .... will enable the reader to gain a preliminary understanding of the rich thematic implications present in Ching-hua Yuan, and also will help him to realize that it is a much more 0 60 c complex, consciously planned novel than critics generally admit (28) .

Kao believes that Li Ruzhen 1 s FIM strikes a balance

between the two prestigious novels Dream of the Red Chamber

and The Scholar. As Cao did, Li Ruzhen "invites the reader to examine the purely personal and existential microcosm of men's internal nature " Also, as Wu Jingzi did, he "truthfully records, recreates, and judges the dimensions of

the world around him" (28-29). Thus, the external undulations

of plots in FIM become Li's devices for examining and il-

luminating the internal rhythms and crisis of man. Claiming for FIM an equal status to the two classics, Kao also states that it is harmful to define Li Ruzhen's FIM in terms of the other two novels. That can only lead to the distortion of

"the diversified and unique quality of his work [FIM] as a

whole." According to Kao, one has to understand the novel on

its own terms, on its innovative insight concerning "the

essential and fundamental dualities of human existence, humour, and satire abound throughout" (29-31).

The review of the discourse on the comparison between FIM and

Dream of the Red Chamber suggests that, while a number of

critics from P. R. China, Taiwan or North America show a 0 strong interest in comparing the two novels, their specific 61 c criticism fell into various categories. This phenomenon is

consistent with the discourse on the other two topics.

FIM and Dream of the Red Chamber have many aspects for

comparison and the issues derived from the discourse are

surely worth discussion. Two questions are encountered here: First, what should be the source of creation--specifically, should it be tangible life or an author's encyclopedic

knowledge? Second, what should be the motivation in creating

a novel, namely, "an involuntary outpouring of the author's

mind" or a medium for propagandizing hisjher ideal? Some

critics believe that Li Ruzhen's weakness in dealing with the above issues is the reason why FIM possesses less appeal than Dream of the Red Chamber. Certain advantages of FIM over

Dream of the Red Chamber are also pointed out by some other

critics. Its progressive ideology and its deep exposure of

social problems are considered by almost all the critics from

P. R. China as its merit. However, the overseas Chinese scholars think that the superiority of FIM lies in the

spiritual approach to the human problems. Li's FIM provides, in Kao's words, "an innovative criticism of human perception,

human emotional instability, and human mental shallowness"

(114). c c 62

Chapter 5 conclusion

Although Li Ruzhen has been seen by at least one modern critic as "a little understood master of Qing fiction" (Kao 115), FIM has in fact been commented on repeatedly in the past decades. Based on the critical discourse on FIM found, this thesis chose three topics, which had drawn considerable attention by older and modern critics, as its focus: the horizons of FIM, the comparison between FIM and Gulliver•s Travels, and the comparison between FIM and Dream of the Red Chamber. Instead of making an evaluation and judgement among these critiques according to the good-bad criterion, I intend to observe the critical discourse on FIM as a particular discourse generated from specific socio-historical as well as cultural contexts. The interaction of the literary discourse on the novel with political, philosophical, or cultural discourses is the core of such a discussion.

The diverse viewpoints on the horizons of FIM present different understandings or perceptions of the novel. The reasons may be summed up as follows: The particular socio­ historical context will inevitably leave its mark on the c literary discourse of a given period. For example, the idea 63 c of "pursuit of virtue" came at a time when Confucian doctrine had become the dominant ideology of Chinese society. Since the Emperor Wu (140-87 BCE), the stand--"Reject all other

schools of thought, respect only the Confucian doctrine"--was

adopted as the official policy of the state. An imperial

university was established for the purpose of studying

Confucian classics: government officials were normally

appointed based on their performance in the examinations on

the Confucian classics. This is well known as the "triumph

of Confucianism" {cf. Creel 159).

The "social criticism" view of FIM during the 1950s-1980s

was driven by somewhat different forces. On the one hand, it

was influenced by traditional Chinese criticism which em­

phasised the social functions of literary works, especially

the "feng" tradition (cf section 2.2 of this thesis). On the

other hand, it corresponded to the political campaigns during that period, namely the Cultural Revolution, as well as a

series of discussions on the social functions of literature

and arts, in which the authoritative slogan stated, in accord

with the doctrine of Mao Zedong, that literature and arts

should serve the purpose of politics.

The analysis of the spiritual dimension to the horizons

of FIM by Taiwanese and Western scholars indicates a second 0 type of discourse during the 1970s-1980s. Compared with the 64 c scholars in P.R. China, Taiwanese and Western scholars had a relatively favourable environment provided to them to pursue, e.g., the metaphysical approaches to literature in general and FIM in particular. Yue Hengjun's analysis of FIM is based on Li Ruzhen's religious conception and his philosophical view of the world. However, Yue argues that the paradox within this conviction cannot be overlooked, which accounts for the complexity of Li's world views (see 2.5). H. s. Kao also, in some respects, approaches the novel by finding the paradox in Li's ontological view--the quest for self-transcendence vs. the quest for worldly fame. In this way, Kao claims that "Li Ruzhen becomes both the spokesman for his beliefs, and at the same time one of his own sharpest critics" (see 2.5). One could see from Yue and Kao's discussions that alternative ways of approaching a literary text are possible and accessible. In contrast, P.R. China in the same period did not provide any basis for this type of discussion. In the forefront were the immediate political struggles, which had a very strong impact on people; therefore, the abstract problems of human spirit did not attract the critics.

The feminist or at least pro-female viewpoint on FIM during the 1920s-1930s was another sociological attempt to interpret the novel. This discourse echoed the well-known modern feminist movement of that era. Since the May 4th c Movement, the emancipation of women became a constant theme 65 c which spread throughout China. The famous "Five Propositions"

of Chinese suffragettes, which included equal rights of

inheritance, the right to vote and to be elected, equal rights

in work and education, the right of self-determination in marriage, and free choice of spouse (Kristeva 104), date from

that time. Soon after, literature on the topic of women

flourished. The feminist discourse on FIM thus emerged upon

the calling of that time. F. Brandauer's objections to Hu

Shi 's feminist view are representative of the spread of

opinion here. The same aspect of Li's work has been inter­

preted from two distinctive perspectives, traditional and

modern. Hu Shi holds the modern one. To him, Li's belief is consistent with the modern movement for women's emancipation;

thus his work can be analyzed with modern ideological categor­

ies. For Brandauer, FIM stands for the traditional perspec­

tive, which is consistent only with the traditional Confucian

categories. Thus, since the modern and Confucian ideologies

are assumed to be too diametrically opposed to co-exist, any resemblance between the beliefs found in FIM and in modern

society can be only superficial. However, Brandauer seems to have overlooked two points: first, the possibility that to be

both a (or a kind of) Confucian devotee and a novelist of

modernizing horizons may not necessarily compose an internal

conflict for Li, just as Confucianism and Daoism often went

hand in hand; second, that it is difficult, if not impossible, c to purge any critic of all modern horizons and get a "naked" 66 c view of the object without the eye. In that sense, Bran-

dauer's appeal for "understanding a work on its own" remains

an unsettled issue.

The genre complexities of the novel itself, its multi­

faceted structure and viewpoints, are also a cause of the

diverse critiques of FIM. Seen by H. c. Chang as "an inim­

itable blend of mythology and adventure, fantasy and allegory,

satires and straight instruction" ( 4 05) , FIM amazes and

puzzles its critics, hence creates disagreement in their

understanding. Thus, the controversial nature of the novel

in addition to each critic's presupposition can be considered as the determinants of the disparate interpretations of the

horizons of FIM.

The discourse comparing FIM and Gulliver's Travels

displays some interesting aspects. critics from P.R. China

are more alert to the ideological categories of the two novels, which is consistent with their way of observing and analyzing the horizons of FIM. Seeing both novels as a severe

attack on the social ills of eighteenth and nineteenth century

England and China, the Chinese critics believe that these two

novels, although written in different times and spaces, should

be treated only as outstanding social satires on Li Ruzhen's

and Swift's times. On the other hand, scholars outside P.R. c China (mainly the overseas Chinese and North American critics) 67 c are more aware of the differences between the two utopian novels than of their common horizons. Through the ways of narration, they found distinctions between Li's and Swift's world view, their attitudes towards their cultures as well as their ways of thinking, which are due to the spirit and the temperaments of their times. P. H. Wang•s discussion on the influence of Daoism in Li 's time may provide a basis to interpret Li Ruzhen' s novel. She maintains that although politically less influential than Confucianism, Daoism had gradually gained ground among the common people for its fatalistic attitude toward life and the promise of

immortality. Li Ruzhen was, Wang believes, at heart a Daoist (although he considered himself Confucian), which determines Li • s central agent's (Tang Ao' s) destiny as well as the characteristics of Li 's utopianism--an escapism. This is perhaps also a common feature of Chinese utopianism (see 3. 2).

It seems hard for scholars in P. R. China to comment on the FIM text from an angle other than the stereotyped sociolo­ gical criticism--as a result of both the Chinese critical tradition and the endless political campaigns of our times. Su Dongpo, an ancient Chinese poet, once said that one could "fail to recognize the actual face of the Lushan Mountain, because one is inside the mountain." The sensitivity to

cultural aspects of a text is determined by the critic's sense

of culture. Everyone living and socializing within a culture, 68 c bears a particular cultural mark. Thus one shares the cul­ ture's values, world views, and particular ways of thinking.

However, people usually take their cultural surroundings for

granted. They are unaware of their own cultural bearings

until they encounter another culture. Then the foreign

culture, with unfamiliar, even strange, sets of values, world

views, and ways of thinking, serves as a sharp contrast and

helps one to realize one's own culture. Only at this point a critic can perceive more clearly, from a literary work, an

aspect of one's own culture--something that had long been

taken for granted. That is the case of North American Chinese

scholars. For them, the cultural difference does not merely

represent random or residual but systematic and substantial

elements in explaining the discrepancies between two literary

works from two cultures. This sensitivity to cultural issues thus enables critics outside P. R. China to investigate the

contrast between the two novels in terms of the authors' own

cultural background. Obviously, it is also quite probable that such "outside" critics may be less sensitive to material,

"bread-and-butter" issues, and more caught up in their own

context of individualist conflicts and metaphysics. This is perhaps another reason, besides the traditional and political

ideologies, which accounts for the diverse criticism in

comparing FIM and Gulliver•s Travels.

0 69 c Being thought of as two among the greatest novels in Qing

Dynasty, FIM and Dream of the Red Chamber have many aspects

which bear comparison. Critics of P. R. China, Taiwan or North America all show their interests in comparing these two

novels, but their specific criticism varies. Perusing the

discourse on this topic, it should be noted that there is

still a shortage of systematic comparison.

The critical comparison of these two novels poses some

interesting general questions about novel creation and evaluation. First, what should be the source of creation?

That is, should the materials of a novel be based on tangible

everyday life or the author's encyclopedic knowledge? Second,

what should be the motivation in creating a novel? Does a

novel work when it is not "an involuntary outpouring of the

author's mind" (Li Zhi cited in James Liu 79) but rather a

medium for propagandizing hisjher idea? Li Zhi (1527-1602),

a literary critic, claimed that the greatest literature is neither a mechanical imitation of classics nor the result of

an author's striving. It has to be created spontaneously:

Those who can truly write never intended to produce literature in the first place. In the bosom [of a true writer), there are so many indescribable, strange things . . • when these have been stored up to the limit and accumulated for so long that they c can no longer be checked, then one day, when he sees 70 c a scene that arouses his emotions, when what touches his eyes draws a sigh from him, he will • • . give vent to his feelings of injustice, and lament the ill fates of a thousand years. (cited in James Liu 79)

Many critics believe that FIM possesses less appeal than Dream of the Red Chamber; Li Ruzhen•s assumed lack of spontaneity (a matter difficult to either prove or disprove) and weakness in dealing with above two issues is suggested by some as the reason.

Yet, there are critics pointing out certain advantages of FIM over Dream of the Red Chamber. Here, once again, the criticism shows its diversity which derives from critics • presuppositions and convictions. Almost all the critics from P. R. China consider that the merit of FIM resides in its progressive ideology, its deep exposure of social problems, as well as its depiction of women's activities--larger social issues in contrast with Dream of the Red Chamber. However, the overseas Chinese scholars think the superiority of FIM to be the spiritual approach to human minds and the author's rich thematic implications, namely, the internal nature of and the crisis of man. This perspective of interpretation is also presented repeatedly in the discussion. 71 c In sum, the diversity of viewpoints displayed in critical discourse on FIM is natural and understandable, if one admits

that there exists, on the one hand, a multivalence and richness in the novel itself, and on the other, a diversity in perception and preoccupation of the critics. However, no single approach observed in the discourse is sufficient in evaluating a particular literary text. Rene Wellek is correct in saying that "rather a community than a single individual can realize all its strata and systems" (233). Even so, the meaning of a text can hardly be exhausted, I believe, since new meanings may be continuously generated in the reading and criticizing processes. Eagleton's expression is applicable to the discourse on FIM:

All literary works are rewritten if only uncon­ sciously by the societies which read them. There is no reading of a work which is not also a "re­ writing." No work, and no current evaluation of it, can simply be extended to new groups of people without being changed, perhaps almost unrecognizab­ ly, in the process; and this is one reason why what counts as literature is a notably unstable affair ( 12) •

Literary texts do not exist statically, they are materia- lized by a particular reader or reader groups in a particular social and cultural environment. Thus, all interpretation is c shaped and constrained by the historically relative criteria 72

of a particular socio-political institution. Thence the interesting and diverse criticism on FIM.

0 c 73 Bibliography

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Nakano Miyoko. "Jinghuayuan yu geliefo luxing ji" ("Jing­ c huayuan and Gulliver's Travels"), in her Cong Zhongguo 76 c Xiaoshuo Kan Zhongguo Ren De Sikao Fangshi. Taibei: Chengwen chuban she chuban youxian gongsi, 1977, 1-6.

Pan Shuguang. "Tan Jinghuayuan" ("Discussion on Jinghuayuan"), in Zheng Yunbo, ed., Zhongguo Gudai Xiaoshuo Yuedu Tishi. Nanj ing: Jiangsu renmin chuban she, 1983, 209-19. Qian Jingfang. "Jinghuayuan kao" ("Miscellaneous Research on

Jinghuayuan") 1 in his Xiaoshuo Congkao. Shanghai: Gudian wenxue chuban she, 1957, 53-56. [Originally published in 1912.]

Su Shufen. "Jinghuayuan yanjiu" ("Research on Jinghuayuan"). M.A Thesis, Taibei: U of Dongwu, 1978.

"Li Ruzhen yong yuian biaoshi fengci de chuangzuo j ing­ shen" ( "Li Ruzhen' s Application of Allegory as Satire"). Zhongguo Gudian Xiaoshuo Yanjiu Zhuanji, (5}, Taibei: Lian Jing Chuban Gongsi, 1982, 243-68.

Sun Jiaxun. "Jinghuayuan bukao" ("Supplementary Research on

Jinghuayuan") 1 in Hu Shi, ed., Zhongguo Zhanghui Xiaoshuo Kaozheng. Shanghai: Shanghai Shudian, 1982, 564-71. [Originally published in 1925.]

Jinghuayuan Gongan Bianyi. (The Debate on Jinghuayuan). Shandong: Qilu shushe, 1984.

"Jinghuayuan he zhongguo shenhua" ("Jinghuayuan and Chinese Myths"} , in his Jinghuayuan Gongan Bianyi. Shan­ dong: Qilu shu she, 1984, 119-31.

"Jinghuayuan zuozhe de yian" ("The Mystery about the Author of Jinghuayuan") . Zhonghua Wenshi Luncong 3 (1980):104-54. Tang Xongfei. "Yu shehui fengsu yu chuanqi xiaoshuo-- Jinghuayuan yu Wuyouxiang zhi bijiao yenjiu" ("Alleg­ orical Social Satire in Romance Fiction--A Comparative Study of Jinghuayuan and Erewhon"). Zhong Wai Wenxue 7. 7 (Dec. 1978): 126-60.

Wang Kaij i. "Dui Jinghuayuan zhushi de j i dian yij ian" ("Some Notes on the Annotation of Jinghuayuan. ") Guangming Ribao 13 (Nov. 1955).

Wen Qi. "Jinghuayuan de dufa yu xiefa" ("Jinghuayuan: Author and Reader"). Wen Shi Zhishi no.4 (1986): 25-32. 0 77 c wu Shuangyi. "Jinghuayuan ji qita" ("Jinghuayuan and Other Works"), in his Ming Qing Xiaoshuo Jianghua. Shanghai: Shanghai shuchu, 1958, 86-93.

Xie Jifang. "Jinghuayuan zhong de chuantong zhongguo shehui" ("The Traditional Chinese Society in Jinghuayuan"). Xiandai Xue Yuan 8.8, (1971): 13-19.

Xu Qiaolin. "Jinghuayuan xu" ("Preface on Jinghuayuan"), in Huang Lin, ed. , Zhongguo Lidai Xiaoshuo Lunzhu xuan. Nanchang: Jiangxi renmin chuban she, 1982, 552-54.

Xu Shinian. "Lue tan Jinghuayuan" ("A Brief Discussion on Jinghuayuan") , in Jinghuayuan Taibei: Guiguan tushu gufen youxian gongsi, 1983, 783-96. [Originally published in 1957.]

You Guoen, Wang Qi, Xiao Difei, Ji Zhenhuai and Fei Zhengang. "Jinghuayuan ji qita" ("Jinghuayuan and Other Works"), in their The Literary History of China. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chuban she, 1979, 243-47.

Yu Kechao and Zhang Chuanzao. "Zheng Zhenduo yu Jinghuayuan yanjiu" ("Zheng Zhenduo and research on Flowers in the Mirror"). Ming Qing Xiaoshuo Yanjiu 6 (1987): 243-49. Yuan Jun. "Jinghuayuan Yu zhongguo shenhua" (Jinghuayuan and Chinese Mythology"). Yu si no. 54 (Nov. 1925): 126-31.

Yue Hengjun. "Penglai guixi: lun Jinghuayuan de shijie guan" ("The Absurd Drama of Penglai: Comments on Jinghuayuan' s World View"). Xiandai Wenxue 49 (1973): 92-105.

Zhang Rogu. "Guanyu · Nuerguo' de kaozheng" ("Research Concerning 'The Women's Country'"). Wenxue Zhoubao 228 (1926): 481-83. Zhang Youhe. "Qian yian" ("Prologue on Jinghuayuan"}, in Jinghuayuan. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chuban she, 1986, 1- 10. Zhongguo Wenxue Shi (The Historv of Chinese Literature). Guangwen Translation Institute, n.p.: Guangwen shuju, 1963: 390.

Zhongguo Xiaoshuo Shi (The History of Chinese Fiction). Dept. of Chinese Literature, Beijing: Renmin wenxue chuban she, 1960, 403-10.

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Zhou Zhenfu. "Qian yian" ("Prologue on Jinghuayuan"), in Jinghuayuan. Beijing: Baowen shudian, 1983, 1-6.

3.2 References in English Aldridge, A. owen. "Utopianism in World Literature." Tamkang Review 14.1 (1983): 11-29. Bauer, Wolfgang. "The Wonder Lands of Li Ju-chen," in his China and the Search for Happiness. New York: Seabury P, 1976, 263-69.

Brandauer, F.P. "Women in the Ching-hua yuan: Emancipation toward a Confucian Ideal." Journal of Asian Studies 36.4 (1977): 647-60.

Chang, H.C. Allegory and Courtesy in Spenser: A Chinese View. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1955.

"Introduction" to The Women's Kingdom, in his Chinese Literature: Popular Fiction and Drama. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1973, 405-20.

Chen, Shou-yi. Chinese Literature: A Historical Introduction. New York: Ronald P, 1961, 590-95.

Evans, Nancy J.F. "Social Criticism in the Ch'ing: The Novel of Ching-hua yuan." Papers on China 23 (1970): 52-66.

Ho, Koon-Ki T. "Utopianism: A Unique Theme in Western Litera­ ture? -- A Short Survey on Chinese Utopianism." Tamkang Review 13.1 (1982): 87-108.

Hsia, C.T. "The Scholar-Novelist and Chinese Culture: A Re­ appraisal of Ching-hua yuan." In Andrew H. Plaks, ed., Chinese Narrative: Critical and Theoretical Essays. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1977, 266-305.

Kao, Hsin-sheng. Li Ju-chen. Boston: Twayne, 1981.

Lin, Daniel L.H. "The Examination Syndrome in Ching-hua yuan." Tamkang Review 11.2 (1980): 161-68.

Lin, Lien-hsiang. "Examination Syndrome in Ch'ing Fiction." 0 Tamkang Review 15.4 (1985): 495-507. 79 c Lin, Tai-yi. "Introduction to Ching-hua yuan," in Flowers in the Mirror. Berkeley: U of California P, 1965, 5-13.

Ming, Lai. "The Novel of Ideas: Flowers in the Mirror", in his A History of Chinese Literature. New York: Capricorn Books, 1966, 340-45.

Wang, Pi-twan Huang. "Utopian Imagination in Traditional Chinese Fiction." Diss. U of Wisconsin, 1980.

Yang, Winston L.Y. "Introduction" to Flowers in the Mirror, in W. L. Y. Yang, et al., Classical Chinese Fiction. Boston: G. k. Hall, 1978, 78-83.

Yu, Wang-luen and Ho, Peng-yoke. "Knowledge of Mathematics and Science in Ching-hua yuan." Oriens Extremus 21. 2 (1974): 217-36.

"Physical Immortality in the Early Nineteenth-Century Novel Ching-hua yuan." Oriens Extremus 21.1 (1974): 33- 51.

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Bakhtin, M.M. Marxism and the Philosophy of Language: The Dialogic Imagination. New York; Seminar P, 1973. Bauer, Wolfgang. China and the Search for Happiness. New York: Seabury P, 1976.

Bloch, Ernst. "Entfremdung, Verfremdung: Alienation, Estrangement," in Erika Munk, ed., Brecht. New York: Bantam Books, 1972, 3-11.

Chan, Wing-Tsit (comp. and trans.). A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1963.

Chatman, Seymour B. Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1978.

Chesneaux, Jean. "Egalitarianism and Utopian Traditions in the East." Diogenes No. 62 (1968):76-102.

Creel, Herrlee G. Chinese Thought. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1953.

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Hall, Jonathan, and Ackbar Abbas.> eds. Literature and Anthropology. Hong Kong: Hong Kong UP, 1986.

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Iser, Wolfgang. The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, 1978.

Jameson, Fredric. Marxism and Form. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1971.

The Political Unconscious. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1981.

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Li Zehou and Liu Gangji. The History of Chinese Aesthetics. Beijing: Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Chuban She, 1984.

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0 c 82 Appendix: Pinyin to Wade-Giles Conversion Table

Pinyin Wade-Giles Ban Zhao Panchao Dao Tao Daoism Taoism Hu Shi Hu Shih Jinghuayuan Ching-hua yuan Li Ruzhen Li Ju-chen Mao Zedong Mao Tse Tung Nujie Nuchieh Qin Chin Qing Ching Qing Dynasty Ch'ing Dynasty

0